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posted by janrinok on Tuesday July 20 2021, @04:43PM   Printer-friendly

Apple employees threaten to quit as company takes hard line stance on remote work:

Apple employees claim the company is not budging on plans to institute a hybrid work model for corporate workers and is in some cases denying work-from-home exceptions, including one accommodation covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In June, Apple announced a hybrid work schedule that will see employees return to the office for three days a week starting in September, a shift toward normal corporate operations after the pandemic forced a lengthy work-from-home period. Days later, participants of what is assumed to be the same remote work advocacy Slack channel cited by The Verge asked more flexibility, saying that working from home brings a number of benefits including greater diversity and inclusion in retention and hiring, tearing down previously existing communication barriers, better work life balance, better integration of existing remote / location-flexible workers, and reduced spread of pathogens.

That request was flatly denied. In a video to employees late last month, SVP of retail and people Deirdre O'Brien toed the company line on remote work policies, saying, "We believe that in-person collaboration is essential to our culture and our future. If we take a moment to reflect on our unbelievable product launches this past year, the products and the launch execution were built upon the base of years of work that we did when we were all together in-person."


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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday July 20 2021, @09:45PM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 20 2021, @09:45PM (#1158456) Journal

    There is often a "better way" but the suits can't and won't believe it, unless it's their own idea.

    Who cares? If there is a genuine business advantage, it will be exploited and you'll get to work in your PJs.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 21 2021, @07:29PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 21 2021, @07:29PM (#1158871)

    BZZZT WRONG!

    You really gotta stop applying your econ 101 theories to everything. The advantage is for the workers, the capitalists don't care. While an increase in morale and possibly a small productivity boost are nice, they are unlikely to be large enough to even be noticeable in the background noise of company activity and external variations. This is evident in gaming companies that set an arbitrary deadline then work their devs 3+ months of overtime to try and meet it. Efficiency and morale plummet, but if the company meets the deadline they don't give a shit. Always another monkey available that can punch some keys.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday August 01 2021, @03:11AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday August 01 2021, @03:11AM (#1161855) Journal
      Sorry about the lateness of the reply.

      The advantage is for the workers, the capitalists don't care.

      We already established that Apple, who are typically considered to be capitalists, care a lot. And really what is the point of one party wanting something? Just because one wants a unicorn doesn't mean that one gets a unicorn.

      This is evident in gaming companies that set an arbitrary deadline then work their devs 3+ months of overtime to try and meet it. Efficiency and morale plummet, but if the company meets the deadline they don't give a shit.

      Does the company care if it meets the deadline? Sounds like they care a lot. This is a normal business conflict of interest where two or more cooperating parties have different goals and interests. A common assumption here is that the interests of the Apple workers will overcome the interests of the employer. We'll see who perseveres here.