Apple has not decided whether or not it will require vaccines for corporate employees that return to work this October, according to CNBC's Josh Lipton.
Cook reportedly told Lipton that Apple is primarily focusing on when to have employees return, but the company is "monitoring things daily" to determine whether a vaccination requirement "is the right answer or not."
.@tim_cook spoke w/ me yesterday about this same issue at @Apple: “…our main focus right now is on when to come back…we pushed it from early September to at least October…we are monitoring things daily to really conclude whether that is the right answer or not” https://t.co/zhBqwocynm — Josh Lipton (@CNBCJosh) July 28, 2021
Google today announced that it is requiring all employees who return to the company's offices to be vaccinated, and it's possible that Apple and other tech companies will also make that decision in an effort to protect employees.
Google has more than 130,000 employees, and the vaccination requirement pertains to anyone who comes into one of Google's offices. Like Apple, Google has delayed a return to work until mid-October.
Apple initially planned to have employees return to work for three days a week starting in September, but earlier this month, the company announced that it would not ask employees to return until "at least October."
Apple and Google have delayed office returns due to the prevalence of the Delta variant, which is more transmissible than original COVID-19 strains and has led to surging infection rates across the United States.
When employees are required to return to Apple campuses, Apple says it will give at least a month's notice.
Apple's return to work plan has been unpopular with some employees who have grown accustomed to working remotely and who have discovered that much of their jobs can be done from home. Many tech companies plan to allow employees to continue to work remotely on a permanent basis, but Apple is eager to get employees back to the office and has argued that in-person collaboration is essential to its culture and to future product development.
