Apple Plans To Reopen Offices for All: Is It an Enterprise Hit-and-Miss?

Apple employees have no choice but to return to offices in September as per CEO Tim Cook’s email from June unless it declares otherwise. The company is sticking to its guns, citing the importance of in-person work for its culture, even after some employees requested the Apple leadership for a “remote and location-flexible work” option. 

Apple is standing firm on its decision for a hybrid work model that will necessitate employees to return back to its Cupertino office (and elsewhere) for at least three days a week from September. Apple’s refusal to backtrack on its decision was first reported by The VergeOpens a new window , which managed to get a hold of a video wherein a senior Apple leader is seen speaking against continuing with remote work.

In the video, Apple’s senior vice president of retail and people Deirdre O’BrienOpens a new window suggests that in-person collaboration prior to the onset of the Wuhan virus pandemic is the reason why the company managed to roll out multiple products in the year past.

Employees of Apple, however, believe they successfully delivered what was required, in spite of the pandemic. An estimated 80 employees echoed their concerns to the Apple management nearly four weeks ago, and a couple of days after CEO Tim CookOpens a new window via an email announced the company’s plans to move back to in-office work.

“This past year has been an unprecedented challenge for our company; we had to learn how to deliver the same quality of products and services that Apple is known for, all while working almost completely remotely. We did so, achieving another record-setting year,” the letter by the Apple employees read. “We found a way for everyone to support each other and succeed in a completely new way of working together — from locations we were able to choose at our own discretion (often at home).”

On the other hand, O’Brien was noted by The Verge saying, “We believe that in-person collaboration is essential to our culture and our future. 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.”

And it seems Apple’s employees have no say in this, who are now faced with the conundrum of choosing to work for Apple and uprooting their lives in the process, or leaving their jobs. “Without the inclusivity that flexibility brings, many of us feel we have to choose between either a combination of our families, our well-being, and being empowered to do our best work, or being a part of Apple,” the employees said.

The reaffirmation by Apple’s O’Brien means most of Apple’s 147,000 employeesOpens a new window , depending on the requirements, would need to come into the offices on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays each week. They can also come in on Wednesdays and Fridays should they choose to.

Apple employees can also work fully remote for two weeks in a year. But any more than that would need to be approved by respective managers on an individual basis.

All true. Although for sure it’s the people who make 1m a year asking the people who make 200k a year to sit in traffic

— Adam Singer (@AdamSinger) June 5, 2021Opens a new window

See Also: Salesforce Ends 9-to-5 Work Culture, Lays Out New Flexible Options

Remote Work in the COVID-19 Era

Apple went remote in March 2020 around the time when COVID-19 was declared a full-blown pandemic. So did the other Big Tech companies, as well as others such as Atlassian, Twitter, Salesforce, Shopify, VMware, Uber, Spotify, and almost every company that didn’t absolutely need employees to come in for their work.

As the pandemic slowly crept into the lives of individuals, it disrupted the entire functional aspects of companies, organizations, governments, etc. Last year, vaccines for the novel coronavirus remained only a prospect, which is why organizations kept on extending their remote work policy, first until the end of 2020, and later until mid-2021 in June or July depending on the organization.

Microsoft, one of the biggest competitors to Apple’s computer business, had even issued guidance to allow at least some staff to work from home permanently, even after the pandemic subsided.

Kathleen HoganOpens a new window , executive vice president, and chief people officer at Microsoft saidOpens a new window , “Moving forward, it is our goal to offer as much flexibility as possible to support individual work styles while balancing business needs and ensuring we live our culture. For most roles, we view working from home part of the time (less than 50%) as now standard – assuming manager and team alignment.”

But that was a long time back in October 2020. Things have changed since then, people have realized the compulsion to go to the office week in, week out is not only unnecessary but also counterproductive. And that being forced to come back in at the expense of employee productivity, morale, and more importantly, employee choice is characterized by complete indifference on part of the company leaders.

Why Apple’s Push for In-Office Work is Baseless

Let’s look at why Apple wants employees to come back. First, since vaccinations have picked up, COVID-19 cases have significantly reduced. Second, O’Brien’s theory that Apple’s culture and the future are directly dependent on in-person collaboration. Fair enough.

But none of it matters if the people that literally had a hand in instilling that company culture, decided to leave for greener pastures. Going by the letter from Apple employees, some of the employees have already quit.

Cook’s email from June mentions words like energy, creativity, collaboration, and community that he misses from in-person meetings. Do the employees?

He said, “For all that we’ve been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other. Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate.”

Do the employees concur?

Judging from the letter, the only thing missing is the bridge between the Apple leadership and the employees.

Google, another competitor to Apple but for its smartphone business, recently updated its return to office plans. Like Apple, Google also plans to bring back employeesOpens a new window for in-office work in early September. However, the major difference is that the search giant is providing an option to let employees telework permanently.

We’ll offer more location choices around where to work — in one our many campuses — as well as the option to be fully remote based on role and team needs. And we’ll offer flexible benefits like the option to work from anywhere for up to 4 weeks a year.

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) May 6, 2021Opens a new window

Apple’s plans disregard employee flexibility and choice completely. And therein lies the problem.

Last year in May, Mark Zuckerberg said 50% of Facebook’s nearly 60,000 employees could be teleworking in the next decade. The company is also planning to reopen with 50% capacityOpens a new window . Better yet, Twitter even announced a permanent remote work policyOpens a new window for part of its employees.

Sure, Apple’s business may be built differently. And Apple certainly shouldn’t base its remote work policy based on how other tech giants have decided. So let us take a peek at some data.

According to Harvard Business School Online (HBSO), 81% of professionalsOpens a new window that worked remotely between March 2020 and March 2021 either don’t want to go back to the office or prefer a hybrid work environment. HBS Online executive director Patrick MullaneOpens a new window noted that telework hasn’t affected employee performance.

Mullane said, “The past year has been difficult for everyone, but what’s surprising is how well people feel they’ve performed at work, while at home. Now, as we’re preparing to get back to ‘business as usual,’ it seems professionals don’t want ‘business as usual.’ Instead, they want flexibility from their employers to allow them to maintain the new work/home balance and productivity they have come to enjoy.”

Of the total surveyed, 27% hope to fully stay remote, 61% want to work 2 or 3 days per week from their homes, while 18% would want to return to offices. The majority prefers hybrid work so Apple certainly isn’t far off the mark in its policy.

Another survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that if given the option, 52% of employeesOpens a new window would prefer to work permanently from home. There are various reasons why professionals want to telework. For instance, it:

• Deters contagion
• Leads to same or even higher productivityOpens a new window
• Eliminates time-consuming office commutes
• Reduces expenditure and generates higher savings
• Drives better work-life balance
• Leads to hiring diversity

Amy Cappellanti-WolfOpens a new window , chief human resources officer at Cohesity told SHRM, “Many employees who moved to remote work as a result of COVID-19 are enjoying benefits few could have foreseen in environments where one was expected to be in the office the majority of the time.”

“Early in the pandemic, some leaders worried the culture, engagement and collaboration built up by face-to-face social capital would suffer as dispersion evaporated it. What’s developed is an alternative form of empathetic social capital derived from seeing people in their homes, with their children, pets, etc.,” she added.

And if organizations do not provide the option, 58% of professionalsOpens a new window that FlexJobs surveyed would look for other work options.

See Also: Ford Eyes a Hybrid Work Future, Lets 86,000 Global Employees Work From Home

Closing Thoughts

Apple doesn’t need to mandate remote work for all of their employees. After all, that could tick off the majority that either wants to come back full-time or prefer hybrid work. Although, the company should consider those that prefer being fully remote.

The point is that the dynamics have changed since pre-COVID-19 times. These unprecedented times call for a candid discussion with the employees, as well as, and I cannot stress this enough, an option to choose how they want to work.

The company leadership needs to close the gap between them and the employees, dispose of pre-conceived notions, and reorient company expectations.

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