Apple sets April 11 as the deadline for U.S. Employees to Return to Office

Apple plans to offer a hybrid in-office and at-home work schedule in the future. According to the report, Apple employees will be required to work from the office at least one day per week by April 11, two days per week by May 2, and three days per week by May 23. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays would be those days, and most employees would have the option of working remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays.

“For many of you, returning to the office marks a long-awaited milestone and a step towards engaging more fully with colleagues who play such an important role in our lives,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a memo to employees obtained by Bloomberg. “For others, it may also be an unsettling change.”

Apple originally aimed for employees to return to the office in February, but the plans were delayed indefinitely due to rising COVID-19 cases. With reported cases having since declined in the U.S., Apple is attempting to return to in-person work once again.

Since the start of the pandemic, Apple’s corporate employees have mostly been working from home. Despite some employees objecting, Apple executives have routinely made it clear that employees must eventually return to work once it is safer to do so.

“Despite all that we have been able to accomplish while many of us have been separated, there is one thing that we have been missing: each other,” Cook wrote in a memo to employees in June 2021. Video conferencing has shortened the distance between us, for sure, but there are some things that it simply can’t replace.”
It is ironic that Apple’s decision comes just a few days after Google announced that its employees would need to return to work on April 4.