Apple shareholder proposal seeks more diversity at top – USA Today (Feb 1, 2017)

Apple, along with most of the rest of the tech industry, could be much more diverse than it is in its employee makeup. It’s made progress in some areas (and can argue it’s the only major tech company to be run by an openly gay individual), but women and people of color are still unrepresented at all levels, and especially on the board and among senior management. This shareholder proposal wants Apple to move more quickly to change that, while Apple argues that it’s already working on increasing diversity, and the accelerated changes are focused too narrowly to be broadly beneficial in changing Apple’s workforce as a whole. It’s a reality that changing the composition of a workforce that’s over 100,000 strong is much harder than, say, Twitter’s workforce of a few thousand, and will take considerable time. And swapping out senior executives with full-time jobs based on increasing diversity alone obviously wouldn’t wash either, especially in a company that has as little movement in the upper ranks as Apple does. But board seats are one area where Apple could potentially move more quickly, because there’s a plethora of qualified individuals available. I’m betting the proposal gets voted down, but that’s not to say there isn’t some merit in it.

via USA Today


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