Apple has doubled-down on plans to make staff return to the office as soon as September and says that it’s “essential” that employees head to the office and perform their duties in person.
Earlier in the month, company CEO Tim Cook announced to employees that the company would adopt a new hybrid working policy, and that staff would need to work from the Apple Park Campus at least three days per week. The news sparked controversy, but Apple hasn’t changed its mind.
As first reported by The Verge, Senior VP of Retail and People Deirdre O’Brien told employees that the company values in-person collaboration as “essential to our culture and our future.”
She added that all of the products and services offered by the company in recent years have been created thanks to in-person collaboration, suggesting that remote working doesn’t offer the same flexibility.
“If we take a moment to reflect on our unbelievable product launches this past year, the products and the launch execution were built upon the base of years of work that we did when we were all together in person,” she said.
Apple closed its offices last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but like many technology companies in the United States, is now asking staff to return to the workplace.
The company will now only allow remote working on a “case by case basis”, though a hybrid working model is certainly more relaxed than it has been.
By comparison, Facebook and Google employees have been told they can work remotely indefinitely, suggesting a significant cultural difference between the firms.
