Apple is preparing the return to work in person. Tim Cook announced to employees that the return to the offices will take place in early September, in a flexible manner and combining remote work. After many months with Apple Park almost deserted, it seems that the Cupertino offices will gradually return to normality.
A hybrid roadmap and more flexibility
As Bloomberg has learned, Apple will require employees to work in person at least on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and will keep Wednesdays and Fridays as possible remote work days, a modality that will remain until at least 2022. In recent months, the possibility that the return to the offices of Apple Park will take place in June had been raised. A prospect that was finally established in September.
In the note Tim Cook sent to employees, he wrote that “we are establishing consistent days in the office to help us maximize our time to collaborate in person.” However, some teams will have to resume face-to-face work. four or five days a week.
For all that we have been able to accomplish while many of us were apart, the truth is that we have missed something essential over the past year: each other. Video conferencing has reduced the distance between us, no doubt, but there are things that just can’t be reproduced.
Tim Cook also explains that employees will be able to choose work entirely from home for a maximum of two weeks per year. A measure resulting from the global situation that we have experienced and intended to “be able to be as close as possible to family and loved ones, get away from it all, manage an unforeseen trip or any personal reason”.
At the same time, Cook mentioned that many teams in Asia have already returned to offices and factories and that the Apple Stores (we include those in the United States) which are still closed. will reopen this month.
According to the email sent to employees, this hybrid work plan between face-to-face and remote is in the process of being considered a pilot test and will be reassessed at some point in 2022 to see if it is kept, modified or deleted.
For now let me say I can’t wait to see your faces. I know I’m not the only one missing the buzz of activity, energy, creativity and collaboration from our in-person meetings and the sense of community we’ve all built.
From the very conception of Apple Park, designed to encourage informal meetings between employees from different teams, to the very dynamic of the company’s work, it is clear that remote work does not fit into the culture of Apple. There is no doubt that they have managed to adapt and there have been launches such as the iPhone 12, the new iPad Pro, the new iMac with M1 and now the WWDC21, but as Tim expressed it Cook, there is no substitute for being in front of everyone. other.
