Apple Employees Reportedly Petitioning Against Plan to Return to Office 3x Per Week

[MacRumors]

Apple employees are reportedly petitioning against the company's plan to require workers to return to in-person work at the office three days a week starting next month.

Earlier this month, Apple informed corporate employees that they must return to the office for three days a week starting early next month. The current plan will require staff to come to the office on Tuesday, Thursday, and a third day of the week that will vary by team.

According to a new report from the Financial Times, a growing number of employees at Apple are reportedly unhappy with the new plan, instead advocating for "location flexible work." The report cites a petition formed by the group "Apple Together" that's making its way around Apple and gaining signatures. Apple has been eager to get employees back to in-person work for some time. Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, has defended Apple's eagerness to return to the office to protect the "in-person collaboration that is so essential to our culture."

Apple Together counters that a "uniform mandate from senior leadership" fails to respect the "many compelling reasons" why some employees are "happier and more productive" working outside of traditional office arrangements.

The group is demanding that Apple allows employees to work with their "immediate manager" to decide their working arrangements, and that they should not be subject to "high-level approvals" and "complex procedures" or have to provide private information.

The petition says that Apple "should encourage, not prohibit, flexible work" where employees can "feel comfortable to 'think different' together." Apple's current plan to have employees working in-person at the office three days a week starts on September 5.

Article Link: Apple Employees Reportedly Petitioning Against Plan to Return to Office 3x Per Week

 

[ghanwani]

hoocoodanode?

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

What I would like to know is, is this an issue with health and safety or and an issue with working conditions? The two are obviously very different and I feel need to be tackled differently. The petition doesn’t appear to drill into any specific details.

 

[tomnavratil]

A fairly complex situation overall, not just for Apple but for most of the companies in the Valley. On one hand, it is clear that the general trend of WFH is not going away and most companies (especially in tech) can probably accommodate that to some extent. The question is, what to do with the office spaces, how to handle areas where access needs to be controlled and monitor, i.e. engineering, product design and so on. Also, what about the housing market? I don't think many of the people working in the Valley would actually live in the Valley unless they've had to under the current circumstances.

 

[WiiDSmoker]

WFH is the new work benefit and it’s absolutely free for the company to provide. Hunch tells me that Apple just wants to get usage out of the new spaceship more than anything else.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Honestly, I'm all up for coming back to work 3x per week. This is a fair deal.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

WFH is the new work benefit and it’s absolutely free for the company to provide. Hunch tells me that Apple just wants to get usage out of the new spaceship more than anything else.

To be fair though, who wouldn’t? I mean the place is virtually a mini city - has countless shops, leisure centres, it’s own forest and parks, there’s more places to sit with a drink than a Parisian backstreet.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

WFH is the new work benefit and it’s absolutely free for the company to provide. Hunch tells me that Apple just wants to get usage out of the new spaceship more than anything else.

If Apple really wants the usage out of the new spaceship. They are welcome to turn the Apple Campus into a assembly factory plant. Might as well call it, "Designed in Cupertino, California", "Made in Cupertino, California".

 

[aloshka]

To be fair though, who wouldn’t? I mean the place is virtually a mini city - has countless shops, leisure centres, it’s own forest and parks, there’s more places to sit with a drink than a Parisian backstreet.

If i lived close by, I'd go 7 times a week. Problem is, when it's an hour and a half drive, working from home is a better option. Or provide housing to avoid the commute. With gas prices, it's actually very expensive to work on-site.

 

[munpip214]

Honestly, at this point, it is now become more efficient for me to work from home than with other people. I get to work and everybody just wants to talk. Plus the time it takes to commute set up, walk the half a mile to the kitchen, etc..

 

[ghanwani]

If Apple really wants the usage out of the new spaceship. They are welcome to turn the Apple Campus into a assembly factory plant. Might as well call it, "Designed in Cupertino, California", "Made in Cupertino, California".

That wouldn’t be good for the stock price. B-school 101 says outsource manufacturing. Even if it moves back to the US, it would be done by a contract manufacturer, not by Apple directly.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

If i lived close by, I'd go 7 times a week. Problem is, when it's an hour and a half drive, working from home is a better option. Or provide housing to avoid the commute. With gas prices, it's actually very expensive to work on-site.

Great points. But didn’t these issues exist before the virus pandemic? That’s why I feel the employees need to be specific about why don’t wish to return to work. That way Apple can at least try and support them.

 

[Le0M]

Three days at work, four days at home.
I think that's a pretty good deal already.

 

[ghanwani]

The real issue here is that people moved out during the pandemic. Their wages went up 5%. Now if they want to move back, rent and house prices are up 30%. They could barely make ends meet before. Now it just won’t work. They’ll quit before coming back to work. Of course this is hard for Apple management to grasp when they are selling stock and pocketing millions of dollars.

 

[stocklen]

I know this seems weirdly controversial now - and ive no idea why...

But this strikes me as utterly entitled and ridiculous behaviour.

Firstly..... 3 times a week? is that all?? more than generous of apple.
Secondly.... like it or not there are some roles where collaboration is needed, and not in zoom meetings and the like - theres no substitute to face to face interaction. I wonder out loud how much better iOS 15 could have been and iOS16 too.... (though I accept that might just be nonsense)

Thirdly, and HERES THE MAIN ONE...... Each and every employee went to a job interview..... and accepted the job based on where they lived, the commute, the office they were working in... etc etc. Just because its nicer and cheaper not to commute does not mean they now have the right to demand a change in their working conditions... THEY took the job on knowing full well what it entailed..... Covid was a temporary and unprecedented problem and its time to get back to normal like it or not.

The easy answer is if you dont like you job or working conditions (and only 3 days a week in the office which is much better than you had when you took the job on) then simply resign. Stop wasting time and energy with petitions etc - your employer is well within their rights to mandate working arrangements like this and if your office job requires you to be in the office then get in there or move aside and give one of the many thousands out there who would love your job the opportunity to do it and work from that amazing Apple Park location (id love to work there!).

 

[Le0M]

I know this seems weirdly controversial now - and ive no idea why...

But this strikes me as utterly entitled and ridiculous behaviour.

Firstly..... 3 times a week? is that all?? more than generous of apple.
Secondly.... like it or not there are some roles where collaboration is needed, and not in zoom meetings and the like - theres no substitute to face to face interaction. I wonder out loud how much better iOS 15 could have been and iOS16 too.... (though I accept that might just be nonsense)

Thirdly, and HERES THE MAIN ONE...... Each and every employee went to a job interview..... and accepted the job based on where they lived, the commute, the office they were working in... etc etc. Just because its nicer and cheaper not to commute does not mean they now have the right to demand a change in their working conditions... THEY took the job on knowing full well what it entailed..... Covid was a temporary and unprecedented problem and its time to get back to normal like it or not.

The easy answer is if you dont like you job or working conditions (and only 3 days a week in the office which is much better than you had when you took the job on) then simply resign. Stop wasting time and energy with petitions etc - your employer is well within their rights to mandate working arrangements like this and if your office job requires you to be in the office then get in there or move aside and give one of the many thousands out there who would love your job the opportunity to do it and work from that amazing Apple Park location (id love to work there!).

I think people complain because covid just showed that it's actually possible to work from home, so now since everything is organized for that, they think they might as well remain working from home.

 

[macgabe]

Explains why Apple haven’t produced any new products for a couple of years

 

[Sun Baked]

OMG, the trauma of being forced to go back into work and possibly losing their full time side gig.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Explains why Apple haven’t produced any new products for a couple of years

Maybe that's another reason why everything is being delayed and back ordered.

 

[Mr. Dee]

My conclusion at this point, if they are getting the work done at home, why ruin a good thing. The only folks who need to be on campus are those working on Stage Manager, they personally need to be supervised by a stage manager.

 

[Voyageur]

What I would like to know is, is this an issue with health and safety or and an issue with working conditions? The two are obviously very different and I feel need to be tackled differently. The petition doesn’t appear to drill into any specific details.

Rather, there is a banal laziness to spend time on the road and unwillingness to part with home comforts, the opportunity to be near your animals, children, and so on.

 

[munpip214]

Explains why Apple haven’t produced any new products for a couple of years

Product development cycles are much longer than two years. We wouldn’t see the true effects (not that there will be many) until next year at the earliest.

I think people complain because covid just showed that it's actually possible to work from home, so now since everything is organized for that, they think they might as well remain working from home.

Yup. My team has had no issue working from home. There hasn’t been any problem designing that we couldn’t do remotely. Sure, maybe somethings could have been more efficient, but that’s the extent of it. Get more hours out of our team (lack of commute and ease to work at any hours) and they are happier. Seems like a win win for most companies.

 

[Ashbash75]

I'm sure there will be just as much bugs WFH 🤣🤣

 

[C00rDiNaT0r]

I know this seems weirdly controversial now - and ive no idea why...

But this strikes me as utterly entitled and ridiculous behaviour.

Firstly..... 3 times a week? is that all?? more than generous of apple.
Secondly.... like it or not there are some roles where collaboration is needed, and not in zoom meetings and the like - theres no substitute to face to face interaction. I wonder out loud how much better iOS 15 could have been and iOS16 too.... (though I accept that might just be nonsense)

Thirdly, and HERES THE MAIN ONE...... Each and every employee went to a job interview..... and accepted the job based on where they lived, the commute, the office they were working in... etc etc. Just because its nicer and cheaper not to commute does not mean they now have the right to demand a change in their working conditions... THEY took the job on knowing full well what it entailed..... Covid was a temporary and unprecedented problem and its time to get back to normal like it or not.

The easy answer is if you dont like you job or working conditions (and only 3 days a week in the office which is much better than you had when you took the job on) then simply resign. Stop wasting time and energy with petitions etc - your employer is well within their rights to mandate working arrangements like this and if your office job requires you to be in the office then get in there or move aside and give one of the many thousands out there who would love your job the opportunity to do it and work from that amazing Apple Park location (id love to work there!).

Did Apple notice all those employees' change of addresses amid the pandemic? If so, what did they say about it? I don't suppose they encouraged those employees to relocate elsewhere..

 

[d686546s]

Great points. But didn’t these issues exist before the virus pandemic? That’s why I feel the employees need to be specific about why don’t wish to return to work. That way Apple can at least try and support them.

I don't work at Apple, but I think every employer to some degree faces this discussion at the moment.

Before the pandemic hit we'd all just taken for granted that we need to commute and go to an office 4 or 5 days per week. Then we were all forced to live an alternative and overall it just worked. I spend significantly less time and money on public transport. For me that works out to two additional hours I can spend on something I actually enjoy.

Our productivity did not go down over the pandemic, but that's not to say that there aren't things that work better in person. Ideally you want the flexibility to go in when needed, and work from home when you don't. Instead it often seems the push back to work is driven by a desire to not waste the corporate lease.