In the company’s virtual town hall meeting, Apple CEO, Tim Cook told the employees that they will likely be working from home till June 2021. In a report by Bloomberg, Cook expressed that nothing can replace face-to-face communication and collaboration but the decision is taken in light of the prevailing health crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like most companies in the world, Apple’s workforce began work from home from March 2020. As the company puts a lot of effort in avoiding leaks of upcoming products, it was expected that important news might slip into media in the new work set up from home. However, Apple not only maintained secrecy, but it also launched many new products this year. It also released an ad showcasing the incorporation of the Apple ecosystem in a work from home routine. Encouraging his staff to stay focused, Cook emphasized the need to work even more productively in the online meeting.
Apple working from home at least until June 2021
People familiar with the matter told the publisher that Tim Cook asked the staff to think of time as a learning period which they will carry on once the pandemic is over. He said:
“There’s no replacement for face-to-face collaboration, but we have also learned a great deal about how we can get our work done outside of the office without sacrificing productivity or results. All of these learnings are important. When we’re on the other side of this pandemic, we will preserve everything that is great about Apple while incorporating the best of our transformations this year.”
To reward the staff for the diligent work, Cook announced that they will be getting an additional paid holiday on Jan 4, 2021. The additional holiday will be for employees in many regions. He also talked about the company’s successful employee donation program.
Since the initiative began, more than $591 million has been donated to charities and employees have volunteered more than 1.6 million hours. The company is making a $5 million donation to organizations helping those hurt by Covid-19.
Other senior executives discussed the experiences and difficulties faced by their teams and commended their ethics during the pandemic. Senior vice president of hardware engineering, Dan Riccio shared that travel restriction and work from home orders were tough for device design. He said:
“Apple worked around this, with engineers controlling robots from home and using iPads with augmented-reality software to guide technicians in overseas factories. Staff also worked different hours to communicate better with staff already stationed in China.
The very best is yet to come.”
Head of custom chip development, Johny Sroujiabout also said that an in-house cellular modem went into development this year.
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