This Important Apple Employee Resigns Due To Refuse Work From Office Policy Again

Apple wants to return employees to the office. (photo: doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA - Apple's director of machine learning, Ian Goodfellow, recently resigned from his position and left the company, claiming this was related to his return to work policy.

Goodfellow himself is known to have worked for Apple for three years, he is a renowned computer scientist with specializations including artificial neural networks and deep learning.

Prior to Apple, Goodfellow, a Stanford graduate, worked as a research scientist at Google Brain and has contributed to many widely published university textbooks.

However, he has now decided to leave the company due to Apple's decision to return employees to the office. The hybrid work policy forces employees to make at least two visits to the office each week, which will increase to three days a week on May 23.

The policy, which claims to increase productivity, has been met with backlash since it was first announced by chief executive Tim Cook in March. Even Apple's labor collective, Apple Together, expressed dismay at the move

“You have characterized the decision for Hybrid Work Pilot as about combining the need to communicate face-to-face and the value of work flexibility,” Apple Together said.

“But in reality, it does not recognize flexible work and is only driven by fear. Fear of the future of work, fear of worker autonomy, fear of losing control."

It seems Apple employees aren't the only ones less interested in being forced back into the office. According to research from software vendor Citrix, rising fuel prices have also caused many workers to reconsider commuting to work in favor of working from home.

Nearly half (45 per cent) of UK workers plan to stay home to avoid high travel costs. Nearly half of their peers around the world also said they would do the same according to research.

"I firmly believe that more flexibility would be the best policy for my team," Goodfellow told The Verge.