From 15 June, part of Apple’s workforce will return to company headquarters, but most employees will continue to work from home for months to come.
In response to the corona crisis, Apple practically cleared its newly built Apple Park campus in Silicon Valley and instructed developers, engineers and other employees to work from home. Phase one of the return to Apple headquarters in Cupertino will be “very limited”, and employees will only be in the office on certain days depending on their duties, Bloomberg reports.
In an internal memo, Apple describes exactly what the return will look like: the permitted number of people in given areas, social distancing, temperature and health checks in the office. Employees will be subject to regular Covid-19 tests, which the company will pay for; face masks will be worn in all Apple offices and branches.
Although phase one doesn’t officially begin until next week, some Apple employees have apparently already returned to the offices – some even returning as early as May. These include senior managers, and hardware and software engineers in charge of 2020 launches. A small proportion of staff remained on campus during the entire lockdown.
The gradual return to Apple Park begins exactly a week ahead of WWDC 2020, but that event remains online-only. It wouldn’t have happened at Apple Park in any case: for the past three years it’s been at the San Jose Convention Center, which is currently closed to the public.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the plans, according to Bloomberg. It’s moving quicker than other tech companies – Google, Twitter and Facebook will take significantly more time to return to their respective headquarters, and will continue to rely on home offices.
This article originally appeared on MacWelt. Translation by David Price.