// Apple has told staff they must return to the office at least three days a week from September
// CEO Tim Cook said that “in-person collaboration is essential to our culture”
Tech giant Apple has told staff that they must return to the office for at least three days a week next month as it clamps down on remote working.
Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote to staff on Monday and said that “in-person collaboration” is “essential to our culture”.
For staff based at the tech firm’s Cupertino headquarters in California have been told that Tuesday and Thursday are essential days to be in the office while team managers will determine what other days their staff should come in from 5 September.
READ MORE: Lidl to move to flexible working model for all office staff
Apple had previously attempted to get staff back to the office in June last year but its plans were put on ice as another wave of Covid-19 hit.
Cook said the new way of working would be a pilot.
In a memo seen by the FT, he wrote: “We are excited to move forward with the pilot and believe that this revised framework will enhance our ability to work flexibly, while preserving the in-person collaboration that is so essential to our culture.
“We also know that we still have a lot to learn. And we are committed to listening, adapting and growing together in the weeks and months ahead.”
Apple is not the only business to try to get workers back to the office as the Covid-19 pandemic has continued.
Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has banned working from home on Fridays and asked for staff to be in the office all week after it found the practice unproductive.
The retail group has found that its “Frasers Friday” home working initiative had created “an unproductive day of the week”, Frasers Group chief operating officer David Al-Mudallal said to staff earlier this year.
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