Here’s A Break Down Of Apple’s Workforce Diversity: There’s Improvement But Its Retail Department Continues To Be The Most Diverse
This week, Apple has released its latest Inclusion and Diversity report and the data in the report shows trends in Apple’s workforce between 2014 and 2021.
Apple has been reporting its diversity numbers since 2014 when its workforce was under 93 thousand employees when women represented 30% of the worldwide workforce, 20% filled technical roles and 28% had leadership positions.
The company now has over 165,000 employees globally across its retail, tech, non-tech, and leadership roles.
From the data – it’s clear that the firm has increased its number of female employees by 89% since 2014, while its overall employee count grew 58% in that same period.
At it’s US firm – 50% of Apple’s employees come from underrepresented groups, from women to Black, Hispanic, and Latinx.
Black employees now make up 9.4% of Apple’s US workforce, and Hispanic and Latinx team members comprise 14.8%.
In Apple Retail, since January 2021, 58% of open leadership roles globally have been filled by women. In the US., 23% of open Retail leadership roles were filled by Black candidates and 18% by Hispanic and Latinx candidates.
Interview: VP Of Inclusion At Apple Says Everyone Needs To Hold Each Other Accountable When It Comes To Diversity
Apple Retail has always been the most diverse part of the company’s workforce and one could argue that this has helped drive diversity numbers overall even if there are much lower figures for diversity in tech or engineering.
But in R&D, 34 percent of open leadership roles were filled by women globally. In addition, employees from underrepresented communities filled 38 percent of open R&D leadership roles in the U.S.
Black representation in technical roles actually dropped from 6% in 2014 to 5.5% in 2021, reported Forbes.
It also seems that Apple has also put effort behind hiring more diverse young employees, sharing that of their U.S. employees under the age of 30, 64% are from underrepresented communities.
But it’s important to note that while there maybe an increase in these figures – we’re still looking into what roles these individuals play at the firm.
For example are these young people mainly in retail departments or are they being given a seat at the table in the tech side of things.
We actually interviewed Apple’s VP of diversity and inclusion last month.
Speaking on the issue of diversity and whether the industry has made progress, she said: “We’ve made major strides, and there’s a lot in the works at Apple and across the industry. And we must keep doing the work to impact systems and create long-lasting change.
“This work is not a one-and-done. It requires all of us to own inclusion and take action to make things better. If everyone starts with themselves — holding ourselves accountable — we can create a culture where inclusion and equity are the norms.”
