Apple employees are not giving up their struggle to convince the senior management to revise its new hybrid remote work policy. A new internal letter reveals that employees are seeking a new arrangement to work full time from home with restrictions.
In June, CEO Tim Cook shared the company’s new hybrid work policy for back to office routine. Starting from September, the employees will have to come to offices for three days (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday) and work remotely for two days (Wednesday and Friday). In his internal email, Mr. Cook acknowledged that staffers’ diligent hard work during the COVID-19 pandemic enabled the company to launch amazing products but also said that video conferencing is not a substitute for face-to-face collaboration and a sense of community.
However, employees did not agree with Mr.Cook. Immediately after, it was reported that 2500 employees signed a letter to Mr.Cook and senior management requesting them to revise their hybrid policy and implement a flexible remote work arrangement. To their dismay, Deirdre O’Brien, senior vice president of retail and people reinforced that the achievements of 2020 were the result of past years’ collaborative work and remote working is not as productive as in-personal collaboration.
Apple employees pen a second letter seeking a flexible remote work policy
Mentioning health concerns as the number of cases surge, the employees suggest two remote work arrangements to Apple’s senior management in their second letter. Viewed by the Vox, the letter states:
“We continue to be concerned that this one-size-fits-all solution is causing many of our colleagues to question their future at Apple. With COVID-19 numbers rising again around the world, vaccines proving less effective against the Delta variant, and the long-term effects of infection not well understood, it is too early to force those with concerns to come back to the office.
The petition outlines two different “pilot arrangements” that would allow employees to work from home full time for at least one year, with no promise of being extended. These arrangements would give employees the option to work remotely from their home five days a week — including in a location different from the area they were hired to work in — with the approval of their manager or department head, and in some cases, a cost-of-living compensation adjustment. The letter was posted on Monday morning to an internal Apple employee Slack channel for discussing remote work; the channel has more than 6,000 members and is open to all Apple corporate employees.
The rift between employees fighting for remote work and Apple’s senior management is getting contentious. On one hand, employees are threatening to leave the company, on the other employees with disabilities are worried about losing their accommodation and being out of work in September. We hope an amicable solution is reached from both sides, employees and senior management.
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