(Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) CUPERTINO, CA - APRIL 28: An aerial view of the new Apple headquarters on April 28, 2017 in Cupertino, California. Apple's new 'spaceship' 175-acre campus dubbed "Apple Park" is nearing completion and is set to begin moving in Apple employees. The new headquarters, designed by Lord Norman Foster and costing roughly $5 billion, will house 13,000 employees in over 2.8 million square feet of office space and will have nearly 80 acres of parking to accommodate 11,000 cars.

Many Apple workers are now in a difficult position since the company looks to have taken a dramatic approach in pushing through with its return-to-office policy.

Platformer's Zoe Schiffer tweeted that Apple is using badge data to monitor staff attendance and enforce its three-day workweek guideline, as reported by TechRadar.

Employees who fail to comply may be subject to "escalating warnings," which are said to eventually lead to termination, but the specifics of any repercussions are, for the time being at least, being kept under wraps.

NEW: Apple is tracking employee attendance (via badge records) and will give employees escalating warnings if they don't come in 3x per week.

ALSO: Elon Musk sent Twitter employees an email at 2:30am saying the "office is not optional" and noting SF was half empty yesterday.

— Zoë Schiffer (@ZoeSchiffer) March 22, 2023

Back in the Saddle

Apple, which had to send its staff home amid the Covid-19 pandemic, began requiring them to go back to the office under a hybrid work arrangement.

As of September 2022, the company's most up-to-date policy requires employees to put in a minimum of three full days per week in the workplace. While certain team members may be required to be physically present at the office every day, others may have greater leeway in terms of when and where they work.

As of late, the corporation has been rumored to be postponing incentives for employees by switching from twice-yearly to annual payouts.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that layoffs would be a "last resort" among many other cost-cutting initiatives. Yet, implementing a policy where workers would put themselves in jeopardy for failing to comply might set the stage for terminations.

Cost-Cutting Drive

In an effort to streamline operations and reduce risk, Apple is allegedly delaying incentive payouts for employees in some business divisions and expanding a cost-cutting campaign.

Certain teams will reportedly get their entire bonus payout in the fall instead of two installments in April and October. It has also been reported that Apple is cutting down on business travel and leaving open a number of positions.

Apple's strategy is the latest indication that the company is cutting expenses and keeping a close check on corporate spending.

See Also: Apple's New Cost-cutting Efforts Include Delayed Bonuses, Hiring Freeze

Pandemic Aftermath

The enthusiasm for a mass return to office is, on the whole, quite divided.

CEO Andy Jassy of Amazon gave employees a May deadline. As many as 14,000 of them vented their disapproval on a company-wide Slack channel and started a petition against the decision. Amazon used to give managers considerable freedom in deciding how often their employees needed to be in the office.

Meanwhile, Google Cloud employees were asked to share desks every other day, which ran counter to the company's office policy and sparked even more employee discontent.

Apparently, Google is selling or leasing less space to save costs. The labor reduction's impact on buildings and regions is unknown.

See Also: Amazon UK Workers Plot More Walkouts After Rejecting Proposed Salary Increase