Apple CEO Tim Cook previously delayed the return to the office following an increase in Covid-19 cases.
Apple will require corporate staff to be physically present in the office for at least three days a week.
As first reported by Bloomberg, the tech giant has set a deadline of 5 September for employees to return to offices. They will be expected to go into the workplace on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as a third day that will be decided by their individual managers.
“Each team will work through the decision about which day is right for them, and you’ll hear from your leaders soon. As before, many employees will have the option of working remotely two days a week,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a memo sent to employees.
Cook said that depending on people’s roles, they will also have the option to work remotely for up to four weeks a year.
In May of this year, Apple delayed the final step of its return-to-office strategy following an increase in cases of Covid-19.
While corporate staff were due to be in the office at least three days a week by 23 May, Cook halted the final step in the plan. This meant employees were only required to come into the workplace two days per week, as per the second stage of the strategy.
Some staff have been critical of Apple’s remote and hybrid working plans, claiming its return-to-office policy might impinge on their productivity.
Apple’s former head of machine learning, Ian Goodfellow, reportedly left the company due to its return-to-office policy. According to The Verge tech reporter Zoë Schiffer, Goodfellow left a note to staff saying: “I believe strongly that more flexibility would have been the best policy for my team.”
Cook initially began the company’s phased return to the workplace in April of this year, when employees were expected to come into the office one day a week.
The CEO’s position was broadly similar to the stance many of his fellow tech bosses took on returning to the office. Twitter reopened its offices in March, while Google said its staff had to return to the workplace on a hybrid basis by the start of April.
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