Team Cook Calls for "3 Days a Week Office Attendance"... Apple Employees Launch Another 'Protest' Petition

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Apple announced that starting next month, it will increase the mandatory office attendance days from two to three days a week, prompting employees to submit petitions in protest. Attention is focused on whether Apple's office return policy, which has faced multiple employee backlashes including the resignation of Ian Goodfellow, the head of AI machine learning, can be implemented smoothly.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and others on the 22nd (local time), a group called 'Apple Together,' composed of Apple employees and claiming to represent them, has been circulating a petition among internal staff since the day before, demanding 'work with regional flexibility.' This group plans to collect employee signatures on the petition this week and submit it to management.

The petition came after Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that starting from the 5th of next month, employees would be required to come to the office at least three days a week. At that time, CEO Cook expressed his hope that "face-to-face collaboration, which is at the core of our culture, will continue."

The group requests that the company allow employees to decide their work arrangements through discussions with their direct supervisors. They also demand that there be no need for high-level approvals or complicated procedures and that employees should not be required to provide personal information.

They emphasize that employees who want more flexible work arrangements have various reasons, including disabilities or health concerns, and that they are happier and more productive in flexible work environments. They added, "Over the past two years, employees who have officially worked based in the office at Apple have performed exceptionally well, flexibly, both inside and outside the traditional office environment."

WSJ reported that the petition had received more than 270 signatures by the afternoon of the same day but noted that it is unclear how many employees will ultimately participate. An Apple headquarters hardware engineer who helped draft the petition told foreign media, "Considering the possibility of retaliation, at this point, we will not disclose the specific names of individual signatories to protect the employees who have signed."

Earlier, Apple declared in June last year that it would introduce a hybrid work system requiring employees to come to the office at least three days a week and has been gradually transitioning from full remote work to hybrid work. Starting early this year, Apple began encouraging a gradual return to the office, mandating two days a week of office attendance. However, in May, citing a resurgence of COVID-19, Apple temporarily halted the expansion of mandatory office days. It is evaluated that this delay was due to strong internal employee opposition and some employees voicing their concerns even at the risk of resignation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.