Apple shuts reopened US shops as Covid-19 cases continue steadily to rise
Apple has asked its US retail staff to come back to remote working as the business shuts a few of its recently reopened shops due to a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Deirdre O’Brien, the company’s senior vice president of retail and folks, told influenced employees that they might serve customers online or higher the phone instead.
“If your store is closed, please sign up for Retail in the home. Please speak to your manager because we really need to make sure that people shift our teams to greet our customers remotely in this time," she said in a video message.
“We may need to be working remotely for a few period of time."
Due to a rise in the quantity of customers buying products online and looking for services remotely as a result of lockdowns and travel restrictions, there were “significant wait times”, the business said.
This is not the experience that Apple really wants to offer its customers, Ms O’Brien said.
“We really want to make certain that we are moving to where our customers are, to help them during this very challenging time. You may already know people are actually dependent after their devices, especially right now", she said.
Apple closed all shops outside Greater China in March as the pandemic spread all over the world.
It began reopening more than 100 shops in the third week of May, giving an answer to the gradual easing of restrictions in lots of countries.
However, previously little while, Apple has again closed a lot more than 90 shops - about 35 % of the total US shop count - because of the increase in coronavirus cases.
“The way we've been managing the protocols has been really effective," said Ms O’Brien.
In a memo last month, the business said it generally does not expect its US office staff to return to work by the finish of this year. It, however, expects its workforce in Europe and Asia to generate a gradual comeback in the coming months.
As of Tuesday, the united states had registered more than 25 % of total Covid-19 cases globally, with an increase of than 3.36 million cases out of an internationally total of 13.1 million, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the spread of the virus.
Apple, which reopened its three retail shops in the UAE on June 8 as authorities eased Covid-19 restrictions, can be shipping Covid-19 test kits to employees’ homes.
The California-based company also said on Monday that it's allocating a lot more than $400 million (Dh1.5 billion) towards projects for cheaper housing in its home state this season.
This is section of the company’s multi-year $2.5bn commitment announced in November to help address the state's housing crisis.
The funding provides a large number of Californians with first-time home-buyer assistance or new and cheaper housing units.
“As cities and states have already been forced to pause a lot of their long-term affordable housing investments amid the current public health crisis, Apple is proud to keep moving forward with our comprehensive intend to combat the housing crisis in California,” said Kristina Raspe, the company’s vice president for global property and facilities.
Source: www.thenational.ae
