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Apple employees threaten to quit after CEO says they must come back to the office

April 2, 2022 | | Print Article

Employees at Apple are just over one week away from having to drag themselves back into the office for at least one day a week, and some would rather quit than “deal with the commute” or “sit around for eight hours a day.”

A memo from Apple CEO Tim Cook to his staff stated, beginning April 11, all United States corporate employees will begin a “phased approach” to returning to in-person working, “with teams returning to the office initially one day a week, and then, beginning in the third week, two days a week,” the Daily Mail reported.

“This traditional period will now be extended from four to six weeks,” the memo continued. “We will then begin the hybrid pilot in full on May 23, with people coming to the office three days a week — on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday — and working flexibly on Wednesday and Friday if you wish.”

Employees will also have four weeks per year during which they can work fully from home.

Oh, the horrors!

As the New York Post reported, some disgruntled employees took to corporate message board Blind and let Cook know what they thought of his plan.

“I don’t give a single f–k about ever coming back to work here,” one Apple employee wrote, adding that they planned on resigning the day they returned to the office.

“I’m going to go in to say hello and meet everyone since I haven’t since I started and then sending in my resignation when I get home,” the employee declared. “I already know I won’t be able to deal with the commute and sitting around for 8 hours.”

Another employee expressed support with a laughing emoji and stated, “I’m gonna do the same.”

A third exclaimed, “Hell YEAH my man let’s do this! F–k RTO [return to office].”

Not all the Big Tech giants are so demanding.

While many Google employees will also have to make it into the office three days a week, some will have the option of working fully from home forever, though they will need to agree to a pay cut if they leave either the San Francisco Bay Area or New York City in search of more affordable housing.

The same offer of fully remote employment is being offered at Meta, and Amazon has reversed its plan to force workers back into the office three days a week, opting instead to leave the decision up to their individual teams.

It’s enough to make some Apple employee yearn for greener pastures.

“Totally bummed and looking into full remote jobs now,” said one employee, while another said they were already in the final interviewing stages at rival tech companies.

On social media, reactions to the defiant Apple employees is mixed. Some users on Twitter feel the employees are “WOKE idiots” who “need to learn a lesson” while others are “sorry not sorry” that “boomers” aren’t hip to the benefits of remote working.

“Apple employees are now going to be required to come back to the office three days a week,” tweeted one user. “Some are saying they will quit if they have to do this! Bye-bye it’s been nice know you. They [sic] were plenty of people to replace them. Too many WOKE idiots that need to learn a lesson.”

“All the boomers in the comments brown nosing corporate CEOs is actually hilarious,” wrote another. “Sorry not sorry that our generation mastered remote working and realized that we don’t need to be in an office setting M-F from 8-5 to be productive and get our jobs done.”

Here’s a sampling of other responses, indicating a definite split between those anxious to return to the way things were done in pre-pandemic America, and those who would prefer to emerge from lockdowns with a new attitude to working from home.

Melissa Fine
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