Tim Cook not sure if requiring employee vaccination is 'the right answer'

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Tim Cook at the iPhone 11 Pro event
Tim Cook at the iPhone 11 Pro event (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

  • Tim Cook talked with CNBC's Josh Lipton yesterday.
  • The Apple CEO said that the company isn't sure if it will require vaccinations for employees yet.
  • Google just announced a mandatory vaccination policy for in-office employees.

Earlier today, Google announced that it would require employees to be vaccinated if they wanted to return to its offices. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said he hopes that the move will "give everyone greater peace of mind as offices reopen." Now, it appears that Apple is mulling the same decision.

Josh Lipton a technology correspondent for CNBC, talked with Tim Cook about whether Apple will require employees to be vaccinated in order to return to the office. Cook did not provide a direct answer, saying that the company is debating on "whether that is the right answer or not."

"…our main focus right now is on when to come back…we pushed it from early September to at least October…we are monitoring things daily to really conclude whether that is the right answer or not"

Apple has already delayed its return to the office from September to October and committed to giving its employees at least a month's notice before bringing them back.

The company is currently seeing a lot of pushback from its employees for its decision to adopt a hybrid remote work policy rather than allowing people to work from home full time. Other major technology companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter have all offered full remote options for at least some roles at their companies. We'll have to see if Apple changes its mind and follows where the rest of the industry is going.

Joe Wituschek
Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.