Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, “can’t wait” for employees to return to personal work

Apple CEO Tim Cook is eager for employees to return to the office after the pandemic and in an interview with people, said he anticipates that Apple will implement a “hybrid environment” to return to personal work.

Cook said it’s important for people to “be in physical contact,” because you can’t plan collaboration and innovation.

“Innovation is not always a planned activity,” adds Cook. “They hit each other during the day and advance an idea you just had. And you really have to be together to do that.”

Apple has an open plan model that is designed to encourage employees to interact with each other, and Cook says Apple still “learns” how to handle this as people return to work. However, time spent in the office taught Apple that some things are “perfectly wonderful” to do practically.

“We realized and learned that there are some things that are perfectly wonderful to do on Zoom or WebEx, whatever, or FaceTime, whatever you have. So I think it will be, I’ll call it a hybrid environment [for] little bit.”

Cook also took the opportunity to highlight the work that Apple employees did while working remotely. Cook said that Apple had an “enormous, prolific period” with the introduction of the 5G iPhone 12 range and M1 Macs. “These are major, major achievements,” he said.

“We are a personal team because we believe it is best for collaboration,” Cook said people. “But I knew this was not possible or not possible for this period of time. So we had to reinvent ourselves.”

Cook said there was no firm return to work, but he “can’t wait” for Apple employees to return to work.

In addition to commenting on Apple’s future plans for returning employees, Cook answered a series of quick questions about his daily routine. Cook said he goes to bed right around 9:30 p.m. and wakes up at 4 p.m. He opens Apple News in the early hours of the morning, and his coffee and iPhone are two things he can’t live without.

Cook said he recently “binged” the Apple TV + series “Ted Lasso” and that strength training is his favorite workout. Cook also said that the last FaceTimed to his nephew, his favorite emoji is the peace sign emoji (✌️) and that he hopes to make a trip to Glacier National Park in the future.