Apple employees tell Tim Cook they prefer remote working

Apple staff need to return to the office three days a week as part of the new policy

A group of Apple employees have sent an internal letter to CEO Tim Cook, expressing their reservations over the requirement that employees return to office for work in September.

The employees sent the letter on Friday, says The Verge, asking the company to allow individual management chains to make the decisions that are best for their teams.

Apple workers said that they would prefer a more flexible policy, which would allow employees to work remotely if they feel comfortable working that way.

Cook announced a change in Apple's remote working policy in an email sent to Apple employees last week. He told the company's global workforce of 137,000 employees that they would need to return to the office three days a week - Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays - starting in the autumn. Wednesdays and Fridays will be flexible and up to individual choice.

Moreover, employees can work remotely for up to two weeks a year, provided they receive approval from the manager, he said.

"For now, let me simply say that I look forward to seeing your faces. I know I'm not alone in missing the hum of activity, the energy, creativity and collaboration of our in-person meetings and the sense of community we've all built," Cook said.

It appears that not everyone is happy with this decision, and Apple employees are seeking a more flexible approach.

The letter's signatories complained that they have "often felt not just unheard, but at times actively ignored" over the last year.

"Messages like, 'We know many of you are eager to reconnect in person with your colleagues back in the office,' with no messaging acknowledging that there are directly contradictory feelings amongst us feels dismissive and invalidating," the letter reads.

Messaging around Apple's location-flexible work policy has already forced some of the staff to quit, the signatories added.

"It feels like there is a disconnect between how the executive team thinks about remote/location-flexible work and the lived experiences of many of Apple's employees."

The letter started in a Slack channel for 'remote work advocates', which has about 2,800 members. About 80 people were involved in writing and editing the message.

Apple's approach to post-pandemic work is more conservative than some other tech firms like Facebook, Twitter and Google. Last month, Google announced a hybrid working model that will see 20 per cent of staff permanently home-based.

CEO Sundar Pichai told employees that he expects about 60 per cent of staff to work in the office "a few days a week". Another 20 per cent will be able to relocate to "new company locations" while the remaining 20 per cent can apply to permanently work from home, with both groups seeing salary adjustments.

It's not only the tech industry that is revising its flexible working policies. In March, British Airways (BA) announced that it would allow employees to split their working lives between their homes and office; and the UK's biggest building society, Nationwide, told its 13,000 staff that they could choose to work from anywhere in the country when Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.