Apple CEO Tim Cook told Bloomberg that Apple employees in the United States won’t be going back to their offices until at least early 2021, as the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic continues to be a problem.
Apple had planned to allow employees to return to its campuses in Mid-June, but it appears most workers will continue to work remotely from home until next year.
“We’ve kicked the time period that U.S. employees would come back until early next year,” Cook said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “To go beyond that, it would depend on the success with a vaccine, success with therapeutics” and local conditions, he added.
Cook said Apple’s process for re-opening its offices would be similar to how it has handled its retail stores. He likened the process to an “accordion” where the company would open offices and then re-close them as necessary depending on the data.
Apple’s moves follow moves by Facebook and Google to allow employees to work from home for all of 2020. Twitter has told its employees they can work from home permanently if they so choose.
Apple CFO Luca Maestri during the Q3 2020 earnings call said that Apple is taking a cautious approach with both its corporate facilities and its retail stores. The company is playing a wait and see game, as it tries to understand how the virus evolves over time.