Internal Letter Circulates at Apple Pushing Back Against Returning to the Office

This article is surprisingly hostile to workers organizing for better working conditions against the world’s largest corporation.<p>Even setting aside that whole thing, here’s what might happen if Apple doesn’t support remote work: talented people that want remote work will quit and go work at Facebook, Google, and other companies that now support full-time remote. Maybe that works out well for Apple, maybe it doesn’t.

So, I did a six month consulting gig at Apple Retail Software Engineering.<p>I knew plenty of Apple employees who couldn’t afford to live closer to the office than way west of San Jose. Many had a ~30 minute commute to the place where they could pick up one of the ubiquitous Apple buses.<p>From there it was a minimum two to three hour ride to the office, but they had good wifi on the bus, so they could at least get work done while in transit.<p>Once they got to the office, they would have a meeting or two, or go to lunch, and then hop back on the bus to go back home. Rinse and repeat.<p>Virtually their entire work day was spent actually on the bus, and not in the actual office.<p>IMO, Apple could seriously benefit from a lot more people working remotely 100% of the time. I’ve never understood why Tim pushes so hard to force everyone to return to the “office”, when for many the office is actually the bus.

&gt; I can’t help but think that the problem for Apple is that they’ve grown so large that they’ve wound up hiring a lot of people who aren’t a good fit for Apple, and that it was a mistake for Apple to ever hook up a company-wide Slack. Companies are not democracies, but the employees writing these letters sure seem to think Apple is one. It’s not, and if it were, the company would sink in a snap.<p>I do agree with this sentiment, especially when it comes to keeping personal politics out of the office. It can feel distracting, unfair, and suffocating for productive workers to be surrounded by loud, aggressive activists who seemingly don’t care about the company and its mission as much as spending their hours on letters, political discussions, and activist activities. That said I somehow feel differently about the “remote work” topic, maybe because it feels like it directly pertains to work and productivity and employee retention. This article feels a bit too dismissive and verges more on a blind defense of a potential policy misstep.<p>It seems that Apple already responded and is sticking to its decision per <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theverge.com&#x2F;2021&#x2F;6&#x2F;29&#x2F;22556615&#x2F;apple-response-hybrid-work-model-employee-letter-remote" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theverge.com&#x2F;2021&#x2F;6&#x2F;29&#x2F;22556615&#x2F;apple-response-h...</a>

I&#x27;m not FAANG material (nor do I desire to be), but boy am I glad I get to code my little marketing front ends from home for my team of three, if I so choose.<p>While I can understand one might see some reasons for remote work to be &#x27;pandering,&#x27;* it&#x27;s deliciously like the smug, hip Mac stand-in from the Mac&#x2F;Windows commercials to suggest that a reduction in commutes and environmental improvement is &quot;pandering.&quot; Again, if this kind of scorn is what people face for asking for a chance to self determine where they are productive, I&#x27;m all the more happy to be outside of Silicon Valley.<p>* while not Apple&#x27;s problem, for those outside of Apple, I&#x27;ve heard that many disabled workers have had to fight tooth and nail for accommodations. Props to Apple for accommodations being easy, but - is it <i>pandering?</i>

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=27684205" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=27684205</a><p>Related story just published by the verge

What does:<p>&quot;Some serious :fist: :eggplant: vibes&quot;<p>mean?

Can&#x27;t blame them. They spent loads on their new office?

It might be extreme, but I think employee should have to earn the right to work from home. It should not be assumed nor automatically granted, unless it’s for a documented severe physical limitation. Reading over this letter, and others like it at similar companies just sounds like a lot of spoiled over paid people and think they are special. There’s a great sense of entitlement wafting up from the page.