Apple has set an April 11 deadline for corporate employees in the U.S. to return to offices like Apple Park, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman.
The report states that Apple employees will be required to work from the office at least one day per week by April 11, at least two days per week by May 2, and at least three days per week by May 23. Those three days would be Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.
“For many of you, I know that returning to the office represents a long-awaited milestone and a positive sign that we can engage more fully with the colleagues who play such an important role in our lives,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a memo to employees obtained by Bloomberg. “For others, it may also be an unsettling change.”
Apple originally aimed for employees to return to the office in February, but the plans were delayed indefinitely due to rising COVID-19 cases. With reported cases having since declined in the U.S., Apple is once again attempting a return to in-person work.
Apple’s corporate employees have largely been working from home since the start of the pandemic. Apple executives have routinely made it clear that employees would eventually need to return to the office once it is safer to do so.
“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,” Cook said in a June 2021 memo to employees. “Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate.”
Apple has planned for a hybrid work schedule. In the June 2021 memo, Cook said that employees would be asked to return to their offices on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with the option of working remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays. Teams requiring in-person work would return to the office for four to five days a week, the memo added.
Apple’s decision comes just a few days after Google said that its employees would need to return to offices starting April 4.
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