From: https://tinyurl.com/yxm9rp38

==
Why Apple's employees are refusing to return to the office

by Kaylee McGhee White, Commentary Writer & Deputy Editor of Restoring
America | May 05, 2022 11:00 PM

Of the many reasons to want more workplace flexibility, Apple employees
have found the dumbest.

In an open letter to the company's senior management, a group of 200
employees said that Apple's push to get everyone back in the office on a
hybrid basis would make the tech giant "younger, whiter, more
male-dominated, more neuro-normative, more able-bodied."

Apple isn't even asking its employees to return to the office full time.
Rather, they're asking employees to show up just three days a week and
work from home the other two days. But this expectation is too much for
the "Apple Together" group, which alleged the schedule is "only driven by
fear" and would "lead to privileges deciding who can work for Apple, not
who'd be the best fit."

"Stop trying to control how often you can see us in the office," they
wrote. "Trust us, we know how each of our small contributions helps Apple
succeed and what's required to do so. Our direct managers trust us and in
many cases would happily let us work in a more flexible setup. And why
wouldn't they, we've successfully done so for the last two years. Why
don't you?"

There are plenty of reasons to value working from home. And there are
plenty of reasons that make going into an office worthwhile. One would
think a hybrid schedule that allows employees to do both would fit
everyone's fancy.

Apparently not.

At the very least, Apple's employees should be honest about why they
oppose a return to in-person work. Just admit the commute is too much
effort or that you sold all your office attire for athleisure wear or that
the idea of being held accountable by in-person collaboration is too much.

But alas, the normal complaints of racism and sexism will have to suffice. ==

... A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.
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In an open letter to the company's senior management, a group of 200
employees said that Apple's push to get everyone back in the office on a
hybrid basis would make the tech giant "younger, whiter, more
male-dominated, more neuro-normative, more able-bodied."

Apple isn't even asking its employees to return to the office full time.
Rather, they're asking employees to show up just three days a week and
work from home the other two days. But this expectation is too much for
the "Apple Together" group, which alleged the schedule is "only driven by
fear" and would "lead to privileges deciding who can work for Apple, not
who'd be the best fit."

I like working from home just as much as the next person, but they are
really grasping at straws with this line of reasoning. <rollseyes>

Mike


* SLMR 2.1a * Southern Serves the South
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Mike Powell wrote to DIGIMAUS <=-

I like working from home just as much as the next person, but they are really grasping at straws with this line of reasoning. <rollseyes>

Just a bunch of lazy millenials IMNSHO. Bunch of woke BS. But this /is/
Apple we're talking about here...

-- Sean

... Fools rush in where fools have been before.
--- MultiMail/Linux
* Origin: Outpost BBS * Johnson City, TN (618:618/1)

I like working from home just as much as the next person, but they are really grasping at straws with this line of reasoning. <rollseyes>

Just a bunch of lazy millenials IMNSHO. Bunch of woke BS. But this /is/ Apple we're talking about here...

Yes, a place where woke BS is the norm.

Mike


* SLMR 2.1a * "Don't touch me...I'll wound your inner child!" - Beavis
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Re: Snowflakes at Apple
By: Mike Powell to DIGIMAUS on Fri May 06 2022 01:08 pm

I like working from home just as much as the next person, but they are really grasping at straws with this line of reasoning. <rollseyes>

There are advantages and disadvantages in corporate culture to return to the office but looping everyone into categories is ridiculous.

My company looped all of IT into one bucket (applications, developers, and operations) and created a "persona" that they are hybrid (being in the office 2 to 3 times per week). Other departments, such as finance and customer service, have a "persona" that leans 3 to 4 times per week in the office. I find this a little ridiculous especially in a company that has offices around the world and who has teams equally spread. Luckily, I have an exemption (for now), that allows me to work from home due to a rare lung disease, but they will likely attempt to get me back into the office later this year (and I'll need another letter from my specialist indicating that I should be set to work permanently from home).

I find the arguments made by Apple and other companies a little lame. Take each person on a case-by-case basis, determine if their work product can be performed equally in the home versus the office. If they can perform at home, let them make that choice. If their job would be better served in the office, force them into the office. Coming up with "10 million words" to basically say, "I don't want to be back in the office" under the color of diversity is ridiculously stupid.

Brian Klauss (Ford Prefect)
42bytes.net a Synchronet BBS
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Hello Ford,

29 May 22 12:07, you wrote to Mike Powell:

Coming up with "10 million words" to basically say, "I don't want to
be back in the office" under the color of diversity is ridiculously stupid.

That is because people these days lack critical thinking and reasoning skills, instead reverting to word salads (see our president and vice-president) to exhaust everyone and getting their way just so they will quit whining.

-- Sean

... You have only the rights you are willing to fight for.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20180707
* Origin: Outpost BBS * Johnson City, TN (618:618/1)

Re: Snowflakes at Apple
By: Sean Dennis to Ford Prefect on Sun May 29 2022 04:01 pm

That is because people these days lack critical thinking and reasoning skills, instead reverting to word salads (see our president and vice-president) to exhaust everyone and getting their way just so they will quit whining.

Sean, without a doubt I see a lack of critical thinking and reasoning skills be rampant in the IT industry (multi-discipline). What kills me are those who "say minimal", meaning "saying nothing", and those who "say a lot", meaning "saying nothing". It's determining early on who actually has a clue and who doesn't. My company is rampant with people who sit in their little fiefdoms thinking they know their environments yet rely upon support agreements with the likes of NetApp, EMC, IBM, Oracle, and more to get anything done. It's sad.

Word salad, yes, I completely agree with our current administration and, ironically, our past one, too.

Brian Klauss (Ford Prefect)
42bytes.net a Synchronet BBS
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Ford Prefect wrote to Sean Dennis <=-

Sean, without a doubt I see a lack of critical thinking and reasoning skills be rampant in the IT industry (multi-discipline). What kills me are those who "say minimal", meaning "saying nothing", and those who
"say a lot", meaning "saying nothing". It's determining early on who actually has a clue and who doesn't.

Let's talk about the lack of decorum in corporate meetings. I'm tired of
being in meetings where everyone talks, no one listens. Been in too many of those recently.

The only people not talking are on their phones.


... Overtly resist change
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I find the arguments made by Apple and other companies a little lame. Take ea
person on a case-by-case basis, determine if their work product can be perfor
d equally in the home versus the office. If they can perform at home, let the
make that choice. If their job would be better served in the office, force th
into the office. Coming up with "10 million words" to basically say, "I don'
want to be back in the office" under the color of diversity is ridiculously st
id.

Agreed. There are some individuals who have difficultly working in an unsupervised or unstructured environment, but at least our office claims
that having some of us on WFH most of the week has boosted productivity.
There are a few dinosaurs that don't like not being able to go to somene's desk, find them there, and demand something anytime they want, but there
are not too many of those left.

Mike


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Re: Re: Snowflakes at Apple
By: Kurt Weiske to Ford Prefect on Mon May 30 2022 08:05 am

Ford Prefect wrote to Sean Dennis <=-

Sean, without a doubt I see a lack of critical thinking and reasoning skills be rampant in the IT industry (multi-discipline). What kills me are those who "say minimal", meaning "saying nothing", and those who "say a lot", meaning "saying nothing". It's determining early on who actually has a clue and who doesn't.

Let's talk about the lack of decorum in corporate meetings. I'm tired of being in meetings where everyone talks, no one listens. Been in too many of those recently.

The only people not talking are on their phones.

... Overtly resist change

That is because lots of those meetings are useless, everybody but the managers knows they are useless, and therefore they get disrespected accordingly.

I hadn't noticed how bad it was until I watched a patient walk into the clinic with a videoconference running in his phone. He spent ten minutes in the waiting room with the phone on his lap while he read a magazine. Then he walked into the Doctor's office and got half an hour of consultancy. WHen he walked out the videoconference was still going and he wasn'tpaying ANY attention to it.

With representatives ot prothesics, equipment et all it is just the same. I have heard it mentioned that the boss signed some agreement with two representatives while each one of them was "attending" a remote meeting nobody was paying attention to. THe fun fact is that had they been paying attention to the meeting they would not have been signing a supply contract worth many kilobucks.

We need to get rid of the dead weight in society and remember the goal of a company is to provide services for profit, not to lock employees up in meetings.

--
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Kurt Weiske wrote to Ford Prefect <=-

Sean, without a doubt I see a lack of critical thinking and reasoning skills be rampant in the IT industry (multi-discipline). What kills me are those who "say minimal", meaning "saying nothing", and those who
"say a lot", meaning "saying nothing". It's determining early on who actually has a clue and who doesn't.

Let's talk about the lack of decorum in corporate meetings. I'm
tired of being in meetings where everyone talks, no one listens.
Been in too many of those recently.

Sounds like a lack of leadership from whomever is in charge of the
meeting.

The only people not talking are on their phones.

Same as above.


... Honk if you've never seen an Uzi fired from a car window.
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Arelor wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

We need to get rid of the dead weight in society and remember the goal
of a company is to provide services for profit, not to lock employees
up in meetings.

Back in the paper planner days, Franklin Covey had a "meeting planner" page. One of the fields in the header was "meeting cost". You were supposed to guesstimate everyone's hourly wage and factor in how much it cost the
company to have that meeting.

It helped you evaluate whether this really needed to be a meeting or if an email would suffice.




... Abandon desire
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Gamgee wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

Kurt Weiske wrote to Ford Prefect <=-

Let's talk about the lack of decorum in corporate meetings. I'm
tired of being in meetings where everyone talks, no one listens.
Been in too many of those recently.

Sounds like a lack of leadership from whomever is in charge of the meeting.

In one of the cases, that was me. I felt like the old man in the room
telling people to listen to each other.

The only people not talking are on their phones.

Ditto. Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell if someone's dealing with a
work emergency or routine comms - unless it always happens. At that point I ended up asking people to wait unless it was urgent - again, feeling like
the old man in the room.


... Listen to the quiet voice
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Mike Powell wrote to FORD PREFECT <=-

Agreed. There are some individuals who have difficultly working in an unsupervised or unstructured environment, but at least our office
claims that having some of us on WFH most of the week has boosted productivity. There are a few dinosaurs that don't like not being able
to go to somene's desk, find them there, and demand something anytime
they want, but there are not too many of those left.

Before the pandemic, I worked in an office of 30 people. 15 were front- office, sales, development, accounting and finance types. They'd come by my desk, and I'd resolve their problem and help them out on other things along the way, or answer questions that they'd been wondering about, so each interaction was helpful in more than one way.

The other half were developers, and they'd send me a slack message from
across the room. They ended up being harder to help, because they'd usually get in more trouble before reaching out.

I'd go in every day, and office attendance would vary by day. On Fridays there'd be the CTO, me, one finance person and one of the analytics guys.

Now, we're 100% remote.


... Just carry on
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Arelor wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

That is because lots of those meetings are useless, everybody but the managers knows they are useless, and therefore they get disrespected accordingly.

I still remember the best meeting facilitator I experienced, back in 1996 or so. He ran mergers and acquisitions for a tech company, and he'd bring in people in the middle of the meeting if needed to keep the flow.

They'd be discussing a recent acquisition, he'd start the meeting with the real estate people and facilities and my team (IT) at 10:00, discuss the high-level marks and then go on to IT. We'd be out of there at 10:15.

Sometimes he'd ask us to come in mid-meeting, and in that example we'd be in from 10:30 to 10:45.

He ran his meetings like clockwork, and we ended up getting more done in the meeting and outside of it as a result.



... Just carry on
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Kurt Weiske wrote to Gamgee <=-

Let's talk about the lack of decorum in corporate meetings. I'm
tired of being in meetings where everyone talks, no one listens.
Been in too many of those recently.

Sounds like a lack of leadership from whomever is in charge of the meeting.

In one of the cases, that was me. I felt like the old man in the
room telling people to listen to each other.

Well, sometimes that's how it is. Nothing wrong with that. Many
younger folks don't know that it's difficult to "be in charge". Perhaps
ask one of them to lead a segment of the meeting so they can have a
taste of how it is...

The only people not talking are on their phones.

Ditto. Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell if someone's
dealing with a work emergency or routine comms - unless it always
happens. At that point I ended up asking people to wait unless it
was urgent - again, feeling like the old man in the room.

I've been in many meetings where phone use was not allowed (including
some where phones were not permitted in the room). If it's an important meeting, there is no such thing as a "work emergency". I know that's an over-simplification, but another person not at the meeting can be
designated as the contact point say from 9-10am or whatever. Without
steps like this, control of the meeting will never be recovered.



... So easy, a child could do it. Child sold separately.
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Re: Re: Snowflakes at Apple
By: Kurt Weiske to Arelor on Tue May 31 2022 06:38 am

Arelor wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

We need to get rid of the dead weight in society and remember the goal of a company is to provide services for profit, not to lock employees up in meetings.

Back in the paper planner days, Franklin Covey had a "meeting planner" page. One of the fields in the header was "meeting cost". You were supposed to guesstimate everyone's hourly wage and factor in how much it cost the company to have that meeting.

It helped you evaluate whether this really needed to be a meeting or if an email would suffice.

I love the idea. If companies knew how much meetings and political training takes up maybe they would like it much less.

On the other hand, the people promoting these things are in the dire need of justifiying the existence of their role in the company. They are unlikely to drop these things even if it is demonstrated it is a net waste of resources.

--
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Arelor wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

On the other hand, the people promoting these things are in the dire
need of justifiying the existence of their role in the company. They
are unlikely to drop these things even if it is demonstrated it is a
net waste of resources.

That reminded me of a project management office that had gone all-in on the project management paradigm. We all went to their Software Development Lifecycle methodology unveiling, and it was a 20 step plan replete with new terms for common parts of the plan, like calling a project a "play" and referring to subject matter experts as "actors".

They didn't read the room very well, this was a small, agile dev team that wouldn't work with the compartmentalization they designed.



... Accept advice
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