Apple is raising the salaries of its corporate and retail employees.

The tech giant is responding to a tight labor market and the spread of unionization efforts across its retail stores by increasing wages for Its hourly workers in the U.S. by at least 10%.

This move by Apple comes after competitors such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft recently altered their pay structures to pay employees a higher wage in an effort to both keep existing talent and recruit new talent.

Apple's Increased Salary

Apple announced that it will be increasing wages for employees working in corporate and retail later this year. This development takes place in the context of a historically competitive labor market in the U.S., together with a rising general cost of living and wage pressures for workers.

Hence, Apple will increase the starting wage for its retail employees from $20 per hour to $22 per hour.

According to CNBC, a representative from Apple said, "Supporting and retaining the best team members in the world enables us to deliver the best, most innovative, products and services for our customers."

The company will also increase the overall compensation budget this year. The decision comes after a pay increase in February, prompted by inflationary pressures as well as complaints from some employees regarding the working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While unemployment is still at a low level of 3.6%, inflation reached 8.3% in April, marking the fastest rate in more than 40 years. This confluence of factors has prompted many workers, particularly those employed in high-demand fields such as technology, to search for better pay or conditions that are more flexible at other companies.

According to its email sent to employees, Apple has decided to move up by three months the annual performance-based pay increases that it provides for its retail and corporate team members.

Another factor that led Apple to increase wages is the widening union drives of employees across the country asking for higher wages.

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Apple's Work From Home

Apple is also feeling the tightened labor market as they recently received massive backlash against their own employees as they veer away from working from home and lean towards a hybrid working pilot.

Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, stated that the advantages of working together in person cannot be replicated. The company's executives believe that nothing beats the serendipity that comes from running into coworkers rather than just communicating virtually.

The employees, on the other hand, appear to disagree with the newly implemented policies, claiming that they do not promote any form of flexibility for the employees.

As previously reported here in iTech Post, the new office-bound work rules at Apple prohibit employees from working remotely for more than two days per week. With that, a group of Apple employees expressed their dissatisfaction with the new office-bound work rules in a letter that they sent to the executive members of the company.

The backlash and complaints they got from their employees were taken seriously.

Still, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple decided to listen to its employees and delay their return to work ... for now.

Related Article: Apple to Increase Salary from 2 to 10 percent For Retail Employees