Despite employee protest, Apple is still requiring most employees to return to the office in September

• Apple is requiring most staff to return to the office starting this September.
• Despite an employee protest, the company is standing by that decision, according to a new report.
• "In-person collaboration is essential to our culture and our future," Apple senior VP Deirdre O'Brien said.

Apple isn't backing down: The company will require employees to return to offices at least three days each week starting in September.

"We believe that in-person collaboration is essential to our culture and our future," senior VP Deirdre O'Brien said in a video viewed by The Verge.

The message from Apple leadership comes just a few weeks after dozens of Apple staffers collaborated on an internal letter asking for a more flexible work-from-home policy going forward - a rare Apple employee revolt.

"It feels like there is a disconnect between how the executive team thinks about remote/location-flexible work and the lived experiences of many of Apple's employees," the letter said.

Apple CEO Tim Cook initially announced the plan to return employees to the office in early June, which would have most Apple staff return to the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with Wednesday and Friday being optional work from home days.

By June 6, employees in a working-from-home Slack channel penned the letter to Cook asking for a more flexible policy.

It wasn't until a video featuring O'Brien was distributed that employees got a response, which said anyone requesting to work from home more permanently must get executive approval directly.

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