We haven’t heard the last of Epic’s crusade against Apple over the iPhone maker’s App Store fees.
08.09.2023 - 05:31 / tech.hindustantimes.com / Andy Jassy
Grindr Inc. has lost about 45% of its staff as it enforces a strict return-to-office policy that was introduced after a majority of employees announced a plan to unionize.
About 80 of the 178 employees at the LGBTQ dating app company were forced to resign after the company in August mandated workers return to work in person two days a week at assigned “hub” offices or be fired, the Communications Workers of America said in a statement Wednesday.
The West Hollywood, California-based company also gave a severance package to staff who were unable to relocate, in what the CWA alleged was an attempt “to silence workers from speaking out about their working conditions,” according to a statement from the organization. The CWA filed a new labor complaint against the company on Wednesday, the second such complaint in about a month.
“These decisions have left Grindr dangerously understaffed and raises questions about the safety, security and stability of the app for users,” Erick Cortez, a member of the organizing group, said in the statement. “It is clear Grindr wants workers to be silenced and deterred from exercising our right to organize, regardless of the expense.”
Grindr didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
But Chief Executive Officer George Arison told investors at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Technology conference in San Francisco this week that more staff attrition is expected as a result of the mandate, which will be financially advantageous in the near term.
“The team will be smaller than where we were before and where we want to be,” Arison said. “So that'll obviously impact margin in a positive way in the near term. But I also think that shows that you can have a lot of leverage in this business because you don't need that big of a team to do the things that we need to do.”
Staffing is the “single biggest cost” after fees paid to app distribution platforms like Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google, according to Arison.
A review of LinkedIn posts made by former Grindr employees show departures at various roles in iOS app development, data engineering and product strategy.
Grindr's public showdown underscores the broader tension between employers and their workers as they are increasingly called back to the office after years of flexible work policies during the pandemic.
Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy has amped up his RTO rhetoric, telling staff who refuse to comply with the company's mandate for in-office work three-days-a-week that “it's probably not going to work out for you,” according to an Insider report. AT&T Inc. told 60,000 managers that they must report to work in person at one of nine locations, which some employees view as a move to reduce staff.
Return-to-off
We haven’t heard the last of Epic’s crusade against Apple over the iPhone maker’s App Store fees.
When Apple Inc. introduced a new material for phone cases and watchbands earlier this month, the company heralded it as a groundbreaking alternative to leather with “subtle luster and a soft, suede-like feel.”
One of Washington’s longest-running tech-policy time loops just got reset: The FCC will move to write net-neutrality regulations, six years after prior leadership at the agency scrapped the net-neutrality rules that it were enacted two years before.
One of the biggest DIY repair sites, iFixit, has revised its repairability score on the iPhone 14, explaining its software «now limits many basic iPhone repairs» because it requires would be repairers to have replacement parts remotely authenticated by Apple.
We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!
Update: Polygon reports that a «reporting party» told responding San Francisco police «an employee made a threat towards his employer using social media.” According to the police, the employee who allegedly made the threats works in an office outside of California.
Unity has apologised to developers for “confusion and angst” caused by its proposed new pricing structure that sought to charge game creators a fee every time their game was installed, promising that changes will be made - but without suggesting that it would pull away completely from implementing the much-criticised plans.
Unity says it will be “making changes” to its controversial install fee plans, following huge backlash from game developers.
Unity has apologized for the "confusion and angst the runtime fee policy" it announced last week has caused and has revealed it will be "making changes" to it.
The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus might be the last non-Pro versions of Apple’s handset lineup to ship without high refresh rate displays, as a rumor claims that the company is bringing this technology to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus next year. However, the term ProMotion was not mentioned in the rumor anywhere, suggesting that there may be differences separating the entire 2024 lineup once more.
We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!
To prevent the iPhone 12 from being banned in France, Apple is reportedly working to release a software update that is said to bring down the radiation levels to accommodate the request of French regulators. Before being officially released back in 2020, it was reported that Apple knew about this problem and instructed its employees to stay quiet about the whole thing. It does not appear that there will be any legal repercussions against the California-based giant this time.