Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
How rediculious get back to work or Apple find people. That are willing to work. After being paid to sit at home for a year and a half it's long overdue put on the big boy and big girl pants
Being at home is different from doing nothing, and not everyone had a "paid vacation", some really worked more than they would have in the office, the thing is, there are many steps you cannot to online or via chat, so I agree with the "get back to work" as in get back in the office.
 
I’m sorry, but im not understanding what there EVEN IS to complain about here.

I was NEVER given the option to work from home AT ALL during the entire pandemic. There was never a break for me either.
To put the cherry on top, my job LITERALLY can be done from home. My boss was just an ass who thought the virus was a hoax.
There was no excuse to not let me work from home.

The MFers at Apple have a futuristic spoon in their mouth. They get 2 days to work from
Home a week, STILL. On top of them getting the golden treatment during the pandemic with loads of benefits.

if you’re complaining, you need to get lost and get a real job, and you will see what complaining really is.
Working at the Apple headquarters is a luxury to most Americans that they will never get to have, in 100 lifetimes.
 
I dunno about California, especially the Bay Area, but so many NYC finance software jobs have started to return to the office, at least in limited capacity. So much so that my work feels like a bit of a holdout.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tig Bitties
I work in the "work" industry and have been involved with studies around this for decades.

People NEED to be at work...companies NEED people to be at work...Not 100% of the time, not everyone, but there are 1,000 studies around offices, interaction, productivity rates.

Again, not EVERYONE needs to be in the office either part time or even 100% of the time. But tech companies in particular require this human interaction so that even the most introverted engineer can understand why what they are working on works so well with everyday normals like me.

The "open plan" office layouts and office benefits (free food, onsite gym, etc) to keep people in the office is not so they can justify having the space, it's to help force those "accidental" interactions that drive new ideas. It works!
 
It's pretty simple isn't it? It doesn't matter whether it's Apple or any other company.

As an employee, you should bring your concerns to the business. They don't have to listen to them or take any action, but it's only right for both parties to be aware.

If nothing changes then, as an employee, you quit and go elsewhere. It doesn't matter whether you're unhappy with your role, your working conditions, your salary or the home-working policy. I'm not saying that you should walk out the very same day but perhaps you start responding to those LinkedIn opportunities I'm sure we all receive messages about. Perhaps you keep your eye open on the job websites.

I'm in a very similar situation to the Apple employees at the moment. Most of my company have worked from home for nearly 18 months. We have hit all of our targets, we've collaborated well and the business is in rude health. The top brass is looking to bring us back to the office in the next few months. Some people are okay with that. Others are happy about it. Then there are people like me who really don't want to go back.

I have personally been no less productive working from home. In fact, the lines between home and work have blurred to such a degree that I'm working more hours than I would in the office. That might be undesirable for some people, but they're free to return to the office. I'm saving thousands of pounds per year in commuting costs and nearly three whole days per month in commuting time - much of which I've given back to the company by working.

Some people have made it clear that they would rather not return to the office. If we're mandated to do so, then I will - but I'll also be looking for other opportunities. At our organisation it wouldn't take more than a handful of key people to resign before the flexible working policy would have to be reviewed.
 
I see both sides. My work has been done well the last year 100% from home. My teams have performed well and met every deadline and yet we will be returning to the office for at least 3 days per week. I also see the reason for in person meetings. Even cross pollination of having people from different teams just mingling and talking. Amazing what you find out from idle conversation. How many interactions in a place like Apple result in an idea that makes it into the product?

Trouble is there is a lot of reason to not trust my management to make the right call here and not abuse the "have to have you in today". Odds are those two days a week will result in a lot of mandatory office calls.

Besides that spaceship office isn't exactly a cubicle prison 90% of the workforce deals with.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TraderScooter
The staff are really acting like spoiled little children who want everything and when 1% of it is denied, they start complaining about the 1% they did not get, whule totally ignoring the 99% of great benefits they have working at apple.

it's their chickens coming home to roost, I would expand on this thought thoroughly but I dont want to get a temp ban lol

Hopefully its a bit of a catastrophe. Like I would envision- possibly a stigma with shaking hands as is customary in business world, or breathing the same circulated air in the same room, or holding door knobs that aren't to open or close a bathroom, or making direct eye contact because of conditioned social ineptitude, or asking 'what's that?!?' when they see their own shadow, or entry level employees demanding upper level management present their personal medical record passports 'or else' they'll take their 'uniquely qualified' unskilled efforts elsewhere

6lv9q6C.png




I love how Vox Media has directly injected themselves into the situation and the story with the initial leak, how conceited under the guise of caring they are

It is absurd though for a collaborative/ creatively focused company to be panned for wanting to return to maximizing collaboration. If your job isn't that, remote works. But remote isn't as effective for all industries and I'm sure Apple ran the numbers before just making the 'meanie poo poo pants' decision.
 
Last edited:
Both Apple and their employees are being unreasonable

It's great when I have to defend Apple, but they're a private-sector company - they can do what they want within the bounds of the law without exception.

And employment is at will, one does not *have* to work at Apple. They aren't the only employer in existence, especially if you're 'Bay Area' credential material. There's no self awareness to any of this though, for the thickened echo chambers.

--

I think the M,T, Th on premise policy is close enough to not bad, for those that want to work there, with a built in 3-day weekend every week (I think work days should be systematically normalized as more jammed up since you're already busy and in the swing of things that disrupt non-work life, and 3-day weekend should be the new norm, everywhere but that's a separate matter). But they could say M-F on prem or the highway, and that would be their prerogative.

You can argue 'that sucks' or 'I wouldn't want to do that' and in a shifting workplace dynamic where possibly you can find alternative 24/7 remote work that's worth considering, but poop or get off the pot. "That sucks' isn't a logical argument for change or 'oppression' or whatever they're stewing up behind the curtain as the disingenuous argument.

You either work at Apple and agree to their 'terms of service' for employment - it's called an employment agreement, or take your talents elsewhere. Apple isn't change.org , even though I can understand why their employees think it is because of their odd anachronistic culture of 'guise of philanthropical screeching without lifting a finger to do anything momentous societally'

I'm sure Foxconn employees are laughing their butts off over this 'dilemma' that Apple of Cupertino has presented to their 'overworked, unappreciated' staff whose 'lives are being put in harm's way'. Maybe they'll only get 5 swag bags this year instead of the usual 8. GASP!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: ohio.emt
How underwhelming this WWDC was is proof that working from home for too long, while might help some employees work better, it won’t work in a company like Apple, which aims to build something that’s “more than just the some of it’s parts”.

PS: When it comes to developer tools, this WWDC was great. But thats because it was all about polishing what was already built. Truly the vision and design ground work for what was done this year, was done years earlier.
Lol what? You contradict yourself. In the first paragraph you said WFH is the cause of underwhelming WWDC, which you have no proof of.

Then say the majority of planning for it was done years earlier, and developer tools were great. Which is it?
 
  • Like
Reactions: MacAddict1978
I’m sorry, but im not understanding what there EVEN IS to complain about here.

I was NEVER given the option to work from home AT ALL during the entire pandemic. There was never a break for me either.
To put the cherry on top, my job LITERALLY can be done from home. My boss was just an ass who thought the virus was a hoax.
There was no excuse to not let me work from home.

The MFers at Apple have a futuristic spoon in their mouth. They get 2 days to work from
Home a week, STILL. On top of them getting the golden treatment during the pandemic with loads of benefits.

if you’re complaining, you need to get lost and get a real job, and you will see what complaining really is.
Working at the Apple headquarters is a luxury to most Americans that they will never get to have, in 100 lifetimes.
Congratulations on having a crappy job. Many people do. Apple employees don’t, and thus they have some leverage over their employer. Some of them have such a highly specialized skill set it’s a real crisis if they leave, people have literally invented new programming languages and power management technologies in those offices.

You and me might have an easily replaceable skill set, but don’t make the mistake of thinking Apple employees are spoiled brats who can be effortlessly replaced. They’re the brightest people on earth in most cases, and know exactly what they’re worth to Apple, and to competitors.
 
I see both sides. My work has been done well the last year 100% from home. My teams have performed well and met every deadline and yet we will be returning to the office for at least 3 days per week. I also see the reason for in person meetings. Even cross pollination of having people from different teams just mingling and talking. Amazing what you find out from idle conversation. How many interactions in a place like Apple result in an idea that makes it into the product?

Trouble is there is a lot of reason to not trust my management to make the right call here and not abuse the "have to have you in today". Odds are those two days a week will result in a lot of mandatory office calls.

Besides that spaceship office isn't exactly a cubicle prison 90% of the workforce deals with.
No, it’s even worse, as it’s designed as an “open plan”, no cubicle walls, and coworkers working right next to everyone. Basically, the worst possible office setup if trying to prevent germ spread. Think each worker is separated by a cup holder/phone tray, with white noise generators and “prison visit” booths to attend phone conferences. Ever seen a work area lined with prison visit booths? Makes for an odd office dynamic.

full_fram-videconference-ready-2-sq-Kopie-2-arcit18.jpg
 
It's great when I have to defend Apple, but they're a private-sector company - they can do what they want within the bounds of the law without exception.

And employment is at will, one does not *have* to work at Apple. They aren't the only employer in existence, especially if you're 'Bay Area' credential material. There's no self awareness to any of this though, for the thickened echo chambers.

--

I think the M,T, Th on premise policy is close enough to not bad, for those that want to work there, with a built in 3-day weekend every week (I think work days should be systematically more jammed up and 3-day weekend should be the new norm, everywhere but that's a separate matter). But they could say M-F on prem or the highway, and that would be their prerogative.

You can argue 'that sucks' or 'I wouldn't want to do that' and in a shifting workplace dynamic where possibly you can find alternative 24/7 remote work that's worth considering, but poop or get off the pot. "That sucks' isn't a logical argument for change or 'oppression' or whatever they're stewing up behind the curtain as the disingenuous argument.

You either work at Apple and agree to their 'terms of service' for employment - it's called an employment agreement, or take your talents elsewhere. Apple isn't change.org , even though I can understand why their employees think it is because of their odd anachronistic culture of 'philanthropy without doing anything'
It’s not a three day weekend! You still have to work on Friday …
 
  • Like
Reactions: P-DogNC
Wow, Apple is still living in the past. It’s not 1960 anymore. They built tools to power the remote future, yet they don’t have any confidence those tools work to be productive. Seeing what changes they are making to FaceTime is proof that Apple never really thought about making the world more remote. They just wanted to sell products. For those who want to go back to how it “used to be” with people in an office, I say good luck finding a job in 5-10 years. The door for full remote is wide open. It’s time to either move to the light or stay in the dark. Those who stay will be left behind like those who didn’t see the tech boom of 2008-2010 coming.
 
it's their chickens coming home to roost, I would expand on this thought thoroughly but I dont want to get a temp ban lol

Hopefully its a bit of a catastrophe. Like I would envision- possibly a stigma with shaking hands as is customary in business world, or breathing the same circulated air in the same room, or holding door knobs that aren't to open or close a bathroom, or making direct eye contact because of conditioned social ineptitude, or entry level employees demanding upper level management present their personal medical record passports 'or else' they'll take their 'uniquely qualified' unskilled efforts elsewhere

6lv9q6C.png




I love how Vox Media has directly injected themselves into the situation and the story with the initial leak, how conceited under the guise of caring they are
Of course Vox has interjected themselves. Vox Media has the integrity of Gawker, after all. (For the youngsters out there who may not remember, I’m mostly referring to the time Gizmodo bought a stolen pre-release iPhone 4.) Not to say that Vox would necessarily buy a stolen iPhone, but that their journalistic standards and ethics are severely lacking. (Vox is the firm that raised all that hay about how “the mobile web sucks” and tried blaming poor performance on Apple, in an article that had like 50 different trackers on it and then had the temerity to complain about ad blockers in iOS 8 or 9.)
 
Were these people complaining before the pandemic?

People make new experiences and lear from them, at least some....


That are willing to work. After being paid to sit at home for a year and a half it's long overdue put on the big boy and big girl Pants because you can be replaced

Just because you do not work when being at home you should not assume, that nobody does not work...

Here in Germany there have been some studies regarding the productivity of home office and all of them or at least all I have read show increased productivity for a lot of jobs, certainly not for all. And as I always say, a firman does not wan't to work at home...

At lot of companies here in Germany plan on extending home office even after the pandemic.
 
People are compensated for work by being paid. You don’t get to dictate how your employer runs their business. It’s nice to be happy in your career but it’s not supposed to be utopia. That’s why it’s called work.
Lol what an old mindset. You actually do have a right to dictate how you work. You are being paid for talent that you have. In Apple’s employee’s cases, VERY specialized talents. The more talent you have the more you have the ability to dictate. So Apple should tread carefully.
 
Wow, Apple is still living in the past. It’s not 1960 anymore. They built tools to power the remote future, yet they don’t have any confidence those tools work to be productive. Seeing what changes they are making to FaceTime is proof that Apple never really thought about making the world more remote. They just wanted to sell products. For those who want to go back to how it “used to be” with people in an office, I say good luck finding a job in 5-10 years. The door for full remote is wide open. It’s time to either move to the light or stay in the dark. Those who stay will be left behind like those who didn’t see the tech boom of 2008-2010 coming.

Time will tell who is wrong. Apple? Or everyone else?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tig Bitties
I suspect whoever is complaining can actually build, test, components for these products from their home office without issue? Software developers could likely get away with this, but for hardware it’s too difficult.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kc9hzn
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.