Apple CEO Tim Cook has emailed employees, telling them to expect a return to the office in early September.
Like most companies, Apple sent employees home to work remotely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many, the company’s work culture has been permanently changed by a year of remote work. As a result, Apple appears to be embracing a flexible work future, with Cook wanting employees in the office three days a week, while allowing them to continue working from home the remaining two.
“For all that we’ve been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other,” he said in the email, seen by The Verge. “Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate.”
Employees will be asked to work from the office Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and be able to continue working remotely Wednesdays and Fridays. Teams that require more in-person collaboration may be required to work in the office four or five days a week.
In addition, employees will also have the option, with manager approval, of working remotely up to two weeks a year, “to be closer to family and loved ones, find a change of scenery, manage unexpected travel, or a different reason all your own,” according to the email.
Apple joins a long list of companies, including Salesforce, Ford and GM, who are embracing flexible and remote work options, providing further evidence of a permanent shift in the nature of the post-pandemic workforce.