Apple has reported enacted plans to help keep staff and customers safe during the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. According to 9to5Mac, the company will provide unlimited sick leave to any hourly staff and retail worker who has coronavirus symptoms.
Under normal terms of sick leave, workers are required to provide a doctor’s note. However, amid the COVID-19 outbreak, going to the doctor is not advised. Apple has reportedly adapted its sick leave policy to reflect the situation.
Retail workers won’t be required to hand in a doctor’s note to take time off. It is unlcear whether this leave will be giving with normal Pay. Apple CEO Tim Cook has already confirmed staff who work from home will receive normal pay.
In an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg last week, Cook told Apple staff that they can work at home if their job enables them to. It is worth noting the memo was specifically for workers in Italy, South Korea, California, Seattle, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, France, and the United Kingdom.
Apple is one of the tech giants who have requested staff stay away from headquarters in Silicon Valley. Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, and Microsoft has taken a similar stance. Cook told Fox Business last week that Apple has re-opened factories in China and he believes coronavirus is under control in the country.
How Microsoft Has Been Affected
Coronavirus has had a profound impact on Microsoft’s operations over the last two weeks. The company is moving through a busy conference season, which has been heavily impacted. Microsoft confirmed it is dropping its own Ignite the Tour events in Hong Kong and Zurich.
Microsoft said it would move its MWC-planned mixed reality announcements to a Dev Days event before Build 2020. However, the Seattle area is the epicenter of the outbreak in the US and Microsoft may have to cancel the Build event. The company’s Melbourne IoT Action event was also cancelled.
