Senior Apple Execs Resign Over Return To Office, Deem Policy 'Inflexible'

Several senior Apple staff are unhappy with the company's policy of returning to the office after two years of working from home due to the global coronavirus pandic as the move is facing severe resistance.

Ian Goodfellow, a director of machine learning (ML) at Apple is opposed to the idea and has announced leaving the company. Image: Getty

New Delhi: Several senior Apple staff are unhappy with the company's policy of returning to the office after two years of working from home due to the global coronavirus pandemic as the move is facing severe resistance. Ian Goodfellow, a director of machine learning (ML) at Apple is opposed to the idea and has announced leaving the iPhone maker due to its return to work policy. Several employees are unhappy with Apple's gradual return to office policy, the media has reported.

A group of Apple employees has recently published an open letter directed at Apple's executive leadership. The portion of the open letter read: "We wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on the return to office so that you may better understand why we do not believe in the Hybrid Working pilot. You have characterized the decision for the Hybrid Working Pilot as being about combining the “need to commune in-person” and the value of flexible work. But in reality, it does not recognize flexible work and is only driven by fear. Fear of the future of work, fear of worker autonomy, fear of losing control. Let us explain."

According to the group dubbed "Apple Together" which published the open letter, there are several reasons why they believe the tech giant's return to the office does not make sense for the company and its employees. "Slack has made this much easier over the last two years. Yet, you choose to keep us all in separate siloed Slack workspaces and try to prevent us from talking to each other, so software engineers don’t accidentally talk to AppleCare employees, and retail staff don’t accidentally meet hardware engineers," another part of the letter read.

The group also highlights the effect that commuting in heavy traffic cities where the tech titan has its offices, including areas of Los Angeles, Bay Area, or Austin, Texas, has on the personal lives, energy and availability at work of its employees.

Earlier in March, Apple CEO Tim Cook had mentioned a plan to have company employees who had been working from home return to the office.