A Blog by Jonathan Low

 

Jun 7, 2021

Apple CEO Announces Hybrid Return To Office As Some Employees Protest

This will be an interesting test of tech employees willingness to fight against work rules they dont like, even against one of the most sought-after employers in the tech world. 

The question is whether more flexible work from home arrangements are worth giving up a job at a premier brand known for compensating their employees well and providing excellent benefits. It seems prudent to assume that a few will choose to leave but that most will accept the company's dictates. JL

Aaron Tilley reports in the Wall Street Journal and Zoe Schiffer reports in The Verge:

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, in an email, told office employees they are expected to return to their workspace three days a week starting in September. It wants most office workers to show up Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the option to work remotely Wednesdays and Fridays. (But) Apple employees are pushing back against (the) policy that would require them to return to the office. Staff members say they want a flexible approach where those who want to work remote can do so. (The response) started in a Slack channel for “remote work advocates” which has 2,800 members.

Wall Street Journal Appleis telling office staff to prepare to return to the workplace at least most of the time, joining the growing pool of companies adopting hybrid work.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, in an email to staff, told office employees that they are expected to return to their workspace three days a week starting in September. The iPhone maker said it wants most office workers to show up Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the option to work remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Technology news outlet The Verge earlier reported the back-to-office plans.

Apple already has gradually been reopening its retail stores around the world. In March, all of its 270 U.S. retail outlets welcomed back shoppers. In his note to employees, Mr. Cook said all stores in other markets would open their doors again by the end of the month.

Companies across industries are adopting plans to go back to the office, but many offering staff greater flexibility than pre-pandemic.

Technology rival Alphabet Inc.’s Google last month notified employees of its hybrid work plans, with employees going into an office three days a week and some likely to work remotely permanently. Microsoft Corp. in March said it was welcoming employees back to its headquarters, while offering them the ability to work from the office or home.

Hybrid-work arrangements are becoming not just a way of working for some companies, but in several cases a business opportunity, fueling appetite for tools and equipment to facilitate having some employees in the office while others work remotely. Zoom Video Communications Inc. this week reported surging sales for some of the tools it offers to facilitate hybrid work.

Not all companies are ready to embrace hybrid work. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit last month that “We want people back at work and my view is some time in September, October, it will look just like it did before.”

Some other companies aren’t pushing employees to go back to the office at all. Spotify Technology SA in February adopted a “Work from Anywhere” model letting employees choose whether they want to return to an office, work from home or somewhere in between. And business-software provider Salesforce.com Inc. told employees they could choose if they wanted to return to the office again. “The 9-to-5 workday is dead” Brent Hyder, Salesforce’s chief people officer said in a blog post earlier this year.

The Verge; Apple employees are pushing back against a new policy that would require them to return to the office three days a week starting in early September. Staff members say they want a flexible approach where those who want to work remote can do so, according to an internal letter obtained by The Verge.

“We would like to take the opportunity to communicate a growing concern among our colleagues,” the letter says. “That Apple’s remote/location-flexible work policy, and the communication around it, have already forced some of our colleagues to quit. Without the inclusivity that flexibility brings, many of us feel we have to choose between either a combination of our families, our well-being, and being empowered to do our best work, or being a part of Apple.”

The move comes just two days after Tim Cook sent out a note to Apple employees saying they would need return to the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays starting in the fall. Most employees can work remotely twice a week. They can also be remote for up to two weeks a year, pending manager approval.

It’s an easing of restrictions compared to Apple’s previous company culture, which famously discouraged employees from working from home prior to the pandemic. Yet it’s still more conservative compared to other tech giants. Both Twitter and Facebook have told employees they can work from home forever, even after the pandemic ends.

For some Apple workers, the current policy doesn’t go far enough, and shows a clear divide between how Apple executives and employees view remote work.

“Over the last year we often felt not just unheard, but at times actively ignored,” the letter says. “Messages like, ‘we know many of you are eager to reconnect in person with your colleagues back in the office,’ with no messaging acknowledging that there are directly contradictory feelings amongst us feels dismissive and invalidating...It feels like there is a disconnect between how the executive team thinks about remote / location-flexible work and the lived experiences of many of Apple’s employees.”

The letter, addressed to Tim Cook, started in a Slack channel for “remote work advocates” which has roughly 2,800 members. About 80 people were involved in writing and editing the note.

Apple employees say that embracing remote work is paramount for the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts. “For inclusion and diversity to work, we have to recognize how different we all are, and with those differences, come different needs and different ways to thrive,” they say.

Here are the specific asks outlined by employees in the note:

We are formally requesting that Apple considers remote and location-flexible work decisions to be as autonomous for a team to decide as are hiring decisions.

We are formally requesting a company-wide recurring short survey with a clearly structured and transparent communication / feedback process at the company-wide level, organization-wide level, and team-wide level, covering topics listed below.

We are formally requesting a question about employee churn due to remote work be added to exit interviews.

We are formally requesting a transparent, clear plan of action to accommodate disabilities via onsite, offsite, remote, hybrid, or otherwise location-flexible work.

We are formally requesting insight into the environmental impact of returning to onsite in-person work, and how permanent remote-and-location-flexibility could offset that impact.

The letter was sent out for Apple employees to sign late Friday afternoon.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge.

Read the full letter below:

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