A group of
Apple employees have expressed opposition to plans regarding a return to office.
In an internal letter, the group vented their frustrations against the proposals
made by chief executive Tim Cook recently, asking
workers to be in office for at least three days a week by September.

The letter,
which was signed by dozens of employees, said the changes to the firm’s
location-flexibility policies have “already forced some of our colleagues to
quit”, The Verge reported.

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“Without
the inclusivity that flexibility brings, many of us feel we have to choose
between either a combination of our families, our wellbeing, and being
empowered to do our best work, or being a part of Apple,” the letter read.

“Over the last
year we often felt not just unheard, but at times actively ignored,” it said,
adding there is a “disconnect” between the firm and its employees regarding working
remotely.

The letter
comes just days after Cook had sent out an all-staff notification, saying
they will need to come to office on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays starting
September. Most employees will able to work from home twice a week, apart from
being able to work remotely for up to two weeks a year if approved by a
manager.

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In the notification, Cook said that he missed “the hum of activity” of employees in the office, and he knew “I’m not alone”. The three-day weeks in office will be for
all employees, while some teams may need to come in for four or even five days. 

Among the employees’ major demands from Apple in the letter were letting individual teams decide policies on remote working, as well as organising a survey across the entire company on the topic. 

Previously,
Google issued a similar notification to its employees, asking them to return to
office for three days a week in September. However, there are other tech giants
who have favoured remote working.

Facebook has
said that remote working is “the future” while Twitter told its staff in May
2020 that they can continue working from home “forever”