
How Apple Gets At-Home Workers To Work - bbrunner
http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/28/how-apple-gets-at-home-workers-to-work/
======
__david__
I get the impression Apple's at-home workers discussed in this article aren't
engineers or otherwise involved with core product development? The weird
training and mock customer calls tells me it's customer support, or something
similar. In which case the comparison to Yahoo's recent closing of its work at
home program doesn't really seem apt (since, as I understand it, Yahoo's _was_
mostly engineers).

~~~
xoail
Exactly. It's like comparing apples to oranges. I can imagine the scrutiny
when it comes to support reps working from home. But when it comes to
engineers, it's a total different ball game. I hope they change the title to
"How Apple manages at home Support Reps"

~~~
ankitml
I tried to classify your comment into apple as a company or apple as a fruit
and it failed. :D

------
vacri
_One certified Apple trainer told me that managers closely scrutinize every
call_

This will be a myth, otherwise you're paying a manager's rate plus a low-level
employee's rate for every call. It's likely what they _tell_ the employees to
put the fear of god into them.

My money is on Apple recording every call and having the managers listen into
the odd one here and there, and if there are specific issues on a past call,
the recording is there... just like any other large call centre.

~~~
jmcdonald-ut
I worked at eBay customer service back in the day, and this was exactly how it
worked. In fact, they had automated call statistics not surprisingly. If you
had calls within the average handle time (AHT), and high satisfaction and
resolution scores you were mostly ignored. Managers pick a random call or two
from the team, screen it, and move on. If you're struggling they're likely to
listen to your calls and give you advice. If you're doing well, they tend to
pull a call and analyze it in a group meeting for others to pick up your
tricks. The managers at eBay at least (and Apple I suspect) are only concerned
about their overall team statistics.

Many managers think fear works to improve stats.

~~~
DrStalker
My first job when I left Uni in the 90s was tech support for Gateway
Computers. I was told that my time per call was too low for someone who had
been there for a short time, and they didn't know if I was good at solving
calls or ditching customers early. And they had no way of knowing. And they
didn't actually listen to any of my calls to check.

But I did get hold of their official expected call time list and after that my
stats were perfect, plus I trained up other staff in how to meet management
expectations.

There's a good reason Gateway got a reputation for extra bad customer service.

~~~
chadgeidel
Oh, goodness - I bet we could swap stories. I was Gateway tech support for a
short time in 2000. I assure you - it got worse.

The "last straw" for me was when they essentially forced techs to sell
hardware. Techs would lie through their teeth (oh, that BSOD is because you
don't have enough RAM) and of course management blindly looked the other way.

------
w1ntermute
Notice how the hub cities are all small to mid-size with low costs of living.
There are none in California or New York. This probably makes paying the
workers only $9-12/hour much more viable than in parts of the country with
higher costs of living. Essentially, they've "outsourced" to the less-
expensive parts of the US, rather than to India or the Philippines.

~~~
mahyarm
My great-uncle said the USA was a rich country with a poor country inside of
it.

------
linuxhansl
Maybe it's just me, but such a training would just push me to quit.

I work from home once a week and it is the only day where I get a good amount
of coding done, because of fewer interruptions.

It takes certain kinds to work from home. I do not think I could work from
home every day, it would be too hard to motivate myself; but who knows, I
haven't tried.

~~~
mikeash
The training is for people who will be taking support phone calls. Apple
mostly does not allow engineers to work remotely. Of course, that means that
the article has little relevance for us, unless we're going to be hiring phone
support people who will work from home....

------
tvtime15
I'd be interested in seeing data from other large tech employers regarding
productivity and ROI (on both the training required and the work that could
be/ _is_ done at home). Author should've been more clear between engineers and
support reps.

------
visarga
By the way, I see Coursera more like a nursery for future employees than an
online university. If they coupled employment with high MOOC competency, maybe
that would motivate people. That would solve their problem with monetizing and
motivating students to take it seriously.

------
the906
Yeah the story definitely isn't core-apple. The people I knew in design and
engineering who worked at home while at Apple were not watched at all
really...

------
wedesoft
I'm not convinced that people will be more productive like this, but it will
certainly make sure they keep moving their mouse cursor.

------
6d0debc071
The first few days talking about company culture. Bleh. Kill me now.

