The rumor: While Apple initially planned to have employees back at Apple Park for at least 3 days a week by September, plans have changed, according to Mark Gurman (89.1% accurate, via Bloomberg).
- “Apple Inc. is pushing back its return to office deadline by at least a month to October at the earliest, responding to a resurgence of Covid variants across many countries,” Gurman says, citing “people familiar with the matter”
- In recent weeks, some employees have circulated a letter asking Apple to reconsider forcing employees to return to the office in-person
Our take: I’m in no position to make a medical or scientific call on when the right time to return to the office is, amid COVID-19 and especially the new variants that are beginning to become widespread. This being said, I do think it is absolutely imperative that employees return to Apple Park as soon as possible to continue collaborating in-person to design the best products in the world. Plus, Apple spent an estimated 5 billion dollars on the spaceship, so of course they went folks to use it.
