Apple calls employees back to office after Covid-19 delays, Sept 5 deadline

Apple Inc has called its employees to start working from office at least three days a week and has also set a September 5 deadline for the same, marking its latest return attempt after Covid-19 spikes postponed its plans several times, according to news agency Bloomberg.

The company requires its employees to work from office on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and a regular third day that will be determined by individual teams. This is a shift from Apple's original schedule, which called for in-person work on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. The new notification has been sent to employees on Monday.

Since June 2021, the Cupertino--a California-based tech giant has been working toward getting its employees back in the office and announced a three-day policy. However, a surge in Covid-19 virus pushed the company to back deadlines, leaving workers on a two-day-a-week schedule.

The organisation informed that the new policy will first come in force in Silicon Valley, and then spread to other offices. However, an Apple spokesperson refused to comment on the updated deadlines, as per Bloomberg reports.

Apple Inc has been making other Covid-19 adjustments and the new policy comes weeks after the company dropped its mask mandate in common areas of offices. It has also removed such a requirement at individual desks several months ago.

In June this year, the company held an in-person gathering at its campus to watch a developers conference presentation, the first since 2019. After the presentation, it signaled that Apple was inching closer to normal operations.

In Santa Clara County, where many of Apple's main offices are housed, seven-day case averages and daily new Covid-19 case counts have declined from July. However, there are still much higher than before the Omicron spikes earlier in 2022.

The iPhone maker has been one of the most stringent technology companies when it comes to pushing employees back into the office, irking some staffers, Bloomberg News has reported.

(With Bloomberg inputs)