Apple pledges to open up about workforce diversity

By

Beats Music's Jimmy Iovine, Tim Cook, Dr. Dre, and Eddy Cue at Apple HQ
Beats Music's Jimmy Iovine, Tim Cook, Dr. Dre, and Eddy Cue at Apple HQ

Apple has long been criticized by shareholders for stuffing its leadership ranks with a bunch of old white dudes, but as Tim Cook touched down in Sun Valley Idaho for Allen & Co.’s annual media moguls conference, the Apple CEO said his company is about to be a lot more transparent about its diversity.

Following the path of Google and Facebook, who have publicly released information on the diversity of their workforces this year, Tim Cook pledged Apple will do the same, he’s just not sure how long it will take.

During a media Q&A session, Bloomberg reports that Tim Cook pledged to be more transparent, but he’s not giving a time table on when it will happen. “We’ll release the information at some point. We are more focused on actions.”

The recent hirings of Angela Ahrendts and Lisa Jackson and Beats’ Andre Young have added some diversity to the upper ranks, but adding more female and racially diverse employees to the entire 80,000 person workforce will be more of a challenge.

Facebook announced last month that 31 percent of its workforce is female, while 91 percent are white or Asian. Silicon Valley’s other top tech companies have also come under fire by groups like the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, which has been raising awareness for companies like Twitter, HP, Google, Apple and others to be more inclusive towards other races.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.