Petition launched to demand Apple staff can work from home

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Apple’s instruction that its staff should return to offices have been met with strong opposition.

A newly launched petition calls on the company to allow staff to work out “flexible work arrangements” and that they should not be forced back into the office.

It comes after Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, wrote a memo to Apple staff instructing them to return to the office from September. Staff should come in three days a week, he said – with employees required to work from the office on Tuesdays, Thursdays and a day of their team’s choosing.

Mr Cook said that the new system would “enhance” the company’s flexibility, as well as preserving “in-person collaboration”.

Apple has already attempted to bring its workers back to the office once before, in 2021. But new waves of the pandemic meant that it largely abandoned the instruction and staff continued to work from home.

Now a petition has been launched that demands at least some staff continue to be able to work flexibly. It has been circulated among employees by a group called “Apple Together”.

The petition lists two demands: that staff should be able to “work directly with [their] immediate manager to figure out what kind of flexible work arrangements are best” and that those arrangements “should not require higher level approvals, complex procedures, or providing private information”.

It said that it will be collecting signatures this week, which will be verified in part by asking employees to sign up using their Apple email addresses. That petition will then be sent on to executives, though those behind the petition stress that data will be kept anonymous.

Apple’s stance on working from home stands apart from many other large tech firms. Twitter announced very early in the pandemic that it would allow staff to work from home forever if they wish, while encouraging them to come into the office – a stance that has been largely matched by other rival companies, such as Meta.