Why Apple Workers Are Furious Over One Controversial Office Policy
Furious Apple workers are banning together voicing their grievances about one mandatory work policy.
This article is more than 2 years old
As society slowly starts to embrace normalcy following a years-long global pandemic, many employers are calling their workers back to the office. Following suit with many other companies returning to in-person work, tech giant Apple is also beckoning its workers back. However, prior to Apple workers officially returning to the office, many are firing back at the company for implementing a hybrid work policy that they believe to be far too stringent.
A group of approximately 200 Apple workers from the company’s employee advocacy group Apple Together drafted a letter expressing their frustrations with Apple’s new mandatory hybrid work policy. The hybrid work policy will officially go into effect as of May 23, 2022. From that date going forward, all Apple corporate employees will be required to work in the office for at least three days a week. The letter serves as a means to criticize Apple’s flawed reasoning behind instituting this mandatory hybrid work model. The letter specifically takes aim at how inflexible the policy is. It also highlights the hypocrisy behind the fact that Apple touts its devices as ideal for remote workers, but at the same time is telling its employees that it is not a good idea to stay fully remote. “We tell all of our customers how great our products are for remote work, yet, we ourselves, cannot use them to work remotely? How can we expect our customers to take that seriously?“ read a portion of the letter.
The disgruntled group of Apple workers, after poking holes in Apple’s paper-thin reasoning behind having all employees return to the office, detailed how they believe Apple should be handling the situation. Specifically, they honed in on the fact that overarching Apple figureheads should not have the final say on who should be in the office and when. The group feels that that should be a matter left up to individuals and their respective teams that they work with on a daily basis. “We are asking to decide for ourselves, together with our teams and direct manager, what kind of arrangement works best for each one of us, be that in an office, work from home, or a hybrid approach.” Essentially, they are saying that in this case, no one size is adept to fit all.
It remains unclear whether not the pointed letter put forth by the infuriated Apple workers will motivate Apple to take a second look at their mandatory hybrid policy. Especially since the group of around 200 only represents a small fraction of the total number of individuals Apple employs. However, just because a greater number of Apple workers did not take the time to weigh in on the contents of the letter does not mean that a large majority are not feeling similar to the sentiment conveyed within it. In fact, a recent anonymous Apple employee survey conducted by the organization Blind revealed that as much as 56% of Apple employees are against or have reservations about returning to the office.
If that concerning survey figure doesn’t serve as enough motivation for Apple to take a second look at its new policy, the tech behemoth may find itself with a lot of open positions. One employee who took the survey wrote “Apple is going to see attrition like no other come June. 60% of my team doesn’t even live near the office. They are not returning.” Unfortunately as of now, many believe that the head honchos calling the shots will remain “tone-deaf as usual.”
