Apple says its hybrid work policy is meant to be “both collaborative and flexible.” However, the recent controversy over the company’s return-to-office plan “is a reminder that some employers are still having trouble grasping what flexibility really looks like,” according to a Quartz at Work report.
“I would call this a rigid hybrid model,” says Raj Choudhury, an associate professor at Harvard Business School who studies the future of work. He told Quartz at Work that companies that attempt to impose strict schedules on workers will ultimately lose out, “because the best employees will leave for competitors offering more flexible hybrid policies.”
There are several issues with Apple’s hybrid plan, according to Choudhury:
° Rigid hybrid policies like Apple’s are “not cognizant that people’s lives have different priorities.”
° One of the most appealing parts of a remote-work option is that it gives employees the ability to work from anywhere at least part of the time.
° Another issue with Apple requiring workers to come into the office three days per week is that norms around hybrid work are shifting.
