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

[MacRumors]

Apple's director of machine learning, Ian Goodfellow, has resigned from his role a little over four years after he joined the company after previously being one of Google's top AI employees, according to The Verge's Zoë Schiffer.

Goodfellow reportedly broke the news to staff in an email, saying his resignation is in part due to Apple's plan to return to in-person work, which required employees 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. "I believe strongly that more flexibility would have been the best policy for my team," Goodfellow said in the email.

Apple employees began returning to Apple Park last month, with the three-day in-office work policy being enacted on May 23. Some employees have been unhappy about the plan to return to in-person work.

In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook during the summer, a group of employees said "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. This is a decision none of us take lightly, and a decision many would prefer not to have to make."

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

 

[sniffies]

You're not a marriage counselor to work from home. You work at a company that builds products, some are life-changing products, products that require maximum focus, productivity, discipline, quality check, again and again. At-home productivity will never equal at-work productivity. At-home discipline will never equal at-school discipline.

Just like you'd never be comfortable with a home-schooled heart surgeon; or get on a rocket built by engineers who worked from home.

Anyway, that said, good riddance to him. There are no irreplaceable people.

 

[idmean]

It’s a free country. Everybody can leave if they feel they’ll be treated better somewhere else…

 

[mozumder]

Absolutely no reason for anyone to work in the office. Zoom/Teams is perfectly fine, and likely more efficient than being in an office. I mean, you at least save the hour or 2 you waste commuting every day.

 

[clarkm]

Apple will lose top talent to competitors because of this.

 

[zorinlynx]

This is going to keep happening. It has nothing to do with Covid, either. People learned they can do their job effectively from home, and many feel downright insulted to have to come back to the office to work after getting into a comfortable work from home routine.

Companies need to adjust and realize that allowing employees who can do their job effectively from home to do so will only benefit everyone. This is especially the case for companies in the Bay Area where housing prices and cost of living are so high, a six figure salary can feel like poverty. I'm sure this particular high level employee didn't have that problem but a lot of lower level ones do, having to live further and further from work to afford a decent home. They also do the real grunt work that makes companies like Apple shine, and losing them will be very detrimental to the company.

Apple needs to rethink this, and let people continue working from home. My guess is they want to justify that insane campus they built.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Absolutely no reason for anyone to work in the office. Zoom/Teams is perfectly fine, and likely more efficient than being in an office.

Cool. How does Starbucks make your drinks?

 

[Icaras]

People are ridiculous

I think companies are ridiculous.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Oh no. Another entitled person didn’t get their way. No loss.

This is going to keep happening. It has nothing to do with Covid, either. People learned they can do their job effectively from home, and many feel downright insulted to have to come back to the office to work after getting into a comfortable work from home routine.

Companies need to adjust and realize that allowing employees who can do their job effectively from home to do so will only benefit everyone. This is especially the case for companies in the Bay Area where housing prices and cost of living are so high, a six figure salary can feel like poverty. I'm sure this particular high level employee didn't have that problem but a lot of lower level ones do, having to live further and further from work to afford a decent home. They also do the real grunt work that makes companies like Apple shine, and losing them will be very detrimental to the company.

Apple needs to rethink this, and let people continue working from home. My guess is they want to justify that insane campus they built.

So artificially make housing prices higher where people expect Bay Area paychecks for living in Ohio?

This madness will stop at some point especially with recession looming. Looking forward to these people crying they can no longer take 2 hour make during the day while they “work”

 

[GizmoDVD]

I think companies are ridiculous.

Because they want you back in the office instead of taking numerous breaks? Slacking off? Running and doing errands while on the clock?

 

[cupcakes2000]

Apple will lose top talent to competitors because of this.

Because of what? Asking people to come in to work? I doubt that. Covid aside it’s a ridiculous thing to say. In light of covid it’s less ridiculous but certainly an issue which need to be resolved one way or another. Sometimes going in to work is more beneficial than just working.

 

[1Peace]

I’m programmer who works from home.
I’ve never been so productive.
I’ve never been so rested.

 

[Deliro]

Absolutely no reason for anyone to work in the office. Zoom/Teams is perfectly fine, and likely more efficient than being in an office. I mean, you at least save the hour or 2 you waste commuting every day.

I work in a big tech company that went remote and I can definitely tell you that our productivity went down massively. Even after our infrastructure was tuned in to support this, we’re not close to precovid levels of productivity. There’s also a big time loss of collaboration and team building. It’s doable sure but at the lack of similar output. People are getting paid more to produce less right now, while in their PJs.

 

[bpeeps]

Cool. How does Starbucks make your drinks?

This is such a silly reply. Retail and service are obviously jobs that can't be done from home. No one expects the dude washing your car to be able to work from home. But those who can easily do so, should be allowed to. It's 2022, stop simping for corporations and holding onto ancient ways of doing something just because that's how it was done in the past. What an absolutely ridiculous reply.

 

[Edsel]

Apple spent $1 Billion on their campus. They need to fill it with humans or the vermin will take over….

 

[HiVolt]

This is going to keep happening. It has nothing to do with Covid, either. People learned they can do their job effectively from home, and many feel downright insulted to have to come back to the office to work after getting into a comfortable work from home routine.

Maybe certain jobs. But Apple is very secretive, and the last couple years the product & software releases haven't been very polished. Lots of bugs, and lots of features delayed.

 

[bpeeps]

I work in a big tech company that went remote and I can definitely tell you that our productivity went down massively. Even after our infrastructure was tuned in to support this, we’re not close to precovid levels of productivity. There’s also a big time loss of collaboration and team building. It’s doable sure but at the lack of similar output. People are getting paid more to produce less right now, while in their PJs.

That sounds more like a fault of your company than anything else. Entire production studios are working from home in my industry, the people putting movies and tv shows together, and it's been perfectly fine. Deadlines are still hit.

 

[zorinlynx]

Because they want you back in the office instead of taking numerous breaks? Slacking off? Running and doing errands while on the clock?

This is the dumbest take ever.

At the professional level there is no "clock". You have a job to do, you do it and get it done. That's it. If you do three hours of workin the morning, four hours in the afternoon and finish something up for an hour at 23:30 before bed, you're being just as effective as someone who has to go to the office do it in an 8-10 hour chunk.

People who want to slack off will do so at the office too. Eventually their low output will be noticed and they'll be talked to and possibly dismissed like any other bad employee.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Because they want you back in the office instead of taking numerous breaks? Slacking off? Running and doing errands while on the clock?

This is a very cliché way of seeing things. If the work is being done then it doesn’t matter to anyone other than the quality of life has improved for the person concerned

 

[Icaras]

Because they want you back in the office instead of taking numerous breaks? Slacking off? Running and doing errands while on the clock?

Nope. I WFH and I’ve never been more productive than I am now. I’m more distracted with co workers talking and gossiping all the time. My performance has never been better since I’m able to focus at home.

 

[Diamond Dog]

Because they want you back in the office instead of taking numerous breaks? Slacking off? Running and doing errands while on the clock?

Your lack of self control does not map to everybody else.

I am more productive and put more work in since WFH than prior. The metrics are also tracked more closely at my company. The key is, I don’t constantly get interrupted by people stopping by for a chat. And I don’t mind putting in the occasional extra half or full hour of work now and then, because previously I was spending two hours EVERY day in my car.

I’m also much more rested and comfortable given I am now able to craft my own physical working environment.

 

[No5tromo]

Commuting stress, road rage, less sleep, less time for yourself, less time for your family, social interactions you don't care for, uncomfortable clothes, exposing yourself to potential health hazard, less productive, more stressed. Working in the office is ********. Period.

 

[vagos]

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.

 

[christarp]

Cool. How does Starbucks make your drinks?

didn't realize they worked in offices

 

[rgwebb]

I work in the public sector and my employer has been bleeding IT and software developers since they mandated a return to the office in late 2020. Once someone realizes that it is ridiculous to get into slacks and sit in a cube city to RDP into a server, console into a SAN or vSphere, or access a git repository...you're never going to make them see mandatory in-office any other way than a wage cage. Tech also happens to pretty much perpetually be in demand so some other entity that offers full-remote or office optional is going to poach your talent...and nobody gives a damn that your whole university model value-add hinges on maintaining the appearances that in-person operations are happening.