What you need to know
- Apple is instituting a new hybrid policy when it comes to remote work.
- Office employees will have the option to work two days remotely per week.
- Some employees have decided to quit instead of giving up working from home.
Apple does not appear to be giving an inch when it comes to its new hybrid work policy.
As reported by The Verge, some employees at the company are saying that the company is tightening its policy for those who had been able to work from home fully. According to the report, Apple's denial of exceptions for some people is leading to them quitting the company.
While Apple historically discouraged employees from working from home, there were one-off exceptions to the rule, and some teams were more lenient than others. Now, employees say that even those exceptions are being denied. In a company Slack channel where employees advocate for remote work, roughly 10 people said they were resigning due to the hybrid work policy or knew others who'd been forced to quit. The Slack channel currently has more than 6,000 members.
According to the report, Apple is telling people that "only people with documented medical conditions would be approved for permanent remote work."
One employee said they were currently on an Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation that allowed them to work from home, but were told that accommodation would be denied when the company went back to the office. "I will be out of a job in September," they wrote in Slack.Some employees say they were told only people with documented medical conditions would be approved for permanent remote work. But the form that Apple employees use to request such an accommodation asks them to release their medical records to the company, which made some people uncomfortable.
Apple's new hybrid policy allows approved employees to work from home two days a week. The company is still expecting all employees to come into the office for at least three days a week. Other big technology companies, like Facebook and Twitter, have adopted a fully remote policy that allows employees to work from home permanently.
We'll have to wait and see if Apple continues to stick hard to its hyrbird policy. If the company saw enough pressure and it became an issue of acquiring and retaining the talent it needs for the innovation it pursues, it could become a long term issue.
