Apple's Return-to-Office Policy Leaves Many Workers Unhappy, AI Expert Quits

Apple's director of machine learning, Ian Goodfellow, "is leaving the company due to its return to work policy," reports a tech reporter for the Verge. "In a note to staff, he said 'I believe strongly that more flexibility would have been the best policy for my team.'"

9to5Mac notes that Apple "poached Goodfellow from Google back in 2019 to join its 'Special Projects Group' as the director of machine learning." Apple employees started returning to in-person work on April 11 following a two-year stint of remote work brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic... At first, the company required employees to work in person at least one day per week. On May 4, the company ramped that up to two days per week in the office.

Employees will need to be in the office three days a week. This is the start of Apple's hybrid work plan, which will require employees to work from the office on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday every week.

Goodfellow's former employer Google mandated that some teams return to in-person work starting last month, but many employees are able to permanently work from home.

Discontent with that policy is widespread, reports Fortune: Seventy-six percent of Apple workers surveyed said they were dissatisfied with Apple's return-to-office policy that was implemented after the COVID pandemic started waning. The survey, conducted by anonymous social network Blind, collected answers from 652 Apple employees from April 13 to April 19.... Accustomed to no commute, they're now balking at having to return to the office and say they will seek jobs at other tech companies that offer more flexible work arrangements. A sizable number of workers — 56% — claimed they are looking to leave Apple expressly because of its office requirement. It's unclear how many actually will carry through.... Blind's users are "overwhelmingly corporate workers in engineering or product roles," according to Rick Chen, director of public relations at Blind.

More action might be expected after May 23 when the pilot plan for hybrid work comes into full effect. Another worker stated: "Apple is going to see attrition like no other come June. 60% of my team doesn't even live near the office. They are not returning. "