According to the latest reports by the Business Insider, Apple is now asking its employees who are working at the Apple Park, Cupertino campuses, and Infinite Loop to work from home today. It is an additional precaution, says Bloomberg’s Mark Gruman (twitter), and also that its local stores will remain open.
Apple is encouraging employees in Silicon Valley to work from home today if they can as an “additional precaution.” Its local retail stores remain open.
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) March 6, 2020
At this time, Apple does not give any details about this policy of employees working from home. At this stage, Apple does not make this a requirement for its employees to work from home; it is only a recommendation. The reason is that many Apple divisions will struggle if their employees were to work from home permanently. It is why this is a recommendation rather than a requirement at this stage.
A day before, in a piece of advice, Santa Clara Public Health Department issued instructions to the Silicon Valley companies to “consider the use of telecommuting options for appropriate employees.” It seems that Apple’s instructions for its employees are the implementation of health guidance.
Also, in the same advice by the Santa Clara Public Health Department, said that the companies should cancel or minimize the meetings and conferences. It is why Apple has already announced that it will not be taking part in the SXSW.
Apple now joins other companies such as Google, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, and Microsoft, which are adopting remote work schedules because of the coronavirus outbreak.
