Apple’s famously secretive approach to new product development involves a wide range of precautions. For contractors at a so-called Apple Black Site, this can include not being allowed to book an Uber ride home from the facility …
Bloomberg reports on one of these low-key satellite offices.
One of the challenges, say workers, is that employment conditions don’t match those offered at an official Apple campus, with some trivial but still irritating complaints.
As contractors rather than employees, they also lack any security of employment. A typical assignment is 12-15 months, and one anonymous contractor said not everyone lasts that long.
Benefits, too, can be extremely poor.
That was the final straw for some, with more than a dozen of them quitting in response, citing illness as the reason.
One obvious reason for wanting to work for Apple is that it looks great on a CV. But many contractors at an Apple Black Site don’t get that benefit. Those who work at this facility – and many others like them – aren’t contracted by Apple directly, but through a company called Apex Systems.
If working at an Apple Black Site sounds exciting, and good for your future career, that isn’t necessarily the case, say some of those who’ve lived through it.
An FBI filing last week gave us insight into a few of the steps Apple takes to protect its secrets.
Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
