Role of remote work yet to be defined: Apple CEO

Describing remote working as the “mother of all experiments”, Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that the role of remote work has yet to be finalised.

Speaking at the TIME 100 symposium in New York, where he addressed the biggest changes taking place in the workplace, Cook added, “We’re running the mother of all experiments because we don’t know. We’re running a pilot and trying to find a place that makes the best of both of these worlds.”

While Cook’s personal preference was the “serendipity” of in-person meetings, he said that virtual interactions are “not inferior, just different.”

The key to a successful hybrid working arrangement is taking advantage of the strengths of both in-person and virtual engagement, he said, noting that the eventual model will look quite different from what is currently used.

READ: Will other employers join Tesla in ending remote work?

“We could be the first to say the starting point is likely wrong and will take tweaks,” Cook highlighted. He also described how augmented reality “stands a chance of enhancing our conversation, of enhancing our connection, instead of replacing it”.