Photo: Raychel Lean/ALM
Apple announced last week that it will require its corporate employees to work in the office three days a week, beginning on Sep. 5. On Monday, a group of employees initiated a petition opposing the policy.
The company's formerly office-based staff has performed "exceptional work, flexibly, both outside and inside traditional office environments" over the past two years and the "uniform mandate from senior leadership does not consider the unique demands of each job role nor the diversity of individuals," according to Apple Together, a group of workers calling itself a solidarity union. "We believe that Apple should encourage, not prohibit, flexible work to build a more diverse and successful company where we can feel comfortable to 'think different' together."
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Apple Together, which previously claimed that the return-to-office policy would make Apple's workforce "younger, whiter, more male-dominated," is demanding that the company's leadership allow employees to work directly with their manager to figure out the best possible flexible work arrangement. "These work arrangements should not require higher-level approvals, complex procedures or providing private information," the workers say.
The pandemic closed offices and caused most major technology companies to embrace remote work. Apple's return-to-office announcement follows a series of delays caused by the emergence of new COVID-19 variants that each spurred a flare-up in cases. It also comes after a group of Apple retail workers in Maryland voted in June to become the company's first unionized location.
Apple's return-to-office mandate, announced last week by CEO Tim Cook in an internal memo, states that compulsory days will be Tuesdays, Thursdays and a third day to be determined by individual teams. The policy is a departure from those of several large Silicon Valley companies, including Airbnb and Twitter, both of which say they will allow employees to work remotely permanently. Facebook parent Meta is the most notable work-from-home proponent, with no in-person requirements at this point. It plans to allow most employees to work remotely long-term.
Amazon, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet all have policies similar to Apple's, mandating earlier this year that employees return to offices two to three days a week. Tesla is one of the few companies requiring full-time in-person work, with CEO Elon Musk waring in a note to employees in June that workers must be in Tesla offices 40 hours per week or more, or face termination.
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Alan Goforth
Alan Goforth is a freelance writer in suburban Kansas City. In addition to freelancing for several publications, he has written a dozen books about sports and other topics.
