Apple’s internal survey viewed by The Verge shows that employees are requesting for ‘location flexible working options and expressing concern that some colleagues might leave if they are forced to work from offices.
In an internal email, CEO Tim Cook detailed the company’s back-to-office workweek schedule. In September, employees will be returning to offices and as the new hybrid work model, they will come to the office for three days and work remotely for two days. Mr.Cook welcomed employees saying that “there’s no replacement for face-to-face collaboration, but we have also learned a great deal about how we can get our work done outside of the office without sacrificing productivity or results.”
However, dissatisfaction with the new hybrid work model, over 2500 employees wrote a letter to senior executives requesting for more flexible remote work schedule. And they are continuing to express their concerns, internally.
In a grassroots survey at Apple, 90% of respondents choose location flexible working options
As per the report, a survey was sent on the company’s Slack channel to discuss remote work. 1749 employees participated in the questionnaire and 90% of the participants selected ‘strongly agree’ to the “location-flexible working options are a very important issue to me” statement. “location-flexible” is defined as the option to work from home, indefinitely.
In addition, 58.5% of respondents choose ‘strongly agree’ to the statement “I am worried that some of my colleagues will have to leave Apple due to LACK of location-flexible work options.” And 36.7% choose “they are worried they’ll have to resign due to the lack of flexibility.” It is reported that the results of the survey were sent to senior leadership.
Employees sent the survey results to Cook and Deirdre O’Brien, senior vice president of retail and people, on June 14th. They included a video with personal testimonies from 24 Apple workers on why remote working options are important.
To the employees’ dismay, Deirdre O’Brien stood firm by the hybrid work model and said ‘collaborative’ work is essential for the company.
“We believe that in-person collaboration is essential to our culture and our future. If we take a moment to reflect on our unbelievable product launches this past year, the products and the launch execution were built upon the base of years of work that we did when we were all together in-person.”
A new report claimed that Apple is testing a new ‘Retail Flex’ hybrid work model for its App Store employees. Starting later this year, “the arrangement will allow employees to work some weeks at their retail store location and other weeks remotely. From home, workers will handle online sales, customer service, and technical support.” Consumers’ great online shopping preference is the reason behind the new retail hybrid work model.
3 comments