That really does describe a lot of the commenters here. Well done!
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Apple Staff Complain About Plans for Return to Office Work in Letter to Tim Cook
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“The graveyards of Europe are filled with indispensable people.”
That’s what my new boss, a Belgian, told me the day I met him after first saying “I hear amazing things about you. You’re considered indispensable around here,” fooling me into thinking I was being paid a compliment.
Little did I know that that meeting would be the start of the inexorable process that led me not only to leave AMD’s CPU design team, but to switch careers entirely.
I used to like going into the engineering lab on the weekends when nobody was there and crank up the original Van Halen while I worked. I would get more done then vs during regular work hours.
Timmy just doesn't know what to do with an empty $5 billion spaceship.
30% of basecamp’s workforce quit in response to the founders’ new policy on not discussing politics at work. Today, they have found replacements for those positions and are doing better than ever.
Either way, the first people I would let go at a company are those who are a threat to corporate culture, no matter how good they are (eg: Scott Forstall). It will also send a strong message that no one is truly indispensable, and not to overestimate their worth.
Apple will survive their departure.
Lots of “old men yelling at clouds” around here. Talents gunna go where the best pay and benefits are. If you’re offered a job at both Apple and Twitter, and you value work from home…where you gunna work ?
Yeah and those poor ex-Apple employees will have to find a job flipping burgers. 🤣
Smally, even if the 80 people who wrote the letter quit because of this, they have thousands of employees at other sites around Silicon Valley who would love to be moved to the mothership.
Why are the goalposts being moved? Foxconn? Being safe? At some point in the future this pandemic will be in the taillights. If an employer requires one to be in the office, and you don’t want to, what are your options?
Things are going to shake out on a case by case basis. You may be lucky and be able to ask for your schedule and have it granted. Others may not be so lucky.
Some believe if they quit, a multi-billion company will go down the tubes. Not the case.
And yet Apple pays engineers less than other companies in the valley. So maybe it isn’t about pay and benefits.
1. Fall in line
2. Play the victim and use social media as a tool against the employer hoping they cave to irrational pressure
3. Start telling everyone you know how much Apple mistreated you
I say option 2 is already in full use
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I get it, but it -can- matter in other organizations. And indispensable is different than rainmaker. The former is an approbation. The latter is a functional reality.
Comma lives matter.
Quit telling everyone you know how much Apple mistreated you.
Quit, telling everyone you know how much Apple mistreated you.
Quit, telling everyone, "you know how much Apple mistreated you."
Some of the entitlement displayed in these threads is astounding. If I worked for a company that:
1. Supported me through the pandemic
2. Gave some form of extra remuneration to help me through it
3. Didn’t fire me
4. Gave me a raise/bonus as if nothing has happened
5. I’m basically whole in June 2021 while plenty of people had terrible circumstances…
I would be like: “what do you want me to do?” Not making the employer out to be the bad guy.
Sorry, the forum software changed the word on me as I was typing and I didn't catch it. I have correctly changed it to "Start telling everyone..."
Absolutely. Apple went above and beyond and they have been very reasonable with their new return policy. I would be very thankful for an employer like that.
While this article is about Apple, I can guarantee this discussion is happening at most corporations/businesses.
Nothing did happen. Have you seen Apple's revenues for 2020?
Absolutely get that point. But TBH, the letter was effusive with praise for Apple overall - sure, some of the requests were a bit over the line coming from staff. But you open negotiations with the big ask, then work on the deal, -if- you can get one at all. But if Apple said "Nope, my way or Highway", then there's the answer. But it won't hurt to ask...
Apple is one of the most profitable companies in the world. They'd be nothing without these very employees. Stop defending corporations over real people.
Problem was that it seemed they deliberately leaked the letter to theverge. Perhaps to generate an uproar to pressure Apple into capitulating.
This isn’t the tone of someone with a “it won’t hurt to ask” mentality. It’s akin to someone banging their fists on the table and going “my way or the highway”. To their boss.
No matter how magnanimous I may be, if I as the boss were to give in to their demands here and now, what sort of example would I be setting and what sort of message would I be sending? That it’s okay to sidestep proper channels and use this sort of pressure tactics to get their way?
I will never be able to hold my head up high in front of all the other employees ever again.
Apple can’t stop people from continuing to pull this exact same tactic in the future, but they can send a very strong message that it will not have the desired outcome they are hoping for.
Then perhaps we should be that to the test. If these people are as valuable and indispensable and you make them out to be, they would have no problems looking for a better job elsewhere and Apple would be in big trouble from the exodus of talent.
You all should be clapping and cheering.
Excellent point. I agree. It would have been much better to quietly go through proper channels.