As noted by AppleInsider, the Apple Together group has published an open letter objecting to Apple’s requiring people to return to working in the office, and argues that Steve Jobs would have listened to them. I’m not so sure about that.
Apple Together is a group of Apple employees that formerly used the #AppleToo moniker to air grievances about workplace conditions, harassment, and sexism at Apple. The group describes itself as “Apple workers in retail corporate, and AppleCare uniting to change” the company.
Apple Together has posted a lengthy letter dubbed “Thoughts on Office-bound Work.” The last paragraph of the letter reads this way: Or as Steve [Jobs] said: “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” Here we are, the smart people that you hired, and we are telling you what to do: Please get out of our way, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, let us decide how we work best, and let us do the best work of our lives.
First, let me say that I’m not arguing with the Apple Together group’s complaints/suggestions/requests. I’m just not sure that the late Steve Jobs would be on board with more Apple employees working from home more of the time.
However I always got the impression that Steve Jobs was adamant on teamwork at Apple — and I sort of think that he would feel that meant working together in person more often than not.
That said, I had the chance to meet Mr. Jobs a couple of times, and I know that if he believed something, he REALLY believed it. So if he thought a WFH (work from home) policy was a good idea, he would have been behind it 110%. However, if he thought it was a bad idea, he would have opposed it just as much.
