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- Over 200 people are on a Discord waitlist to discuss issues at Apple, one employee told Insider.
- She said the Discord chat currently has over 400 current and former and Apple employees.
- On Monday, 15 Apple employees launched a website to share stories of harassment and discrimination.
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Cher Scarlett, a software engineer on Apple's global security team, told Insider that a Discord server used to discuss workplace issues at the secretive tech company has a waitlist of around 250 people. She said over half of the waitlist is Apple retail employees.
A little more than 400 current and former Apple employees use the chat as a way to anonymously discuss work away from upper management, Scarlett said.
"One of the great things I've seen is the safety that folks feel in talking freely about things they've witnessed or experienced, without the fear of being ostracized or directed to file an individual complaint with the People team," Scarlett told Insider.
The software engineer is one of the founders of #Appletoo, a recent movement pushing back against Apple's "culture of secrecy" that some employees say leads to discrimination and harassment.
Scarlett, a single mother with bipolar disorder, became involved in Apple activism when the company announced a limited work-from-home policy, Forbes reported in July.
On Monday, Scarlett and 14 other Apple employees launched a website for workers to share their experiences working for the tech giant - both corporate employees and hourly retail workers are encouraged to submit testimonials.
Scarlett told Insider that at least 40% of the Discord server's users are Apple retail workers, adding that most Discord chats used by Apple employees include both retail and corporate staff members. She said this is not the case for the company's official slack channels.
"When I was seeking to bring organizing groups together, and the hundreds of people who have come to me to share their stories, it seemed like the perfect place to do so," Scarlett said. "It already had a great verification system in place."
She said the chat's mission is three-pronged:
- Provide a safe anonymized space for current and former employees to talk about work related topics away from the public and their upper management.
- Raise the collective wisdom by virtue of open exchange of knowledge and information for the benefit of all.
- Provide a space where current and former employees can socialize, help, and network with each other on a global scale.
Earlier in August, an Apple employee went on leave after she publicly alleged on Twitter that she faced sexist treatment and bullying at the company. She said senior employees kept a tally of votes on how they could make her "life a living hell," Insider's Katie Canales reported.
Others have pushed back against the recent organizing efforts of Apple employees.
Former Apple marketing director Michael Gartenberg told The Information via Twitter DM that the #Appletoo website "doesn't really count for organizing anything except for getting attention in sensationalist reporting from some places."
Apple did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.