?Noting a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Apple Inc. informed employees May 17 that it is delaying its plans to require employees to work in the office three days a week. We’ve gathered articles on the news from SHRM Online and other media outlets.
In the Office Two Days a Week
The company still expects workers to come to the office two days per week. Apple said working in the office three days a week is delayed for “the time being” and didn’t provide a new date of when it would again be required. Some employees have said that commute times take away hours that could be spent on work.
Difficult Balance
Apple was among the first companies to send workers home as the coronavirus spread, and it remains one of the highest-profile examples of an organization facing challenges as it tries to bring employees back to the office. As businesses have tried to navigate a hybrid-work life, some have narrowed their ambitions of returning to the office to two days from three days a week amid a tight labor market and workers seeking more flexibility.
Prominent Resignation
Apple’s reversal was welcome news for employees who pushed back against the company’s initial hopes that they start coming to the office three days a week beginning in late May. One of Apple’s leading artificial intelligence engineers, Ian Goodfellow, resigned in early May because of Apple’s return policy. Goodfellow didn’t respond immediately to requests for comment.
Divide Between Employers’ and Employees’ Preferences
Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford University economist, conducts a monthly survey of worker preferences with Steven J. Davis of the University of Chicago and José María Barrero of Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. The three have found that the gap between what workers prefer and what their companies are planning has begun to shrink, but a divide remains.
Other new survey data shows that full-time workers have more work-related stress and anxiety than their hybrid and remote counterparts, according to a report from Future Forum, a consortium funded by Slack Technologies Inc., Boston Consulting Group and MillerKnoll.
Employer Concerns About Hybrid Work Remain
Hybrid work is more popular than ever, despite employer concerns about it. Maintaining company culture and employee engagement tops the list of these concerns, according to Littler’s 10th Annual Employer Survey Report, 2022.