Apple delays employee fitness challenge because of China closures

Apple has decided to postpone its annual employee fitness challenge, due to the temporary closure of its China operations.

As reported by MacRumors, an email sent to all Apple employees earlier this week read:

The Close Your Rings Challenge is one of those rare opportunities to bring team members and colleagues from around the world together with a common purpose to close our rings, earn some points, and have fun. With a number of our offices and stores closed in China right now and some of our team members unable to participate, we've decided to postpone 2020 Close Your Rings Challenge. At this time, our Challenge will be removed from the Challenges app.

We'll update everyone as soon as we have a new date when we can all focus together in closing our rings!

During its Q1 2020 earnings call, Apple announced the closure of its Qingdao store and the restriction of employee travel to China in wake of concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. A couple of days later it was forced to close two more stores in Fuzhou and Nanjing. On February 1, Apple announced that it was closing its entire Chinese operation, including its offices, stores, and contact centers out of "an abundance of caution".

In solidarity with its retail and corporate employees in China, Apple has postponed its 2020 employee fitness challenge and has removed it from the Challenges app. Apple rewards its employees each year with prizes and incentives depending on how well they do. In past years, employees could receive t-shirts, custom Apple water bottles, cool-storage bags and more.

As is stated in the email, the employee fitness challenge will be rescheduled to a new date.