Apple warns employees they must come to the office or lose their jobs

Side of Apple Park building
(Image credit: Apple)

A second report into Apple's corporate arm claims the company is closely monitoring employees' office attendance using their badge records, and that some workers could even lose their jobs if they don't come to the office three times a week. 

Earlier this week it was reported that Apple "is pulling every lever it can to cut costs" in the face of global economic pressures by doing everything it can to avoid making layoffs at the company. 

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple has delayed corporate bonuses and some upcoming products, including a HomePod with a display. The company is also reportedly not filling some roles and has paused hiring in other places. Notably, Gurman reported that Apple's managers "have become as strict as ever about office attendance." Employees "are typically expected" to attend the office three days a week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. According to Gurman's report, "some workers believe this is a harbinger to the company firing employees who don’t meet the requirement."

Tracking employee attendance

Now, Platformer's reliable insider Zoë Schiffer reports that "Apple is tracking employee attendance (via badge records) and will give employees escalating warnings if they don't come in 3x per week," corroborating Gurman's story. 

Schiffer notes that within the company "some orgs are saying failure to comply could result in termination" however she says this doesn't appear to be a company-wide policy. 

On an unrelated note, Schiffer says that Twitter CEO Elon Musk emailed employees at 2:30 am stating that the office "is not optional" for his employees. The Tesla and Space X mogul has previously made clear his disdain for remote working. 

Apple remains the only large tech company that hasn't made mass layoffs, with Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google collectively letting go of thousands of employees. 

Apple is gearing up for a big 2023 that will see it launch the new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, as well as the Apple VR Reality Pro headset at WWDC 2023.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9