Flexibility Is a Vital Component of the Future Happiness of Workers ⇥ reverttosaved.com
For Apple specifically, the company used to say ‘think different’. It could leverage that approach and lead a new way of how major corporations work rather than being so prescriptive. And while Apple shifting to three days in/two days out is a big cultural shift, it has an opportunity to do more. If your company has been by every measure a massive success during the pandemic, then it has space to be more radical, not less, regarding workers.
Retaining high-performing employees who are committed to Apple’s goals remains one of the highest-priority concerns at the company. In 2019, several notable employees exited; just this week, Bloomberg reported the departure of “several” managers of Apple’s car project to other companies. Those are just the most visible employees, too, who are less affected by a requirement to work in an office even part-time.
I do not know that there is a particular trend of Apple losing employees. I do not have any information on attrition trends. But I am hopeful that Apple — or any company — will respond quickly if it begins losing good and long-term employees purely because of what they see as a mediocre remote work arrangement.
Remote work does not come at no cost. If work-from-home arrangements for high-salary jobs like these become really popular over the next, say, five years, it seems likely that it will distort real estate markets in places with lower living costs, and not just in developed countries.