Apple Requiring Employees to Return to Office 3x Per Week Starting on September 5

[JCCL]

But for Apple? This is...I don't know. Hopefully this WFO 3x per week will finally bring greatness back to Apple again.

Greatness has been missing for a while. We’ve been stuck with iterative products with minor updates since long before COVID. iPadOS has forever been lackluster and limited. It is not like if iOS became more buggy since 2020, iOS 12 has probably been the worst of them all and that one was produced in the office!

If anything the biggest innovation is the engineering marvel the M processors are. Those were introduced quite a few months into the pandemic and the more powerful variants even deeper into it.

I personally lead a global team in spread in all Geo’s and don’t care if my team members are in the office or home if they drive and achieve the expected outcome. The lazy ones were lazy before the pandemic (and was able to get a couple of them to exit the company). The good performers continued to perform as good as always, and if anything are thankful for more flexibility (and more open to having meetings after hours which is common for a global team as no time is good for everyone).

 

[currocj]

CDC’s recent updates no doubt influenced Apple leadership.

I have no opinion either way, WFH or partial WFO.

I’ve been working from home 100% since March 2020. I don’t miss the 35-40 minute each way commute.

Apple can do as they please, let the markets decide.

 

[andrewxgx]

need a lot of meeting and brainstorming to figure out how to push ads in apps on a premium priced devices without people rebelling lmao

 

[iGeneo]

Your job is at 1 Infinite loop...

Get over it and get to work or find another job

I'm so over catering to the entitled

 

[Realityck]

I don't understand why people on this forum are so against people wanting to work from home. Okay, so you wouldn't do it, but why make fun of others wanting to do it and why belittle it?

I legitimately did the best work of my life during WFH. I miss it.

I think most of those that don't either a) are people who enjoy going into the office for the social aspect or b) are managers who are resistant to change.

It's more complicated then simply having the ability to work at home instead of the office, always has been. A lot of jobs really are hands on in offices close to labs or other facilities. There are indeed people that have an extra room and modified their networking and power to provide a localized substitute, but it ain't the same as the number of options at work. This I can do my job from home for many is an inconvenience for engineering depts especially those involved with a project with a lot of complexity and constant revisions. So for anyone discussing this you have to look at all job roles that a company utilizes, not the ones that can easily be done at home remotely.

 

[1BadManVan]

The team I work on consists of people that live in Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama, Michigan, Canada, and Ecuador... We have a huge workload, and somehow we are massively productive without ever going into an office.

And you guys make physical products as all from home? Somehow i doubt that. Yes they are mass produced over seas, but anyone that’s actually worked in this industry also knows there’s lots of prototypes and PHYSICAL work involved in designing and producing these.

 

[BrownyQ]

its fair enough WFH doesn’t work for everyone and flexibility is a good thing, but please don’t assume not being in the office is being lazy, not driving in is a godsend considering the fuel prices or the train services being on strikes lately.

The lazy comment was directed at not having to drive to get to work. But even that varies from person to person.

I've heard from some coworkers who have 45+ minute commutes who, while not happy about the length of the drive, use the opportunity to listen to content they wouldn't be able to otherwise (podcasts, audiobooks, etc). Gas prices are terrible, so I also understand that grievance; I made the choice to switch to a hybrid a while back, and it's been saving me so much money now that I only have to fill the tank once a month.

 

[JM]

I don't understand why people on this forum are so against people wanting to work from home. Okay, so you wouldn't do it, but why make fun of others wanting to do it and why belittle it?

I legitimately did the best work of my life during WFH. I miss it.

I think most of those that don't either a) are people who enjoy going into the office for the social aspect or b) are managers who are resistant to change.

Very clever username

What is your profession? Some professions can do WFH just fine… but not all.

My profession is design and it 100% is better in person to collaborate with others face to face, and take advantage of the spontaneous conversations and problem solving sessions that come about from random encounters and walking down to talk to coworkers for either intended business questions/comments or socializing that inevitably ends up as work talk.

Also, I really have to question what the perception is of “best work ever WFH”: what are the metrics? Whose opinion counts for what is “best work ever”?

I suspect that your (and others’) opinions are wearing rose tinted glasses of “best work ever” from home. Maybe it feels like it, but in reality is not from a company view point.

Maybe the metrics for “productive” are different from company’s viewpoint and employees’ viewpoint.

 

[buckwheet]

The problem is, the pandemic illustrated how much time and money people saved by not commuting every day. That’s extremely hard to give up. So yeah, there will probably be people who choose to leave instead of doing this.

Absolutely. But at the end of the day there definitely is value in bringing people together when the objective is creative collaboration. Bean counters and lawyers can work from wherever (e.g., 8th circle/Malebolge), but anybody engaged in anything even remotely creative can really benefit from actual face-to-face communication.

 

[AF_APPLETALK]

Get these cry babies back to work. Enough of this work from home. 3 days is more than generous. They went to the office before COVID they can do it again. If they don’t like it they can quit.

Apple's Director of Machine Learning Resigns Due to Return to Office Work

Apple's director of machine learning, Ian Goodfellow, has resigned from his role a little over four years after he joined the company after...

www.macrumors.com

They are.

 

[genovelle]

I don't understand why people on this forum are so against people wanting to work from home. Okay, so you wouldn't do it, but why make fun of others wanting to do it and why belittle it?

I legitimately did the best work of my life during WFH. I miss it.

I think most of those that don't either a) are people who enjoy going into the office for the social aspect or b) are managers who are resistant to change.

Wanting to work from home is fine if you take a job at a company that sees value in that. One that can do what they do without employees on site. Apple’s design excellence requires their ability to interact directly with other employees without notice. For Google and Microsoft, 90 to 95 percent of their business is software only and they really don’t focus on how that software integrates with hardware. Apple is a hardware company making software to run on it. Even the CPU and GPU now modem teams need ready access to not only the designers but the software teams for the OS, first party apps and the partners secretly testing their 3rd party Apps on unreleased hardware. To maintain their competitive edge, much of what they do cannot be allowed out of the building. Remember that iPhone prototype that was left in a bar. Corporate espionage is a real thing and if Apple folks are working from home for good with secret products floating around, they will suddenly have a lot of new best friends that love yo hang out at their place.

 

[Scoob Redux]

Get these cry babies back to work. Enough of this work from home. 3 days is more than generous. They went to the office before COVID they can do it again. If they don’t like it they can quit.

That's a great suggestion. I told my employer exactly that..."If you make me come back even 1 day, I quit". They folded and gave me a raise.

 

[DHagan4755]

This is more than fair. Any employee who doesn't like it, can resign. It's really quite simple.

 

[AF_APPLETALK]

They'll revert on this when the fuel rationing and climate lockdowns start

 

[AF_APPLETALK]

Sounds fair. Two days to be lazy and not have to drive into the office? I could do the same set up at my job, but I choose to drive in daily because I've found that working from home taints my home space with work vibes, and I don't want to think about the job while home.

Eventually your credit card will calculate that you can't buy any more gas for the month because you treated yourself to a steak dinner and that's too much carbon emissions.

 

[ratspg]

The original employment contracts probably didn't say WFH or 3 days only at Apple HQ... Just because its an acquired taste and worked well for some, doesn't mean they automatically get to keep it. While I'm sure some jobs and employees can fit the WFH lifestyle, its up to their employer to decide. Don't like it, try and renegotiate and/or quit. It's been interesting to watch employees glorify how much they enjoy to WFH and how its the best ever. Great, you had a nice 1-2 year run at it. Congrats!

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

People who are refusing to come back to work at Apple Park should be given a second option to work at Foxconn's factory in China.

 

[genovelle]

Apple's Director of Machine Learning Resigns Due to Return to Office Work

Apple's director of machine learning, Ian Goodfellow, has resigned from his role a little over four years after he joined the company after...

www.macrumors.com

They are.

He was likely a spy anyway. Let them go. That will open the door for fresh talent that appreciates the opportunity they are given and paid very well for at that. I’d clean house by requiring 5 day work weeks during busy periods before release then after they are gone reward those remaining for actually doing what they were hired to do. I might even give options to work mostly from home at a much lower pay grade to make room for the people who will do the work that needs to be done on site.

Remember the most Apple employees don’t have that option because they work at a store. Why treat these employees differently when the company really needs them to show up.

 

[B4U]

Yup. Let's do the hour-long meeting while on the commute.

 

[No5tromo]

People who bring Covid as an excuse for not going to the office are full of ****. I've seen those same people going from festival to festival and from gathering to gathering. Having said that I am generally pro WFH. My company requested everyone back to the office 6 months ago for the whole 5 days, the commuting stress alone makes wanna re-evaluate my life choices.

 

[spazzcat]

People who are refusing to come back to work at Apple Park should be given a second option to work at Foxconn's factory in China.

They will go work for Apple's competitors...

 

[Unregistered 4U]

As long as Apple requires even one day a week of in office work, employees will need to live nearby. I suspect that’s more the issue.

Very likely the case. Some states/municipalities provide tax breaks to large businesses with lots of employees understanding those nearby employees will be spending quite a bit of money locally as they go to and from work and all the places in between. I’d imagine that, even for those that are able to work from home 100%, there’s still a reluctance by the companies to have that person move to, say, a cheaper state.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Sounds fair. Two days to be lazy and not have to drive into the office? I could do the same set up at my job, but I choose to drive in daily because I've found that working from home taints my home space with work vibes, and I don't want to think about the job while home.

This is a too real thing. It’s even recommended for folks that work from home to set up a “space” at home where work is done for their psychological health and leave that space when work is done. Not everyone has to do that or even CAN do that, but there are mental benefits from being able to step away from work in a physical way.

 

[everlast3434]

This is inevitable. Do you think they built that big fancy circle to have it empty? Soon enough, it’ll be all 5 in the office.

 

[MacLawyer]

How much did Apple Pay for the spaceship? Bet they didn't plan on lockdowns to start right after they completed it.