Apple workers hit back against the company's return-to-office plans, saying they have carried out 'exceptional work' from home

Apple is asking staff to return to the office for at least three days a week.

Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

• A group of staff at Apple has launched a petition to demand more flexible working arrangements.
• Earlier this month, the company asked staff to return to the office for at least three days a week.
• Workers said in the petition that the plan did not consider the unique demands of each job role.

Apple employees are pushing back against the company's return-to-office plans. 

A group of Apple workers called Apple Together tweeted a petition on Monday, arguing that employees have shown over the past two years that they can do "exceptional work" from home.

The petition claimed that workers asking for flexible arrangements may have "compelling reasons and circumstances" such as disabilities or care responsibilities.

Some, they said, might just be plain "happier and more productive" when working from home.

This month, Apple's senior leadership told employees that they had to return to the office for at least three days a week. A memo sent by Apple CEO, Tim Cook, said the push to get staff back in the office was designed to restore "in-person collaboration," per The Guardian.

It came after similar comments made last year.

The new petition argued that Apple's return-to-office mandate does not consider the unique demands of specific jobs or the diversity of individual employees. 

Apple did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside normal working hours.

Apple Together's petition demands that decisions on flexible-work arrangements be left up to individuals and their immediate managers. The workers have also asked that these arrangements be free of higher-level approvals and not require staff to provide private information.

Employees have fought back against Apple's return-to-office plans before. In 2021, dozens of Apple workers wrote a letter to Cook signaling their frustration with the company's stance on remote working.

Employees said in the letter, seen by The Verge last year, that they felt "not just unheard, but at times actively ignored" during communication about remote work at Apple.

In May, Ian Goodfellow, Apple's former machine learning director reportedly left the company for Google's DeepMind due to Apple's return-to-office plans. 

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