How the Future Works

Step 3: Commit to How You'll Work: Develop Team-Level Agreements

“For all that we've been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other. Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate.”¹

That was the message from Apple CEO, Tim Cook, in a June 2021 email informing employees of a new policy requiring most of them to return to the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with the option of continuing to work remotely the other two. In May of the same year, Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, announced similar plans requiring most employees to work from their offices at least three days a week. Numerous other companies adopted similar plans.

The backlash at Apple was swift. Just two days after Cook's memo, employees responded with one of their own, in which they pointed to a profound disconnect between executives and employees on this subject. In a letter addressed directly to Cook, a group of “remote work advocates” wrote: “We would like to take the opportunity to communicate a growing concern among our colleagues that Apple's remote/location-flexible work policy, and the communication around it, have already forced some of our colleagues to quit. Without the inclusivity that flexibility brings, many of us feel we have to choose between either a combination of our families, our well-being, and being empowered ...