own startup. Using Apple's iPads, MacBook Pros, and soware,t.l1ey then build their own oice- less business. A week before its tribute to remote work Apple Inc. gave its own workers a timeline by which they'd have to return to their ofces. To some, including the 7,500 of Apple's [63411) employees who belong to a Slack room dedicated to advocating for remote work, it was bruising. \"They are trolling us, right?" one wrote. Others called the ad \"distasteil\" and "insulting.\" The underlying message: Apple knows corporate employeesusing its products as toolscan capably work from home. So why can't its own staff"? Apple has been a primarily remote company since lthe beginning of the Covid- l9 pandemic. [I recorded several blockbuster quarters and shipped dozens of new products while its employees worked from their garages and spare bedrooms; in the last holiday quarter alone, Apple generated about $12.4 billion in revenue, over 25% more than it had made in the same period before the virus. Tim Cook Photographer: Tiffany HagJer-Geardeloon-Iberg Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive ofcer, has said that an increase in remote work drove new demand for products like iPads and was "very critical" to the company's nancial success. The previous version ofoffice culture may never return, he predicted. \"Normal will become something different," he told investors in October 2020. Despite that, Apple wants its own staff to start coming back to its multibillion-dollar suite of global ofces, including its estimated $5 billion main hub in Cupertino, Calif. Employees are required back in the ofce at least once a week by April 1 1, twice a week by the end ofthe month, and on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays by May 23.1\"] of them are eligible for an extra month of remote work annually. "We have an opportunity to combine the best of what we have learned about working remotely with the irreplaceable benets of in-person collaboration,\" Cook told employees when announcing the return date in early March. Read More: Five Days a Week In the Ofce? It's Better for Everyone Not everyone saw the shift as a positive. "Everything happened with us working from home all day, and now we have to go back to the ofce, sit in traic for two hours, and hire people to take care ofkids at home," says a former Apple employee who left the company, in part, because of its stringent return-to-the-o'roe policy and who asked for anonymity to avoid hurting any tture employment prospects. \"Working from home has so many perks. Why would we want to go back?" The Apple employees demanding to work remotely are a minority; many engineers began returning to the ofce before the April 11 deadline. The company declined to comment, but pointed to previous remarks from Cook in which he said that the return to the ofce may be an "unsettling change" and that the company is dedicated to giving employees support and exibility. Apple's remote-work policy is in a pilot phase, and it could be either the beginning of a new normal or a step toward a return to pee-pandemic expectations. For now, its policy is less flexible than those of some of its biggest rivals. Meta Platforms lnc. is allowing permanent remote work for those not engineering hardware. Amazoncom lnc. says it's leaving the decision to individual divisions. \"We are intentionally not prescribing how many days or which days," CEO Andy Jassy said in a message to employees Microso is allowing most employees to work remotely half-time, but requiring approval from a manager for any more than that. Alphabet Inc's Google, which has begun to require employees to report to the ofce three days a week, is approving remote work on a case-by-case basis. It says it's approved 85% of requests to relocate or work remotely. Back in the Ofce Estimated days per week at the workplace for a typical employee Source: Bay Area Council February survey of 156 employers in the Bay Area There's disagreement about how long a more permissive approach to remote work will last. While it's not hard to fmd predictions of a pemtanent shi. former Google HR head Laso Bock predicts that things will gradually revert to normal over the next three to ve years. In part, workers will realize that physical proximity is helpiirl to landing promotions and plum \fdeveloped by Steve Jobs, whose name marks the on-campus auditorium where the company introduces products. He heralded the circular-shaped Apple Park design as a way to spark random conversations and ideas. Some employees say that bringing workers back to the ofce isn't going to produce the returns on productivity that some executives may be expecting. Employees argue that the pandemic is still not over, with a variant of omieron actively spreading. People are worried about catching the virus at the ofce and bringing it back to unvaecinated kids or high-risk family members. While Apple provides shuttle buses, some employees spend up to two hours a day driving their other cars to and from work, an activity that some say undermines both their own productivity and Apple's environmental goals \"We're trying to save the planet, but now our employees are driving two hours so we can justify our multibillion-dollar headquarters,\" says one employee who asked to remain anonymous discussing their employer. Read More: What Really Happens When Workers Are Given a Flexible Hybrid Schedule Soware engineers, marketing employees, and sales teams could make a stronger argument to work from home than those involved in hardware development. For months, retail employees lamented that they were expected to be in the stores while corporate workers stayed home. in 2020, Apple launched a remote Retail at Home program that let retail employees split their time at the store and at home, assisting with online sales and technical support. That program is now ending. Apple already knows the benets of remote work in certain cases For years, the company has selectively allowed a small number ofengineers across the company to work remotely under certain circumstances, employees say. It's also had a program allowing technical support sta' to work from home. This has resulted in people working in Idaho and the most distant parts of Texas. Remote workers had to remain within a few hundred miles ofan Apple ofce and visit om time to time. Those people will continue to work from home after Apple's return deadline, irking some engineers who have to return to the oice. While the takeaway of Escape From the Oice is supposed to be the revolutionary potential of Apple devices, there's another one: Ifyou don't like your job's approach to remote work, you should quit. The message may be getting through. With the perception that Apple's policies on remote work aren't as good as those of its competitors, its recruiters are expecting some people to leave, and preparing to nd replacements . Wi'r.'i Monk Bagel-r Have a condential tip for our rgpo_rters? Get in touch Before it's here it's on the Bloomberg Terminal Learn more