[dankoss]

Apple is a hardware company, and you can't WFH using giant anechoic chambers, laser cutting machines, electronics labs, and who knows what else. The products may be manufactured overseas, but there is a lot of expensive hardware needed for designing, prototyping and testing.

I get that Apple does a lot of software these days, but one of the things they are also known for is tight integration between the hardware and software, which doesn't happen without them working side by side.

There may be a significant fraction of employees that can work remotely, but it would significantly change the culture of the company to split the workforce like that.

[pseudalopex]

They've done a lot of software for 4 decades. And most Apple software and services employees don't interact with hardware teams at all.

[KingMachiavelli]

Sure but many Apple employees don't interact with hardware at all. There's a good chance that many people who do interact with hardware only do so part of the time. Another section might work with hardware but could maybe take some of it home with them (clearly physical hardware has left Apple in the past).

Sure, the remainder have to be physically present but that is the job/career they picked and even probably enjoy. Letting everyone else WFH means those remaining on-campus employees can have better offices & live closer to work. Seems like a win-win to me.