Advertisement

Apple giving employees extra paid time off this Thanksgiving for a job well done

Apple is on a roll. Mac sales are higher than ever, the iPad owns the tablet market, and the company just sold one million iPhones in 24 hours. In honor of all that Apple has achieved this year, the company is giving its employees some extra time off this upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. As first published by MacGeneration, Tim Cook sent the following email to all Apple employees this week:

Team,

I consider it an honor to come to work every day alongside the most innovative and most dedicated people on earth. This is an extraordinary time to be at Apple, and it's all made possible by your incredible efforts.

We've had a record-setting year so far and we're heading into the holidays with the strongest product lineup in our history. Customers are absolutely in love with the iPad 2, and the amazing new iPhone 4S is off to the best start of any iPhone we've ever made. The Mac is soaring to new heights with OS X Lion, and on the eve of its 10th birthday, the iPod is still the world's most popular music player.

In recognition of the hard work you've put in this year, we're going to take some extra time off for Thanksgiving. We will shut down with pay on November 21, 22 and 23 so our teams can spend the entire week with their families and friends.

Of course, Retail and some other groups will need to work that week so we can continue to serve our customers. If you're in one of these groups, please check with your manager about taking time off at a later date. Our international teams will schedule their three-day shutdowns this quarter at a time that's best for them. Details will be available on AppleWeb.

I hope everyone enjoys this much deserved break.

Tim

As noted in the email, retail workers will not get the same days off (they need to be in the stores to continue to sell products during the busy shopping season); however, they will all receive three extra days of paid time off after the holidays. Apple employees in other countries will also get an extra three days of paid time off.

Contrary to some reports, this is actually not the first time Apple has done this. When I worked for the company, the same extra Thanksgiving time off was given twice during my stint. Also, for those of you wondering, "AppleWeb" isn't some new Apple Internet product. It's Apple's name for the company-wide intranet.