Retail Staffing Takes a Leap

Financial documents released by Apple last month show that the company had 11,400 equivalent full-time positions at the end of 2007, a huge 44 percent increase from the figure reported at the end of the previous quarter. In contrast, over the past two years the quarterly store personnel changes have ranged from just 112 to 952 persons, or an increase of from two to 15 percent. The increase is partly explained by the roll-out of the new Concierge position at the stores, which staffs one or two persons at the front door to help direct incoming visitors. Additional increases could be attributed to a general bulk-up of staff to handle the larger number of visitors, especially those taking One-to-One sessions and using the Personal Shopper service. Interestingly, at Tuesday’s shareholders meeting, Sr. V-P Retail Ron Johnson said there were 15,000 retail employees, indicating that at least 1,800 store employees are considered part-time. More likely the part-time figure is around 2,700, or about 18 percent of the total store job positions.