Apple Delays Staff Office Return Until 2022

Apple has once again shuffled back the date for staff to return to corporate offices and campuses, because by ongoing Covid infections from the Delta variant.

Indeed, staff have been told that they will not be returning to the office until January 2022 at the earliest.

This is another delay for Apple staff. In early June CEO Tim Cook had issued a return to the office notice in a company-wide email, in which he said Apple staff should return to their desks for at least three days a week, starting from early September.

Return date

Cook said that most staff would be asked to come in to the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with the option of working remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Cook’s recall notice did face internal resistance from staff, after an internal letter from Apple staff demanded more flexibility, and the letter also stated Apple’s policy has “already forced some of our colleagues to quit”.

But faced with rising infections (and deaths) in the United States because of the delta variant, Apple management in late July opted to push back the office return date until early October.

And now according to Bloomberg, Apple told staff in a memo this week, that the return date to corporate offices has now been moved from October until January at the earliest, because of surging Covid-19 cases and new variants.

Apple reportedly said it would confirm the reopening plans one month before employees were required to return to the office.

The memo was sent by the human resources and retail head, Deirdre O’Brien.

The memo also reportedly said the company did not currently expect to close its offices or retail stores, but she strongly encouraged staff to get vaccinated.

Facebook and Google recently announced they will require their staff to be vaccinated, when they return to offices or campuses.

Other decisions

Apple is the latest tech giant to move the office return date to early 2022.

Earlier this month Amazon cited the surge in Covid-19 cases in the US from the Delta variant, for pushing back the office return date until the new year.

This copied a similar move by Lyft, which has set a return date for corporate workers in February 2022.