Apple eases COVID-19 policies to encourage returning to the office

Apple is changing its corporate worker COVID-19 policy and will no longer require employees to get tested before entering the office.

The company's measures during earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic included encouraging employees to get vaccinated and ramped up testing for employees in 2021. In March 2022, Apple eventually dropped its mask mandates for corporate and retail employees as the pandemic eased.

Recent news from Platformer's Zoe Schiffer reveals that Apple will reportedly stop mandating employees to test before coming to work, starting on January 30. The company will also roll back its special sick leave policy, which previously allowed unlimited sick leave for workers experiencing covid symptoms.

Apple is making changes to its Covid-19 policy, and will stop mandating employees test before coming into the office. It's also rolling back its special sick leave policy, which previously allowed for unlimited sick leave for workers experiencing covid symptoms.
— Zo Schiffer (@ZoeSchiffer) January 25, 2023

Sick leave for employees ends in August 2023. Until then, employees get a maximum of 5 days of sick leave if they test positive for COVID-19.

In February 2022, Apple increased benefits for Apple Store employees in the US, including adding sick time and vacation days to attract and retain retail workers. It also provided raises to employees as another effort to keep retail staff.

Due to the changing policy, it's possible that Apple will return to hosting its traditional in-person events for WWDC and other keynotes. Since 2020, the company has recorded and released its events online to combat the spread of COVID-19.

6 Comments

entropys 4303 comments · 13 Years

About 1 year ago

It’s well last time this was treated like any other virus. Pretty sure the majority of people in my country never even do a RAT, or if they do, don’t report it to the government anymore.

DAalseth 3035 comments · 6 Years

Due to the changing policy, it's possible that Apple will return to hosting its traditional in-person events for WWDC and other keynotes.
Don’t really see that happening. I think Apple likes the perfectly edited events. No surprises. At most they might let some reporters in to the theatre to watch the video. But I doubt we’ll see live events. The recent release of MBP and MM models with just a YouTube video is evidence of this.

Xed 2877 comments · 4 Years

DAalseth said:

Due to the changing policy, it's possible that Apple will return to hosting its traditional in-person events for WWDC and other keynotes.
Don’t really see that happening. I think Apple likes the perfectly edited events. No surprises. At most they might let some reporters in to the theatre to watch the video. But I doubt we’ll see live events. The recent release of MBP and MM models with just a YouTube video is evidence of this.

Apple made their WWDC keynote and events quite good with the edited segments, "blue screens", and CGI. I think they'll go back to in-person events for WWDC sessions, but will keep many of the newer aspects created during COVID for the the events.