Apple delays return to office into 2022 as pandemic grips

If your boss forces you back to the office, dress like this

Apple has delayed its mandated return to the office until January 2022, or later as infections and deaths spike once again and scientists warn vaccine-defying versions of COVID-19 may appear.

This isn’t yet the new normal

Apple has originally intended forcing staff back to its offices three days a week beginning in September. It subsequently delayed that return to October. Apple has now delayed it once again, suggesting January will be the earliest return date, but promising one month’s notice of such return.

Apple isn’t currently closing retail stores or offices, so some staff must surely be returning to the workplace some of the time. Apple is also urging staff to get vaccinated.

The company joins many other big tech industry names to delay any return to office life into 2022, even while the landlord class that seems to run both sides of the UK government myopically insist on a return to the office in that fading and beleaguered nation.

How things looked at Apple Park back in the olden days.

The office revolution

Apple continues to face protests from staff who feel its three-day at the office working model isn’t sufficiently 21^st Century. They argue that there should be more flexibility around days in the office, and that management should become more agile and less obsessed with presenteeism. That’s going to translate into staff turnover as talented employees walk to firms more capable of supporting the future of work.

That’s not to say that some of those firms aren’t pushing employees around. Some companies even argue that working from home should make for lower wages, which kind of shows the extent to which employees like to abuse their staff.

The bottom line, however, is that employers of any size should now seriously consider new ways of working as the out of the office pandemic speeds inexorably toward its second year, even while most of the population of the planet has not yet been vaccinated.

Apple’s decision to delay an office return should serve as proof that the pandemic is not yet over and a return to normal is no more than an optimistic pipe dream at this time.

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