Apple Workers Demand Right to Work from Home
It’s probably only the beginning of a worker-driven movement for the right to work from the comfort and safety of one’s home. Flexible work arrangements and remote work are the new norm and desirable for many people.
Among the many companies agitating for a full return to in-office work, the most surprising voices in the chorus are those of technology companies — the very purveyors of the remote technology that made it possible for people to work from home during the pandemic.
Now, however, the tech companies want employees back at their work stations. But like the horse that’s had a taste of freedom and no longer wants to return to the stable, workers who have had a taste of the freedom to work from home find the thought of being trapping in a beige cubicle or (worse) an open office plan for eight hours a day unappealing.
Apple has stated that it will require employees to work from the office full time starting in the fall. The company has increasingly pushed to have all workers return to the offices.
Apple employees will have none of it.
Over 1,700 workers responded to a survey. Among the surveyed workers, 90% strongly agree that ‘location flexible’ work arrangement are extremely important.
Tech companies such as Apple have been pushing for workers to return to the office, with some mandating in-office time. What is so peculiar to me is that the tech companies that provide the technologies we rely on to work from home are the ones insisting upon a return to the office.
In my opinion, the real issue is simple: Trust.
Companies do not trust their employees to be productive when they work from home.
Encouraging remote and virtual workers to do their best requires trust. Companies must trust their employees to:
- Respond during working hours
- Behave professionally during meetings (despite the occassional distraction)
- Work their allotted hours per day
- Complete their assigned work
- Collaborate using remote technology
What is becoming apparent in this push for back-to-the-zombie cubicles is that companies do not trust their own employees to be mature, responsible and productive workers.
Productivity Does Not Equate Hours Worked
Productivity does not equate hours worked. Just because people show up at 9 a.m. and leave by 5 p.m. does not mean they have worked an eight hour day.
Offices, especially the modern office with its open floor plan and emphasis on ‘teamwork’ and ‘collaboration’ generates noise and confusion. It’s an overwhelming cacophony of sights, smells, and sounds for many of us especially introverts and people with ADHD and sensory processing disorders.
For those of us who prefer quiet and solitude to think, working from home offers the ability to shut the door, focus on the task at hand, and produce our best work.
But What About Teamwork?
What is this vaunted teamwork companies speak of?
Sitting around a table in a conference room and blurting out ideas and opinions — many of which will be ignored anyway?
The irony is that the technology companies that produce much of the technology used for virtual employement do not want their own companies using it for collaboration and teamwork. In other words, the same people who tell you that using Zoom, Facetime, Google Meet, and the dozens of collaboration and meeting tools are great for virtual work do not believe in the effectiveness of a virtual workforce.
Teamwork can take place whether the team is sitting in the same room sipping bad coffee and eating stale donuts or scattered across several countries dialing into conference calls. For the past 15 years, I have worked as a remote content strategist, providing leadership to marketing teams across multiple companies, continents, and time zones. I have never been in the same room with many of the teams I work with yet feel as close to them as I did back in my days as a New York City marketing executive leading teams for large education publishers.
Teamwork, and the collaborative mindset, depend upon the individuals working together, not upon their physical location. I have sat in meeting rooms with people and felt zero teamwork going on. And I have sat at my desk in my home office in rural Virginia speaking with colleagues in Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, and Berlin, feeling an incredible synergy and collaboration taking place.
Teamwork is in behaviors, not location.
The Bottom Line: Workers Need to Insist on Flexible Arrangements
Currently, the job market favors job seekers, with two jobs open for every available employee.
This means the power is with workers to negotiate their requirements for accepting jobs. And, if it is important enough to you, one of those requirements can be flexible, remote work.
