Dive Brief:

• Apple will give up to $1,000 in one-time bonuses to its retail employees in October 2021, Bloomberg reported Sept. 22.
• Employees hired prior to March 31 will receive a $1,000 bonus, per the report, while those who joined afterward will receive a $500 bonus. Employees hired for the upcoming holiday season will receive $200.
• The bonuses are being offered in part as a recognition of employees' work during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bloomberg said. Apple did not respond to an HR Dive request for comment.

Dive Insight:

Apple's decision follows similar news from other competitors in the retail space at a time when talent is at a premium across industries.

Amazon, for example, announced this month it had pushed its average starting hourly wage for fulfillment center and transportation employees to $18 an hour, with employees in some locations earning more than $20 hourly, Retail Dive reported. Similarly, Sam's Club hiked its starting wage to $15 an hour in September.

Apple also faces criticism of its working conditions from a group of employees in the ongoing release of #AppleToo stories. The group's Medium account has continued to publish accounts of harassment, discrimination and inequality at the company throughout September.

The first group of #AppleToo stories included one account from a U.K.-based retail employee who alleged instances of racial bias including during an interview for a lead role with Apple. A separate story detailed an employee asking whether workers would see pay adjustments to account for cost of living. The author quoted an Apple market leader's alleged response: "Well you all chose to live in a city that's expensive and if that means you can't go out every night and you have to eat ramen every day to get by then you need to do that."

Apple did not respond to an HR Dive inquiry about #AppleToo earlier this month.

The National Labor Relations Board recently issued two charges to Apple. In August, a complaint alleged it had "disciplined or retaliated against an employee(s) because the employee(s) engaged in protected concerted activities," such as discussing wages, hours or other terms and conditions of employment.

In September, the second complaint alleged Apple's HR team put a stop to "multiple attempts" by employees to voluntarily gather wage data over a five-month period. "Upon refusal to back down, complaints have been filed, leadership and HR have engaged in coercive and suppressive activity that has enabled abuse and harassment of organizers of protected concerted activity," per the filing.