Apple Just Gave Employees $1K For Their Home Office & Its New Return To Work Date Is 'TBD'
Omicron is pushing the big tech giants back into WFH mode.
So much for going back to work in the New Year.
Apple just told its employees to work from home for the foreseeable future, as the Omicron variant drives a new wave of COVID-19 in the United States and around the world.
The tech giant had originally planned to bring people back into the office sometime in the near future, but those plans went out the window when Omicron hit in November.
Apple CEO Tim Cook delivered the news via email to his staff on Wednesday, CNN reports. He said the company's return to a hybrid work model had been pushed back "to a date yet to be determined."
The decision came after Apple closed stores in Ottawa, Miami and Maryland due to COVID-19 outbreaks earlier this week.
But there’s a silver lining to the seemingly endless WFH nightmare: Apple is giving all of its staff US$1,000 each for home office upgrades.
That money will certainly go a long way — especially for those who are already using the latest and greatest iPhones and MacBooks thanks to their job.
Apple is one of several tech companies that's actually paying workers to work from home, either by covering some of their internet and phone bills or by giving them cash to outfit their home working space.
Google, Uber, Amazon and Lyft have also tried to set return-to-work dates at their offices, only to see those plans fall apart, CNN reports.
Others, such as Meta/Facebook, have simply moved to a full work-from-home model.
Apple had originally planned to bring workers back to the office in September, but that date was pushed back to October, January and then February, the New York Times reports.
Now the date is simply T.B.D.
