Apple employees push back against returning to the office in internal letter

While there are many meaningful advantages and benefits from working with other people in a common area, very little of those benefits are passed on to people who simply don’t want to be there.<p>Forcing people who would prefer to work from home is mostly to the benefit of those that thrive in a social environment. Extraverts that have benefited from the status quo will largely want to return to it, regardless of any particular employee’s inclinations to stay working from home.<p>I don’t think “leaving it up to the employee” is necessarily the best option, either. You’re creating problems potentially in either circumstance.<p>For a corporation as large as Apple it seems foolish to make a policy like this company-wide when it’s pretty clear that individual teams should probably make this decision as a group.

I work there. This is a nice rebuttal I think. Most managers I know don’t actually care whether their directs are in office most days anyways. Personally I can’t wait to be back in office, working alone all days is very depressing and I miss the low-pressure socialization afforded by colocation. Virtual communication has improved, but offers no replacement for this IMO. This is a me thing though, and I certainly get shit done with folks working remote, I just end up knowing them way less.

Hearing from friends in low-level management on the inside that upper management is well aware of the impending attrition, and are willing to (and expect to) eat some low amount of turnover. Will be interesting to see how far off reality is from that. I&#x27;m expecting a large turnover across the industry for inflexible companies going forward, honestly.

It&#x27;s hilarious how many people are religious about WFH. Like arguing you must not have a social life or you are extraverted if you need to be in the office.... Some people like the office some don&#x27;t. At the end of the day if people working from home get more done, they&#x27;ll be allowed to do so. But I&#x27;ve seen a lot of schedules slip the last year, most likely it&#x27;s because of the pandemic, but maybe it&#x27;s the ability to come to a space and focus. In a year if companies that remain WFH get more done, then that&#x27;ll become the norm, but if people who WFH get less done, more restrictions will be added. Instead of being a zealot about it, go prove it works for you.

I wonder how much the $5 billion sunk cost from the new(ish) office has to do with this, or if Apple is just clinging on to their original, conservative view on WFH.

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