Tim Cook encouraging remote work at Apple global offices due to coronavirus

Calling the coronavirus outbreak an “unprecedented event,” Apple CEO Tim Cook is encouraging employees at several of its global offices to “please feel free to work remotely if your job allows” from March 9th to 13th, Bloomberg reports. Cook sent a memo to employees which expands Apple’s earlier work-from-home provisions for some Apple workers in California and the Seattle area. He said in the memo that the company is “making a major effort to reduce human density” and the remote work policy will apply to offices in “areas with the greatest density of infections. ” In addition to Seattle, the list includes Apple’s corporate offices in the Santa Clara Valley and Elk Grove areas of California, as well as offices in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, and the UK, according to Bloomberg.

Hourly workers at affected Apple offices around the world will “continue to receive pay in alignment with business as usual operations,” the memo states. Last month, Apple temporarily closed all of its retail stores in China due to the coronavirus outbreak (some have already reopened), and the company restricted employee travel to areas most affected, including China, Italy, and South Korea. Apple told investors in a note on February 17th that due to the impact of the coronavirus, the company did not expect to meet its revenue guidance for the second quarter. It warned that “worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained.