Apple Sets April 11 Deadline for U.S. Employees to Return to Office

[I7guy]

Regardless of feelings about the pandemic, this is a mistake from a recruiting strategy. flexible work in tech is becoming a must have in order to get the best talent, especially with people not wanting to live in high cost states. They're cutting themselves off from the bulk of the potential employee pool.

There’s always someone better who will be willing to follow the corporate guidelines.

 

[w5jck]

Good! Chain them to their desks and make them squash all the bugs they created while supposedly working from home. Obviously productivity went way down and bug counts went way up during the FAILED work at home experiment. I used to be in favor of work from home until the Apple developers proved they couldn't get anything done correctly when home, or wherever they were when they were supposed to be working.

 

[chucker23n1]

this is a mistake from a recruiting strategy. flexible work in tech is becoming a must have in order to get the best talent, especially with people not wanting to live in high cost states. They're cutting themselves off from the bulk of the potential employee pool.

Indeed. Apple has some serious competition here.

In that memo, Cook said employees would be asked to return to their offices on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with the option of working remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Not having those days be consecutive is just annoying for everyone, though.

If it were office Monday through Wednesday, remote Thursday through Friday, you could:

1. pack your stuff on the weekend or Monday morning, head to the office, leave some things at the office for Tuesday and Wednesday
2. on Wednesday, bring everything home; use that on Thursday on Friday

Instead, it's:

1. pack your stuff on the weekend or Monday morning, head to the office, leave some things at the office for Tuesday
2. on Tuesday, bring everything home; use that on Wednesday
3. pack your stuff again for Thursday; bring it home again the very same day
4. on Friday, use it again

 

[Blackstick]

Speaking as a Mac/iOS sysadmin, my boss is across an ocean. He doesn't care if I'm on the moon or a beach, long as I can hit the Jamf server and fulfill deliverables.

 

[calstanford]

Should of been ages ago

Should of nothing

 

[Ethosik]

I am a huge proponent of remote work in general but Monterey was an absolute debacle, it's like they were trying to produce the buggiest, least stable Mac OS of all time. If Apple employees working from the office translates to fixing Monterey and similar dumpster fires not happening again, then as a user of Apple's software I'd breathe a (somewhat selfish, as I know remote work is great) sigh of relief.

Monterey is way more stable than Catalina and initial Big Sur. Those two releases caused 4-5 kernel panics PER DAY on my 2019 i9 iMac with the Vega GPU. Apple confirmed it was an OS issue and was fixed in a late Catalina patch and the first big Big Sur patch.

 

[I7guy]

They could have done it gradually instead of having thousands of employees back to work all at once. It’s like the pandemic never happened. What kind of science is this!

The people I know who are employees by major companies have been given a date. There is no “gradual” RTO.

 

[ronntaylor]

Apple has planned for a hybrid work schedule. In the June 2021 memo, Cook said that employees would be asked to return to their offices on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with the option of working remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays. Teams requiring in-person work would return to the office for four to five days a week, the memo added.

Seems reasonable to me. Allows for a midweek respite and preparation for weekend getaway. It allows Apple and employees to modify schedules on an ongoing basis. Some teams may require full in-person work, but they can tailor schedules based on needs and specific cases.

 

[eric89074]

Wagie wagie get in cagey.

 

[macsound1]

The people I know who are employees by major companies have been given a date. There is no “gradual” RTO.

Which is kinda dumb. Not only will the employees hate the act of coming back to work, the lunchrooms, busses, security, parking, and facilities teams will essentially fail for the first couple months while they re-learn what it’s like to have 100% (or whoever’s left) back using work services.
Not to mention traffic.
I hope the rest of Silicon Valley doesn’t choose the same in office days…

 

[kalafalas]

Good. Hopefully now the teams can start communicating again. There are so many poor and inconsistent design choices across their platforms it's getting beyond a joke. Why is 'Open in new tab' on Mac Safari now 'Open in background' on iPad? Just one tiny but irritating example. Of more immediate concern is the absolutely disastrous and user hostile sidebars in both versions. Maybe if people are actually banging heads together in real life then things might get done. Right now it feels like their developer teams are working on different sides of the galaxy from each other while their bosses are on the golf course in another universe.

Settings > safari > open links

It’s different because there’s two options.

 

[macsound1]

This is great news! I hope the date does not change again. I can't wait for Apple to hold its in-person Apple events later this year.

I think Apple will resume in person events even if they didn’t have people working in the office.
Although neither happened for the same reason (covid), how they resume isn’t dependent on each other.

 

[ruka.snow]

So in the end they get two days of productivity and three days in the office. There goes the hope for ever better software from Apple and reduced bug count, just so some middle management can have their long missed meetings that are currently done in half the time or less online.

 

[incoherent_1]

Remote work for developers is great in most cases, but with Apple and similar companies, there is a ton of highly secretive materials & trade secrets that just can’t be secured in a home environment. Hopefully a middle ground can be found.

 

[npmacuser5]

Work environment can change overnight. Two choices for employee, accept or move on. Complaining not one of the choices. Happened in my career several times. Make the best decision for you. Simple!

 

[anthogag]

Time for underwear Mondays and robe Wednesdays then pyjama Fridays at the office.

 

[LonestarOne]

covid is done for the most part... vaccinate the compromised and lets all get back to life again...

The compromised are not the only people at risk. I have a friend who spent 8 weeks in bed hallucinating. You know, one of the “99% who will survive.”

Stop believing the propaganda.

 

[BeefCake 15]

If the same work is capable of being completed remotely there’s absolutely no reason for staff to return to in-person work 100% of the time.

A hybrid work environment is the future and any company or business who doesn’t get on board is stuck in the past.

If return to office doesn't include Hybrid then I disagree with them. I specifically noted hybrid in my new job specifically for this. I like being in the office few days a week but still value my remote days where I don't need to be there.

 

[dominiongamma]

This is great news! I hope the date does not change again. I can't wait for Apple to hold its in-person Apple events later this year.

Not me, the audience is an embarrassment with clapping every 5 seconds

 

[FlyGuyDEN]

Apple is going to lose top talent because of this.

 

[Eggtastic]

Looks like a cool place to work and probably has amazing amenities. However maybe a middle ground should be met (3 days office, 2 at home).

 

[GizmoDVD]

Sounds good. Get back to work. if your vaccinated, no big deal. If not, just make sure you have a good picture for your future GoFundMe.

 

[bpeeps]

I kinda like the virtual events more. We get cool transitions and music and no applause every 10 mins.

The virtual events are a step up over the live ones in almost every way, especially the lack of applause.

 

[jazz1]

Well their goes my Zoom B-Day Party. The 11th is my B-Day ?? It would be nice it the Apple Employees could still work a few days at home a week! My kids do that.

 

[Realityck]

Apple is planning for a hybrid in-office and at-home work schedule going forward. The report states that Apple employees will be required to work from the office at least one day per week by April 11, at least two days per week by May 2, and at least three days per week by May 23. Those three days would be Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with most employees having the option to work remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays.

"For many of you, I know that returning to the office represents a long-awaited milestone and a positive sign that we can engage more fully with the colleagues who play such an important role in our lives," said Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a memo to employees obtained by Bloomberg. "For others, it may also be an unsettling change."

I like the aspect of gradual testing the waters of on site work environment for all the employees that been required to work remotely and now need to readjust. As mentioned a lot of what some work on is awkward to do from home, especially hardware engineering which has likely delayed product announcements. I hope all this works out well for everyone employed and their families.