Speaking at Fortune’s Brainstorm Conference in Aspen, Colorado, Apple’s head of human resources has revealed that the company will record a 1 percent increase in its proportion of black employees in 2015. “We were pleasantly surprised to realize that we did have some movement,” said Denise Young Smith.
Apple will release its next diversity report this summer, showing increases for both women and racial minorities, Smith continued. She says that diversity in hiring is key to Apple’s talent strategy.
Apple has been big on workforce diversity as part of its focus on equality.
Last year, Apple reported that 7 percent of its U.S. workforce is black, 55 percent is white, 15 percent is Asian, and 11 percent is Hispanic. The remainder failed to identify themselves with a particular ethnicity. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, around 13 percent of the U.S. population is black, while 2.4 percent identify as two or more races.
“The potential for bias exists all the time,” Denise Smith commented. “We’re working really hard to start to bring more of that thinking and more of those conversations into Apple.”
In the past, advocacy groups have argued that Silicon Valley tends to hire a disproportionately white, male workforce.
Source: Bloomberg
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
14 responses to “Apple’s diversity figures show increase in number of black employees”
Who cares about whether an employee is white, black, or pink with purple polka dots? Gay? Straight, or whatever?
The only questions that matter are 1) is the person qualified? and 2) are they the best applicant for the job? If you go out of your way to hire someone based on a diversity program or specifically because of their race, you’re doing everyone involved a disservice and harming your own company…
It matters, when around 50% of the black population is unemployed.
My point stands. Two applicants stand before you. Do you hire the best qualified regardless of race, or make your determination solely on race, ignoring the qualifications? Why should one applicant be given special treatment over the other — either way — when discrimination itself is illegal?
It’s a tricky issue. I think it’s ridiculous to try and enforce hiring quotas because it’s only going to result in lowering standards (unless the best applicants magically correlate with the ones needed for quota-filling) and create resentment among co-workers. With that said, I realize that there are some jobs which have traditionally been upper-middle-class and therefore excluding a percentage of the population. I think it makes far more sense to make sure education is geared toward getting as many people as possible interested in STEM fields. Then once you leave university it should be the best person who gets the job, regardless of race or gender.
If they aren’t qualified to work at Apple then they shouldn’t work at Apple.
You know what, I want more white NBA and NFL players. Would a team draft and start a white with less athletic skill over a black player who is far better than him? Hell no. But by Liberal logic, that should be the case since they feel that you should hire a less qualified and skilled black just to be more diverse. The hypocrisy in this country is mind boggling.
The answer to 50% black unemployment isn’t to hire more minorities at Apple, it’s to maybe look for more diverse talent if they were only looking at white men in the past, I don’t think they were. Whoever applies for the job who’s most qualified should get it. They should be open-minded about hiring whoever is the best.
Apple is trying so hard to be “inclusive”, that they become racists, sexists, etc. You have a greater chance of getting hired by Apple if you are black and homosexual. Bonus points if you happen to be a woman. By the way, try to find some (badly named) Hispanics on an Apple video ad. Nowhere to be seen.
Liberals and activist care. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have anything to do or complain about.
There is a history of racism coming silicon valley
I really don’t like this. Hire whoever should have the job. I hope Apple doesn’t actually think about this too much when they’re interviewing a qualified white person and somebody in a minority who isn’t.
Repeat after me: no one owes anyone else a job.
I wonder when idiots are going to focus on the lake of diversity in the NBA and NFL? Shouldn’t there be forced integration like the academic and business world? Geez.
Reverse racism is alive and well. If your kids are caucasian or asian, they are less likely to be accepted at colleges and get financial aid than black or hispanic kids; no matter what their grades are, no matter how hard they work, no matter how motivated they are.
I find the same in my (engineering) field. If you are caucasian or asian you will always be passed over for a less qualified black or hispanic applicant.
Woe to those who don’t approve a car loan or mortgage or give a job to black or hispanic applicant – they are automatically labeled as racist.
If this isn’t the new racism, I don’t know what is.