Apple Not Expecting Most Corporate Staff to Return to Offices Until June 2021

[MacRumors]

The majority of Apple employees likely won't be returning to work at Apple's Cupertino campuses before June 2021, Apple CEO Tim Cook said today at a town hall meeting, details of which were shared by Bloomberg.

Cook said that while face-to-face collaboration is important, Apple's success amid the pandemic this year could potentially lead to the company being more flexible about remote work in the future. Still, Cook and Apple executives are eager for employees to return to Infinite Loop, Apple Park, and other offices worldwide.

"There's no replacement for face-to-face collaboration, but we have also learned a great deal about how we can get our work done outside of the office without sacrificing productivity or results," he told staff, according to people familiar with the comments. "All of these learnings are important. When we're on the other side of this pandemic, we will preserve everything that is great about Apple while incorporating the best of our transformations this year."

At the current time, Santa Clara County (where Apple's main campuses are located) has a stay at home order that requires companies to allow employees to work from home where applicable, and that will be in place through the end of the year. Cook in July said that he expected employees to return to work in early 2021, but the ongoing global health crisis has been evolving and Apple has had to modify its plans several times.

Other tech companies like Facebook and Google are also allowing employees to work from home until summer 2021, while some, like Twitter and Square, are allowing employees to work from home permanently. Many other smaller tech companies in the Bay Area have also gone entirely remote on a permanent basis due to the pandemic.

Cook also told employees that because of the challenges over the course of the last few months, many would get an additional paid holiday on January 4.

Article Link: Apple Not Expecting Most Corporate Staff to Return to Offices Until June 2021

 

[applicious84]

At least the building's pretty

 

[bpeeps]

Those who can and want to work from home should be allowed to. I had hoped the dependency on the office would have been less necessary once this is all over.

 

[Corsig]

At this point a lot of us have shifted to working from home and it’s working well. I can see this becoming the norm

 

[newyorksole]

I started with a new company this year and everyone is remote with until at least the end of next year, but the office is open in a limited capacity if you want to go in. I love that it isn’t mandatory.

Being remote with the option of coming in 0-4 times or so a month is ideal.

 

[4jasontv]

At this point a lot of us have shifted to working from home and it’s working well. I can see this becoming the norm

I can't even work with pants on anymore.

 

[Apple_Robert]

With the ability of video conferencing when needed, there really isn’t a real need for the suit types to need to return to the campus any time soon.

 

[ghostface147]

I’m one of those who prefers to be in the office. I’m too lazy to work from home.

 

[eas]

As soon as June? I'm surprised, unless they've secured their own supplies of vaccine.

 

[mrgraff]

I can't even work with pants on anymore.

In March, everything I read said dress in your work clothes anyway, so you can mentally separate your home office from home life. I lasted about a month before wearing whatever's comfortable. I have shirts and slacks that haven't left my closet in ten months.

 

[msp3]

This is what white(collar) privilege looks like

 

[Analog Kid]

In March, everything I read said dress in your work clothes anyway, so you can mentally separate your home office from home life. I lasted about a month before wearing whatever's comfortable. I have shirts and slacks that haven't left my closet in ten months.

I know some people who haven’t left their closet in months— best acoustics in the house...

 

[BGPL]

Those who can and want to work from home should be allowed to. I had hoped the dependency on the office would have been less necessary once this is all over.

I worked in management at a fortune 5 company for several years. WFH was great for me and many of my team members, I can honestly say I got more work done at home than at the office, some days by twofold. Having said that, we had some people that simple couldn't do it because of distractions, poor work ethic, etc. That company and others have saved millions on office space and overhead, so I think it is a plus in the long term. But getting the 20% of employees to do actual work at home was a major challenge. There's a second challenge, every other VP that came in wanted the traditional come to work model, they just couldn't wrap their head around empty desks at the office. They believed 80% of the work force was at home building model airplanes, and in reality, it's probably the opposite. No commute, no lunch breaks, no water cooler talk.

 

[travelsheep]

This year a lot of office work has been accomplished while not wearing trousers.

As soon as June? I'm surprised, unless they've secured their own supplies of vaccine.

This whole vaccine business is completely out of control. They should have focused on building helmets or perfected masks. Masks that work > 80% for everyone, which is still a lot more efficient and safer than vaccines.

 

[erinsarah]

I can't even work with pants on anymore.

A couple of weeks ago I dug out my biz-casual work shoes and put them on to take the dog for a walk. By the time I came back my heels were bleeding. Six months of barely wearing shoes has apparently changed the shape of my feet.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

This year a lot of office work has been accomplished while not wearing trousers.



This whole vaccine business is completely out of control. They should have focused on building helmets or perfected masks. Masks that work > 80% for everyone, which is still a lot more efficient and safer than vaccines.

Interesting point... we probably could have gone for a much less R&D heavy approach of just having everyone wear hazmat suits for two weeks. I wonder if it would have been quicker/cheaper to just ramp up production of those and distribute them all instead of inventing a new vaccine.

Of course that only works as long as you have perfect compliance until the virus is gone... vaccines only require a moment of compliance of getting jabbed (twice.)

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

We just got told at my company that we’re not going back to the office until 80% of US residents are vaccinated.

That sounds like never to me... I think getting much beyond 70% is going to be a struggle.

 

[cardfan]

I worked in management at a fortune 5 company for several years. WFH was great for me and many of my team members, I can honestly say I got more work done at home than at the office, some days by twofold. Having said that, we had some people that simple couldn't do it because of distractions, poor work ethic, etc. That company and others have saved millions on office space and overhead, so I think it is a plus in the long term. But getting the 20% of employees to do actual work at home was a major challenge. There's a second challenge, every other VP that came in wanted the traditional come to work model, they just couldn't wrap their head around empty desks at the office. They believed 80% of the work force was at home building model airplanes, and in reality, it's probably the opposite. No commute, no lunch breaks, no water cooler talk.

We stopped allowing work from home back in Sep. Productivity took a nosedive. Most clients I work with pretty much agree.

 

[Bluetoot-]

I’ll tell you who this is really impacting: children, namely school kids. Unless you have a second teacher monitoring them at home (like an exhausted parent), it is damn near impossible to keep them on track. To be honest with you, students have essentially lost a year of schooling.

This is really going to suck for people who can’t work remotely, like retail workers. The future isn’t all that bright.

 

[Rochy Bay]

Those who can and want to work from home should be allowed to. I had hoped the dependency on the office would have been less necessary once this is all over.

They'll allow you to work from home. You just give double productivity and take a pay cut. ?

 

[B4U]

Working from home since March here.
Some may say it is white collar privilege.
But I have been working way longer hours and even worked weekends with no ends in sight.
Colleagues text and call at 20:30 FFS!
Vacation days? Forget about it.
Turn off the work phone? The boss gets called and then calls to the personal phone...
If I blow through my home internet bandwidth, the company won't pay a single dime to cover that.

On the bright side, I managed to save the gas money and the mileage on my car.
(The normal commute time is used for doing more work, so it does not count as positive.)

 

[calstanford]

People won't go to office properly before 2022

 

[1rottenapple]

In March, everything I read said dress in your work clothes anyway, so you can mentally separate your home office from home life. I lasted about a month before wearing whatever's comfortable. I have shirts and slacks that haven't left my closet in ten months.

I said the same thing but didn’t even start lol

 

[shigzeo]

Quite the 2030 agenda.

 

[TonyC28]

Maybe good, maybe bad, but A LOT of companies are probably rethinking how much office square footage they need now.