Apple Will Delay Bringing Employees Back to Offices Until at Least October

Amid another rise in COVID-19 cases and continued concerns from employees about Apple's stated plan to start bringing many employees back into the office three days a week starting in September, Apple has delayed its plans until at least October, reports Bloomberg.

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The report suggests that Apple will continue to monitor the situation and will give employees at least a month's notice before requiring workers to return to their offices.

The iPhone maker becomes one of the first U.S. tech giants to delay plans for a return to normality as Covid persists and cases involving a highly transmissible variant increase. Apple will give its employees at least a month’s warning before mandating a return to offices, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing internal policy.

After over a year of remote work, many employees at not only Apple but many other companies have expressed interest in continuing their remote work arrangements, seeking increased flexibility and in some cases an escape from high housing prices near many corporate headquarters in Silicon Valley and beyond.

While some companies have embraced the move, Apple has so far attempted to take a hybrid approach, arguing that in-person collaboration is essential to the company's culture and future. So while Apple may have delayed its plans to return to at least some in-person work for most employees, it remains to be seen how things will shake out over the long term.

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Top Rated Comments

LinusR Avatar
57 months ago
As opposed to supporting Apple employees for standing up what they believe in, MR below the line calls them whingeing and whining. So many people across the world don’t want to go back to the office, for so many reasons: to spend more time wirth family, to reduce climate impact, just to name a few. Why do we not stand up together and work towards a world in which employees have more power, collectively, and support those who are already trying?
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
erniefairchild1 Avatar
57 months ago
So, retail employees are allowed to get breathed on by thousands of people a day, but the precious folks at Apple Park cant deal with a few wasp breaths from their coworkers. Elitist scum.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jk73 Avatar
57 months ago

They clearly don’t want to go back to office.
Most of them don’t want to move back to California. They want Bay Area pay while living in Idaho or Texas.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
munpip214 Avatar
57 months ago
Why bother even saying October? That's like saying 2 weeks to flatten the curve and then we will be back to normal. Just say TBD
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jk73 Avatar
57 months ago
Pathetic, Tim. Just pathetic.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Shreducator Avatar
57 months ago
We live in a world where corporations have no spine. Twitter mob comes then fire an employee, change a products name, use different terminology and so on. Cave to employees. Use the rainbow to pretend you care about more than just the companies ESG score. Don’t know what that is? It’s the woke social score for investors. Look it up. Yet here we are lining up every year like good trained dogs and empowering China in the process. Then we pretend to be so virtuous.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)