Apple iCult spurns Steve Jobs values: Ex-employee reveals 'toxic culture' at Cupertino headquarters

Apple has been accused by a former employee of going against Steve Jobs' core values through a "soul-limiting entrenched dogma" that operates on a "toxic culture of manipulation, intimidation, threats and politics."

The criticism of the Cupertino company comes from ex-employee Ben Farrell in a blogpost detailing his experiences working as a customer service manager for the past two years.

"I am no longer part of the collective iCult machine whose dirty, worn-out, greasy and naive internal mechanisms of bullying, harassment and mind-games push out shiny and polished iPhones every year. It is ironic that one of the world's largest companies and one that prides itself on innovation, creativity and 'breaking the mould', operates on such soul-limiting entrenched dogma," Farrell wrote.

Farrell accused the company of manipulating and intimidating employees through a culture of passive aggression and sarcasm, lamenting that: "Sickness, family emergencies, and even weddings are given no respect at Apple."

Team spirit is described as non existent, while meetings at Apple are described as filled with "toxic agendas designed to deliberately trip people up, make fools of the less respected and call people out".

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

– Steve Jobs, 2005

It is not the first time the working conditions at the technology giant have been criticised. Former director of internet technologies Don Melton spoke of unreasonable demands placed on him and his colleagues at Apple in a podcast in 2014.

Apple is yet to respond to a request for comment from IBTimes UK regarding Melton and Farrell's comments.

Farrell claims to have left at the company "just at the right time", foreseeing further pressures and abuses at the new Apple Campus.

"Is it a coincidence that the new Apple Campus looks like a giant spaceship?" Farrell wrote. "Maybe the plan is for everyone to drink poisoned 'Kool-Aid' before ascending to the mother ship.

"For a company that claims to enhance people's lives through technology - they know nothing about life. Nothing at all. I'm disheartened as I loved Apple. I loved their products and I've been an advocate for what they allegedly stand for.

"Unfortunately I've seen behind their glossy and polished stainless steel exterior, I've walked through their frosted glass doors and seen a toxic culture of manipulation, intimidation, threats and politics that are so incongruent to the values they preach."