Engage your employees - give them a free iPhone...

I just read that to celebrate the launch of it's new fandangled mobile, every Apple employee who has worked with the firm for a year or more will receive a free iPhone once the initial demand is expected to calm down towards the end of July. This was announced at a company-wide town-hall meeting yesterday.

I also read that Apple has around 20,000 or more qualifying employees but I'm not sure if that's just in the US. Either way, that's a big gesture from the top wouldn't you say? And given the estimated price of the iPhone to Apple (around $250), probably gives them a bill of anything upwards of $5 million.

Update: Missed it at the time, but there's a post and good discussion on this topic over at David Taylor's Where's the sausage? blog - where he asks, "is employee engagement DEAD?"

Comments

[Robin Crumby]

Something tells me you are fishing, Alex.

Is this the start of your campaign for Melcrum to follow suit?

[Allison Toner]

Good for them - as long as they aren't using the gift as a band aid on an engagement problem. Gifts never fix those...! Managers with enormas ears that are prepared to listen to staff often do.

[Alex Manchester]

No fishing, honestly, it was merely an observation. ;-)

@ Allison: You know that's an interesting point. I almost wrote about how it might make up for all the secrecy and lockdown on information that must have surrounded iPhone development. Even Phil Schiller, senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, said he was unable to tell his kids or his wife what it was that was keeping him at the office so late for so long.

Still, Apple is a unique company in that sense and has long had a tradition of secrecy with new products. I'd hazard a guess that it was more of a "thank you"/repayment than a band-aid (not to mention the clever and deep marketing effect of every Apple employee using/praising the iPhone), but maybe that can be construed as the same thing in this case?