Apple has officially decided to begin the long overdue hybrid work arrangement that was first brought up by the company's CEO, Tim Cook, in April.
The tech company now requires its employees to work at least three times a week in person in Apple offices beginning in the month of September.
The intention of Apple to bring back its employees to its offices has long been there, but was met with backlash from its employees due to its rigidity and lack of flexibility. However, this time, the company has decided to move forward with the hybrid model for next month.
Apple Hybrid Work Condition
Apple will begin enforcing a new policy that requires employees who work in its Santa Clara Valley offices to come into the office a minimum of three times per week beginning the week of September 5.
According to The Verge, Tim Cook sent a memo stating, "Teams participating in the pilot will come to the office three days each week with Tuesday and Thursday as set days across the company, but now the third day you come in will be decided by your teams."
Each group will deliberate over the question of which day would be most convenient for them, and the employees will shortly receive word from their managers.
The CEO also mentioned that numerous employees will once again have the opportunity to spend two days per week working away from the office. They will also have the opportunity to work remotely for up to four weeks every year, depending on their role.
Cook added, "We are excited to move forward with the pilot and believe that this revised framework will enhance our ability to work flexibly, while preserving the in-person collaboration that is so essential to our culture."
Apple has tried to enforce the hybrid work model since a few months back. Since that time, Apple has made multiple attempts to implement a hybrid work week arrangement, but the company has been forced to continually delay its plans due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases and other considerations.
Although back then, what Tim Cook had originally wanted to implement is an in office work presence for every Monday, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Apple Bids Remote Work
Apple employees were initially required to report to work at least once per week by April 11, twice per week by the end of the month, and on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays by May 23. This requirement was increased to three times per week on May 23.
During the announcement months ago, Tim Cook said, "We have an opportunity to combine the best of what we have learned about working remotely with the irreplaceable benefits of in-person collaboration."
The previous announcement that Apple would be returning to the office sparked a wave of employee activism within the corporation as workers voiced their opposition to going back to work.
During the month of May, a number of employees at Apple wrote an open letter to the executive team of the company, requesting additional flexibility and more humane working schedules.
The employees of Apple believe that the company's policy of requiring them to work three days per week offers almost no flexibility and may be counterproductive to the company's efforts to increase diversity.
However, today, as Apple continued to delay the transition to a hybrid work model due to the pandemic, those protests eventually died down.
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