Snippet: More Budget Cuts & Changes at Apple Stores? ☇

I really hope this isn’t as true or widespread as it seems, although Gary Allen (ifoAppleStore.com) is usually pretty spot-on with sources:

After [John] Browett’s reversal, insiders say that everyone who had been dismissed was indeed rehired, and inter-store transfers were again approved. However, the number of in-store workshops at some stores has been reduced, sources say, overtime is still limited, demotions were not reversed, and managers are assigning only minimum contracted hours to part-timers. One tipster even claimed Apple has stopped printing the monthly workshop schedules that have been available at high-profile stores for many years.

More troubling, one source says, are changes in how employee performance is measured, so-called metrics. Contract sales of iPhones are now used to measure individual performance, and also now appear on store performance charts. Employee sales success is also being judged by something called, “essentials per hero product,” judging Specialists on how much value they can add to the sale of any product with cases, accessories and other products.

There’s a reason Apple’s retail operations are often the benchmark these days for great customer service. Let’s hope they don’t mess that up with some of these possible changes.