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| Apple tells employees to go back to the office |
Apple is asking its employees to return to the office three days a week starting in the beginning of September.
Company president Tim Cook sent an email Wednesday to inform employees of the change.
“Even though we made it all happen while a lot of people were apart, the truth is that something fundamental has been missing in the last year,” he said.
He added: Video conferencing has reduced the distance between us. But some things cannot be repeated.
Cook said most employees are required to come to the office on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can choose to work remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Teams that have to work in person return four to five days a week.
Apple employees can also work remotely for up to two weeks per year. In order to get close to family and loved ones or to change the scenery, there are occasional outbursts or for various personal reasons.
The manager must approve the remote work request.
Apple refuses to work remotely
Apple employees are anticipating this change. Although employees are working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic, the company is known to discourage working from home until 2020.
Last December, Tim Cook told employees they might be forced to return to the office as early as June.
Compared to other tech giants, Apple's stance on remote work remains conservative.
In May of this year, Google announced that 20% of its employees will be able to work from home permanently.
Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Facebook, has indicated that remote work is the future.
Zuckerberg told Facebook employees that they can continue to work from home as long as they have the manager's approval.
In the letter, Cook also encouraged all employees to receive the vaccination. "Let me speak," he said, "I can't wait to see your face."
"I know I'm not the only one who has lost the vibrancy, the vitality, the creativity, the collaboration, and the sense of community that we all built in face-to-face meetings," he added.
Apple can encourage its employees to return to its branches and offices around the world because it has always valued personal collaboration.
In March of this year, the company's CEO said he was waiting for employees to return to work, and stated that the company was creating a hybrid recovery environment.