Apple plans to go hybrid, asks employees to return for 3-day work-week starting September
The tech company is facing employee resistance in office return plan.
By AFP |
AFP
File photo of April 2017: An aerial view of the new Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California.
SAN FRANCISCO: Apple is reportedly facing employee resistance to its hybrid plan to bring employees back to the office starting in September.
The iPhone maker, which faces a dilemma similar to other firms seeking to reopen after pandemic restrictions, has called for employees to return three days a week starting in September, according to the tech news site The Verge.
But at least 80 employees have signed a letter calling for more flexibility for employees who have been working remotely for more than a year.
"We would like to take the opportunity to communicate a growing concern among our colleagues," according to the letter cited by the news website.
"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 to do our best work, or being a part of Apple."
At least 80 Apple employees have signed a letter calling for more flexibility for employees who have been working remotely for more than a year.
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Like its tech peers and many other firms, Apple has allowed employees to work from home or remote locations since the pandemic lockdowns began last year.
Google, Facebook and Microsoft have unveiled similar hybrid schemes for workers, while some firms such as Twitter have told employees they can work remotely indefinitely.
The Apple letter said the remote system worked well and can offer employees better work-life balance, while accommodating those with special needs and reducing the risk of contagion.
"Not only do many of us already feel well-connected with our colleagues worldwide, but better-connected now than ever," the letter said.
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"We've come to look forward to working as we are now, without the daily need to return to the office. It feels like there is a disconnect between how the executive team thinks about remote / location-flexible work and the lived experiences of many of Apple's employees."
Apple in 2017 opened its "spaceship" campus, one of several multibillion-dollar headquarters buildings designed for Silicon Valley giants.
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Increase In WFH Raises Cybersecurity Concerns: 5 Tips To Work From Home Securely
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According to a report released by online job portal, Naukri.com, employers hiring people to work from home has increased by 3 times as compared to the time prior to the lockdown and the number of work from home jobs has gone up by 7 times in applications and the last few months as compared to the time before COVID-19 disease.
Work-From-Home might just become a permanent fixture with many companies putting into place guidelines to maintain productivity and work-life balance. But are organisations also looking at robust cybersecurity policies for WFH?
Paul Ducklin, Principal Research Scientist at Sophos, says, “While WFH has become a necessity due to the pandemic, it’s vital not to let the precautions intended to protect the physical health of your staff turn into a threat to their cybersecurity health at the same time.” He shares his five tips for working from home safely:
According to a report released by online job portal, Naukri.com, employers hiring people to work from home has increased by 3 times as compared to the time prior to the lockdown and the number of wor..
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Many Self-Service Portals (SSPs) allow users to choose between different levels of access, so they can safely connect up either a personal device (albeit with less access to fewer company systems than they’d get with a dedicated device), or a device that will be used only for company work. The three key things you want to be able to set up easily and correctly are: encryption, protection and patching.
- Encryption means making sure that full-device encryption is turned on and activated, which protects any data on the device if it gets stolen; - Protection means that you start off with known security software, such as anti-virus, configured in the way you want; and - Patching means making sure that the user gets as many security updates as possible automatically, so they don’t get forgotten.
Many Self-Service Portals (SSPs) allow users to choose between different levels of access, so they can safely connect up either a personal device (albeit with less access to fewer company systems tha..
Read More
If employees genuinely can’t do their job without access to server X or to system Y, then there’s no point in sending them off to work from home without access to X and Y. Make sure you have got your chosen remote access solution working reliably first – force it on yourself! – before expecting your users to adopt it.
If employees genuinely can’t do their job without access to server X or to system Y, then there’s no point in sending them off to work from home without access to X and Y. Make sure you have got your..
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Don’t just leave employees to their own devices (literally or figuratively). If you’ve set up automatic updating for them, make sure you also have a way to check that it’s working, and be prepared to spend time online helping them fix things if they go wrong. If their security software produces warnings that you know they will have seen, make sure you review those warnings too, and let them know what they mean and what you expect them to do about any issues that may arise.
Don’t just leave employees to their own devices (literally or figuratively). If you’ve set up automatic updating for them, make sure you also have a way to check that it’s working, and be prepared to..
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If you haven’t already, set up an easily remembered email address where users can report security issues quickly and easily. Remember that a lot of cyberattacks succeed because cybercriminals try over and over again until one user makes an innocent mistake – so if the first person to see a new threat has somewhere to report it where they know they won’t be judged or criticised (or, worse still, ignored), they’ll end up helping everyone else.
If you haven’t already, set up an easily remembered email address where users can report security issues quickly and easily. Remember that a lot of cyberattacks succeed because cybercriminals try ove..
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Shadow IT is where non-IT staff find their own ways of solving technical problems, for convenience or speed. If you have a bunch of colleagues who are used to working together in the office, but who end up flung apart and unable to meet up, it’s quite likely that they might come up with their own ways of collaborating online – using tools they’ve never tried before.
The first risk everyone thinks about in cases like this is, “What if they make a security blunder or leak data they shouldn’t?” But there’s another problem that lots of companies forget about, namely: what if, instead of being a security disaster, it’s a conspicuous success? A temporary solution put in place to deal with a public health issue might turn into a vibrant and important part of the company’s online presence.
Shadow IT is where non-IT staff find their own ways of solving technical problems, for convenience or speed. If you have a bunch of colleagues who are used to working together in the office, but who ..
