Apple has a new work-from-home policy, but it’s still not what employees want

[chscag]

In my opinion, Apple has certainly been generous with allowing employees to work from home. But as the saying goes... "While the cat is away, the mice will play"

Tim Cook and management are no fools. They know the best way to get the most out of their workers is to have them in an environment where management can keep an eye on them.

 

[lclev]

I have a friend who was working remotely for a TV station. She is a graphic designer and the company uses a job assignment and completion system that can be used at the office or at home through a VPN. One of the things she was surprised to find out - when a co-worker got fired - was that they seemed to know if the Macs they provided their employees were not working on jobs for the TV station. She asked me if I could figure out if there was monitoring software installed. I told her it was most likely through the job assignment system and it would not be wise to delve into that - if she wanted to keep her job. She thought if she left the mac on and the job software open that constituted being on the job. Guess not. A few months later she went back to working at the office.

The problem with working from home is if the person is actually working while at home.

 

[chscag]

The problem with working from home is if the person is actually working while at home.

Yes, very true. You can bet those Apple employees working from home were being monitored. As far as I'm concerned, they have no complaint about going back to work at the office.

Of course if one had to drive in that crazy San Francisco - Cupertino traffic every day......

 

[Lifeisabeach]

My ex works from home (very typical in her industry and long preceded COVID), as do most of the people under her. It's not a difficult thing to manage. To somewhat simplify this... you have assignments and expectations and if they aren't achieved, then they either re-assess the expectations or re-assess the employee's future with the company. They don't care if it takes 8 hours to do the assignments, or 12, so long as it gets done. It doesn't even matter if you break the time you work on the projects up over the day, as long as you don't miss deadlines, required conference calls, etc and otherwise the job gets done.

 

[lclev]

I do realize companies have different expectations. My friends company expected her to log 40 hours a week and they did not care when those hours occurred but having the job board up was how they tracked the hours. She also had projects she was expected to complete that were assigned on their jobs board software but if she got it done fast she could hold off posting it to get more hours credit. Sometimes that worked and other times she went over if the project turned out to be more than she figured. Since she was on a salary she did not get overtime! Tracking wise, her biggest concern was side projects that she did off the books but on company equipment (16" MBP i9/32GB with 27" Apple display). Since she moved back to where the TV station is based and works out of the office I guess it is a mute point now.

 

[JohnCL]

In my opinion, Apple has certainly been generous with allowing employees to work from home. But as the saying goes... "While the cat is away, the mice will play"

Tim Cook and management are no fools. They know the best way to get the most out of their workers is to have them in an environment where management can keep an eye on them.

More than generous, now it’s at the point where it is seriously abused by some. Long past time to get back to it.