A way over baked letter. But sure, perhaps giving flexibity to the individual teams to set WFH policy is fine. The person running automated app approval tests probably doesn’t need to be in 3 days a week and could do just as well sitting on a beach somewhere. Other departments, different story.
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Apple Staff Complain About Plans for Return to Office Work in Letter to Tim Cook
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haha, this is what you get when a company gets involved in pandering to all groups of people.
You're projecting a tremendous amount here. Speculating about the work ethic, mindsets. and (seemingly) the political positions of people you don't know at all.
You still—whoosh—managed to completely avoid the substance of my question which is—what do you think makes remote work inherently lazy?!?
Do you think emails and reports—for example—are somehow better just because they're produced in an expensive building?!?!
Yes but the media desperate for news of course sensationalizes whatever they can
All the people screaming “spoiled brats“ clearly have not a work from home job 
all that envy here… are you living in the old ages? Industry has to evolutionize. And working from home with more flexibility should be taken into consideration.
I‘m don‘t share all their demands etc. but I understand that we shouldn‘t just convert back to the pre-covid days. We can take the things that improved over time into our nice new future.
all that envy here… are you living in the old ages? Industry has to evolutionize. And working from home with more flexibility should be taken into consideration.
I‘m don‘t share all their demands etc. but I understand that we shouldn‘t just convert back to the pre-covid days. We can take the things that improved over time into our nice new future.
Yeah why should Apple store employees have to work physically at the store? They can work from home and interact with shoppers through an iPad attached to a robot roaming the store. The Genius Bar has a bunch of FedEx boxes with prepaid labels for you to drop off your devices /s.
Sure and having that refirigerator with in arms reach every day while rolling out of bed onto your desk and walking 5 feet to the bathroom is great for your health. Have u seen the sizes of people now? Yikes
That’s the number one thing that irritates me about coverage regarding this sort of matters.
The number of people pushing for such a change is clearly in the overwhelming minority, yet the headlines always make it seem like Apple is on the verge of some company-wide revolt.
I guess that’s one “feature” of the internet - to amplify issues and make them seem like a bigger deal than they really are. But sites like TheVerge aren’t really help matters by playing right in the hands of these people.
While I had instant (judgy-ish) thoughts at start, I think this is a rather complex topic.
First, even though most or all employees may get vaccinated, their families or their environment may not, and some chains still allow for infection.
Second, the social and economical environment may still have special cases where parents have difficulties ensuring their children‘s safety, or having to take care of them entirely.
I can imagine that some use that letter as a „me too“ mechanism to up their lifestyle, but that does not mean that all of those folks are lazy bums. It may be a mistake to make it hard for some who are in need just because of some bad players. But then again, Tim‘s letter also mentioned talking to their managers, and it‘s right there: Communication. If there is a need, make sure it‘s understood correctly.
There is also the reverse aspect of inclusion. Imagine you ask a team of ten about how they prefer to work, and only one likes and needs the presence of others around them to be productive and happy - democratically speaking, extending home office may benefit nine at the cost of one, but inclusion means finding common ground. At the point of inclusion, everyone is in fact quite different and even if everyone has the same position, different people bring different ideas to the table. You may prevent them from doing their best work.
I feel I know (but don’t know if my feeling is correct) how most people think about people with a lot of money, thus about Tim and the rest of the leadership/execs. What about them trying to build this huge office which, in their mind, resembled much of their dream. They wanted to make it a home hub for work and trying to make it look the least possible way like a normal boring office. They need to feel included as well.
There‘s a huge gap in communication and both parties need to have direct talks. Put the demands aside and run through the issues.
First, even though most or all employees may get vaccinated, their families or their environment may not, and some chains still allow for infection.
Second, the social and economical environment may still have special cases where parents have difficulties ensuring their children‘s safety, or having to take care of them entirely.
I can imagine that some use that letter as a „me too“ mechanism to up their lifestyle, but that does not mean that all of those folks are lazy bums. It may be a mistake to make it hard for some who are in need just because of some bad players. But then again, Tim‘s letter also mentioned talking to their managers, and it‘s right there: Communication. If there is a need, make sure it‘s understood correctly.
There is also the reverse aspect of inclusion. Imagine you ask a team of ten about how they prefer to work, and only one likes and needs the presence of others around them to be productive and happy - democratically speaking, extending home office may benefit nine at the cost of one, but inclusion means finding common ground. At the point of inclusion, everyone is in fact quite different and even if everyone has the same position, different people bring different ideas to the table. You may prevent them from doing their best work.
I feel I know (but don’t know if my feeling is correct) how most people think about people with a lot of money, thus about Tim and the rest of the leadership/execs. What about them trying to build this huge office which, in their mind, resembled much of their dream. They wanted to make it a home hub for work and trying to make it look the least possible way like a normal boring office. They need to feel included as well.
There‘s a huge gap in communication and both parties need to have direct talks. Put the demands aside and run through the issues.
No I don't think those emails would be any better in that building or at home. But I don't give a fart about people who think just because they picked a drone job they should be treated differently than others who have to actually check in to reality and put in some actual work. So our opinions will never align unfortunately, can't be screaming about "Inclusivity" and then exclude yourself because it's more convenient for YOU.
True but it also shows that when you strip away the rainbow wokery you still have management attitudes that owe more to dark satanic mills than the idealistic Apple people in their commercials.
Not that I’m surprised, these people are utterly ruthless in their nickel and diming
Right, I'm glad these people don't work for Apple.All the people screaming “spoiled brats“ clearly have not a work from home job
all that envy here… are you living in the old ages? Industry has to evolutionize. And working from home with more flexibility should be taken into consideration.
I‘m don‘t share all their demands etc. but I understand that we shouldn‘t just convert back to the pre-covid days. We can take the things that improved over time into our nice new future.
Imagine:
- "Everyone is doing IBM/PC clones with DOS/Windows OSes...that's obviously the best way to do things!"
- "Phones have physical buttons and/or styluses, and millions of people get along just fine with Palm Pilots, so lets do a version of that."
- "You know, we're riding high on these iPod Mini sales, so no need to kill our most popular iPod to replace it with the iPod nano just because new technology enables that. Stick with what worked then and now—internal mechanical hard drives."
And still a lot of people are sitting in their apartments in the middle of the city with AC
So Apple office work isn't "actual work". Got it.
Amazing. I wonder how the device you're likely typing on came into existence then? Immaculate conception, I suppose.
Surprisingly John Gruber seems to agree with you here.
Internal Letter Circulates at Apple — and Leaks to The Verge — Pushing Back Against Returning to the Office
Link to: https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/4/22491629/apple-employees-push-back-return-office-internal-letter-tim-cook
daringfireball.net
Nope the Engineers at Google and OnePlus took they @$$ to work and built it for me.....I will ask them when I get to the office on Monday 🙄😂
what's it to you? i could care less where they work but it's funny how offended some people are by this.
No it doesn’t.
If there is one thing I excel at in my work, it is to work cross disciplinary, bringing teams and people together.
Before Corona, I used a lot of time to also connect with colleagues sitting remotely - and I always told my superiors that it is of benefit to be spread out, even in different time zones, and there is no disadvantage in working most of the time at distance.
At the same time, I do spend countless hours every week just crunching through my work: design, coding, documenting. Just me, my computer, screen, pen and paper.
And isn’t it better to spend that time at home, with your wife, kids, pets and garden around? Before Corona I would leave early, come back late, spend the Sunny hours in a concrete building instead of our green oasis. With colleagues, rather than family.
I asked management for remote work, but prior Corona it was seen as inefficient. Fortunately, that opinion has changed in our company.
I believe, considering the technological opportunities we have these days, we would be a better society if those who prefer to meet at work every day can do so, and those who feel better working from home have that opportunity, as long as everybody can contribute to the full extent.
In the end, feeling good is the best start to doing fantastic work.
Our entire office of programers have been putting out equal or more work for the last year and a bit of working from home. Meetings and collaboration is easier and more efficient with people not having to book rooms or interrupt others. And everyone is happier in all. Our outliners are the couple that live in rather small houses with small humans making noise so we'll be opening up the office for them. For everyone else as they are more productive at home they can continue to work from home.
McWhining.
Interesting to see how quickly they've learned that whining the magic words "inclusivity" and "environment" repeatedly can be used to get whatever you want.
Interesting to see how quickly they've learned that whining the magic words "inclusivity" and "environment" repeatedly can be used to get whatever you want.
Oh, so the engineers built it with their own hands? They didn't—gasp!—probably deliver digital schematics from a remote location? Make commits to the codebase from multiple places? Shoot, I wonder how they could manage all that without sitting shoulder to shoulder...boggles the mind!
I guess they printed the plans on paper and physically flew them over to China, too?
To sum up:
- You go into work, so you think others should too, regardless of how their work might be different from yours.
- You let your political/personal leanings about words that "trigger" you—like "inclusivity"—dictate your perception of people you don't know, and who's jobs you don't understand
I am remote now too and love it for the same reasons. Do not miss the stress, time lost and financial hit of commuting. Also, as the caretaker for my mom, I am grateful to be working from home.
But I've already stated I DO NOT CARE about how YOU feel about my opinions, there's plenty substance in what I've said.
To sum up:
1. You're not special although mother told you so.
2. I do not care if YOUR job can be done from the comfort of your home, most of the world cannot do theirs from home, so if it's SAFE....BRING YO @$$ in.
3. Kids back in school? Why can't they all just learn from home? Why are we sending our most precious in environments that could be hazardous to their health? ...but no go ahead and rationalize why you wanna stay home forever.