Apple Sets Feb. 1 Return-To-Office Date

‘This provides more opportunity to travel, be closer to your loved ones, or simply shake up your routines,’ Apple CEO Tim Cook writes in a memo to staff.

Apple employees will be returning to the office on Feb. 1, 2022 in a staggered approach, CEO Tim Cook told employees on Thursday, according to multiple news outlets. The Information first broke the news.

The February return-to-office date was pushed back from September due to the COVID-19 delta variant.

Staff will begin a “hybrid work pilot” in February where they will work from home for one to two days each week, according to the memo. In March, those employees will then be in office Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

It is also allowing employees to work remotely for up to four weeks per year.

[Related: Apple CEO Cook: Surge In Mac Demand ‘Fueled’ By M1 Chip]

A number of teams at the iPhone giant will not be part of the hybrid approach due to their work requiring “a greater need to work in-person.”

CRN has reached out to Apple for a comment.

Cook encouraged all employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine but has not mandated that all employees be vaccinated.

“As we prepare to begin this new pilot, I want to reiterate that we remain focused, first and foremost, on the health and well-being of our teams and your families,” Cook wrote in the memo. “We know that vaccination is the most important step we can take for our own health and the health of our communities, and is the best way to prevent the severity and spread of the virus.”