Apple's Workforce is Slightly More Diverse This Year

[Benjamin Frost]

I'm so sick of all this diversity crap.

LISTEN UP, APPLE: the only thing that matters is merit. If 100% of your workers are white, male and middle-aged, I couldn't be more delighted, as long as they are hired on merit and merit alone.

To be pro-diversity is to be anti-merit. It's no wonder Apple is going to hell in a handcart with Tim Cook at the helm and his insufferable prejudice against hiring the best man for the job.

 

[applesith]

I doubt that is the case. Many hires at various places are of the buddy system, good old boys club especially when we are talking about executive positions. Go look at any Fortune 500 company executive employees list. If you see much if any diversity, I'll be shocked. If you see a woman, I will be surprised. Those are few and far in between. Why? Because the opportunities aren't there for various reasons. There are plenty of qualified women and minorities on this planet without question.

That doesn't have anything to do with my point. My point was look at who is applying vs. who is getting hired. If the qualified minorities aren't applying, then they aren't getting hired.

Good old boys club for executives? It's called networking. Knowing good people in the work world is essential because it builds relationships based on experience. Good old boys club doesn't affect retail, tech and other hourly jobs.

 

[IPPlanMan]

That exchange is used by people but it starts from an incorrect premise that racism is recognizing someone's color. Real racism is oppression based on physical trait

At what point will there no longer be "real racism" at Apple?

At what point will there no longer be "oppression based on a physical trait" at Apple?

I'll wait for an answer on both. Thanks.

 

[cableguy84]

So what happens when whites are a minority? Will our rights be protected? Doubt it

 

[IPPlanMan]

That's the spirit to end systemic racism!

As Ben Shapiro said:

"The idea that you can craft a narrative based on no racism because it just must be somewhere out there in the ether, that doesn't solve problems for anybody," said Shapiro. "It creates more problems for people, because now they grow up in a milieu and an environment where they are told that every obstacle they face is from some shadowy, nameless, faceless group who is out to get them simply because of the color of their skin."
​

Your narrative necessitates that you see and perceive racism even with no empirical evidence of it.

 

[paul4339]

I would argue that Apple is TOO diverse.

Whites make up 72% of America, yet Apple has only 56%?
Asians make up 4.75% of America, yet Apple has a whopping 19%?

It should have more to do with the number of qualified persons applying for jobs.

For example in Engineering, if 50% applying are Asians males, 40% white, 5% black, 5% hispanic, etc... then your hiring should reflect this... An employer can only do so much if most of the qualified applicants are white males & females and asian males. My opinion is that sometimes they even hire unqualified applicants to appease the public (I have no facts to back this up, though).

If this does not reflect the ethnic make of the America, then the problem should be traced back one step to the universities ... what is the ethnic break down of those applying and accepted to Engineering programs, and why is it skewed?

For example, if blacks, hispanics and visible minority females are not applying and graduating from university Engineering programs, why is it so?

.

 

[FieldingMellish]

As Ben Shapiro said:

"The idea that you can craft a narrative based on no racism because it just must be somewhere out there in the ether, that doesn't solve problems for anybody," said Shapiro. "It creates more problems for people, because now they grow up in a milieu and an environment where they are told that every obstacle they face is from some shadowy, nameless, faceless group who is out to get them simply because of the color of their skin."
​

Your narrative necessitates that you see and perceive racism even with no empirical evidence of it.

Shapiro's last point made is actually the objective of the race hustlers.

 

[tevion5]

I don't care if the company is staffed entirely by transgendered Koalas as long as they put out good products.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

the person most qualified should be given the job,

Absolutely. And you know what? Pay should be exactly proportional to how skilled you are.

The problem is that nobody has come up with a good way of measuring skill/qualifications.

Instead, we go based on our feelings. You feel that someone is more skilled or qualified, and so you offer them the job, or the raise. But your feelings about their skills are biased by a lot of things. Their name. Their accent. Their race. Their religion. Their age. Their height. Their weight. Their freckles.

Presumably, skill/qualifications should be equally distributed between genders, between races, etc, etc.

That means that if you're hiring from one gender more than the other, or one race more than another, your unconscious biases are being factored in. You need to consciously remove those biases. Put everyone into silos. Pick the person you feel is the best old white man. The best young black woman. Etc, etc. Those are the people you hire. Those are the people you promote.

This system isn't perfect, but hopefully it's better than just going with your raw feelings and nothing else. I'd love to have a mathematical formula for measuring exactly how qualified or skilled everyone is. I'd love to measure myself - it'd tell me where I could most improve myself, where I should dedicate the most focus. It'd make it easier for me to negotiate my salary at work - I'd have a perfect equation saying exactly why I deserve a promotion.

 

[Black Magic]

That doesn't have anything to do with my point. My point was look at who is applying vs. who is getting hired. If the qualified minorities aren't applying, then they aren't getting hired.

Good old boys club for executives? It's called networking. Knowing good people in the work world is essential because it builds relationships based on experience. Good old boys club doesn't affect retail, tech and other hourly jobs.

Networking? Perhaps. If you have access to the country clubs and play golf with them. Good people? It's 50/50. How many companies are ran into the ground due to corruption and greed? I probably got off on a tangent here. Apologies.

To your point, I think there are multiple factors that influence job opportunities and hires. Using Apple stores as an example of a entry level job opportunity, the location of the store will have a significant impact on who applies and how many probably moreso than anything else.

 

[nick42983]

I'm so sick of all this diversity crap.

LISTEN UP, APPLE: the only thing that matters is merit. If 100% of your workers are white, male and middle-aged, I couldn't be more delighted, as long as they are hired on merit and merit alone.

To be pro-diversity is to be anti-merit. It's no wonder Apple is going to hell in a handcart with Tim Cook at the helm and his insufferable prejudice against hiring the best man for the job.

Hiring worse people for the job with the right skin tone is seen as morally superior to hiring the best if they are icky whites. "Diversity" is a sacrament of the political correctness religion.

 

[applesith]

Networking? Perhaps. If you have access to the country clubs and play golf with them. Good people? It's 50/50. How many companies are ran into the ground due to corruption and greed? I probably got off on a tangent here. Apologies.

To your point, I think there are multiple factors that influence job opportunities and hires. Using Apple stores as an example of a entry level job opportunity, the location of the store will have a significant impact on who applies and how many probably moreso than anything else.

Yes, location plays a role in who applies for the jobs. But Apple store aren't the only businesses. If fewer minorities apply, then fewer will get hired. You can't make people apply just to improve diversity.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

"Diversity is more than any one gender, race, or ethnicity. It's richly representative of all people, all backgrounds, and all perspectives. It is the entire human experience."

Then the article immediately proceeds to break down everyone statistically by his or her race, ethnicity, and gender.

 

[Mactendo]

Meanwhile Apple's iPhone is more boring than ever this year.

Clearly in Tim's vision function follows form. Artifical diversity is one of such cases. At the end of the day we will get a perfect, perfectly diversified Apple, with perfect products, like a perfectly round 4 or 5 years old Mac Pro, or perfect MacBook with a single port (not perfect enough yet, should have no ports at all) or a perfectly symmetrical iPhone with audio jack being replaced by two pseudo stereo speakers.

Such stuff looks perfect on paper but is not suited for real world and real people.

 

[techwhiz]

I would argue that Apple is TOO diverse.

Whites make up 72% of America, yet Apple has only 56%?
Asians make up 4.75% of America, yet Apple has a whopping 19%?

Your numbers are wrong.
You are looking at the wrong number. That 72% groups Hispanic in with white.
Anyway Apple along with other tech firms, has a diversity problem, not in the stores but in corporate.
The issue in tech is that people interviewing tend to hire people that look like them.
Being in tech I see the trends.

An Asian manager will have a predominately Asian staff.
An Eastern Indian manager will have a significant number of Eastern Indians.
I understand it is human nature, but it limits diversity and getting the best candidates.

 

[GenesisST]

I don't see what the issue is, unless you are an incompetent white male...

 

[coolfactor]

They have racist teeth, though... so white! What about people with brown, black or broken teeth? Hmmm???

 

[thuchu1]

pfffff

 

[blacktape242]

who cares, I just want people that can innovate. I don't care what color or race they are. Stop making a big freaking deal about it.

 

[mytdave]

"...representative of ALL people, ALL backgrounds, and ALL perspectives..." Better not tell BLM, they'll blow a fuse.

 

[5105973]

Some of you mentioned networking and the importance of good connections. Indeed, my (white) husband would not be the well paid executive he is now if a black female mentor had not recognized him for his talents and work ethic when he was a tech support worker and insisted he be hired onto the career track that brought him to where he is now.

She was an exemplary manager, a woman of considerable talent, technical expertise, education, intelligence and fair-mindedness. The business world and the world at large need more people like her.

Alas, black people (and other minorities like myself and women) still fare poorly in our healthcare system that was built so heavily on data collected primarily on white men. This is gradually changing but it was not in time for her health issues to be optimally addressed. And she was a casualty of that. May she rest in peace. May there be many more like her in the workplace who will work hard to bring opportunities to gifted workers with good work ethics regardless of race, gender or other traits that have no bearing on their ability to do a splendid job.

 

[997440]

.....
If this does not reflect the ethnic make of the America, then the problem should be traced back one step to the universities ... what is the ethnic break down of those applying and accepted to Engineering programs, and why is it skewed?

For example, if blacks, hispanics and visible minority females are not applying and graduating from university Engineering programs, why is it so?

.....

Sounds reasonable except, unfortunately, most universities and other educational entities are infected (to a greater degree) with the same philosophy that demands this type of report. Most of them would be a hindrance to finding any truth, more likely the opposite, than a help.

 

[ScottishDuck]

Um excuse me??? Putting these thugs in to jobs will just cause riots and looting!!!!!!

We need to go back to hiring purely on merit! When my father got me a job in his business I'd earned it, I didn't even cry when he got me a lamborghini instead of a maserati for the 3rd anniversary of me failing at business school. Pablo can keep mopping the floors until he learns some work ethic!!!!!

 

[Porco]

I agree people should be employed based on merit, but I don't think that means it isn't valid to look at a break-down of how diverse the employees are in terms of things like background, race, ethnicity, sex and gender, or any other difference that is part of the prejudices people face in life.

I don't think companies should necessarily try to map their staff to national statistics - for example, there may be a greater percentage of people of working age in minority races than retired white people, as just one example. Maybe there are more asians as a product of highly technologised asian culture. It's a complex issue that can't be accurately reduced to a couple of columns of numbers. Everyone is different, in thousands of ways.

Also, given the training and demands of many of the staff that Apple employs, the meritocracy argument only stretches as far as who can do the job once it's been given - not always how much they know upon an initial interview. What I believe should be equal is the opportunity to everyone, regardless of colour or any other difference. From that point the employee must prove they have the skills, of course.

I think pay equality is something to be lauded. As it says, it's for similar roles, where the only difference is sex or gender. Implicit in that is all those employees are doing the job capably (or else all are failing equally!!).

I absolutely get the meritocracy argument on an ideal, philosphical level, but it isn't that simple, because white men have been in control in western society for so long, and have shaped the social structures we live in and by to the point where it isn't enough to just say 'well ok from now on there won't be any prejudice in any way just because we, the white majority, have said so'.

It isn't enough to just say it. It should be tested, and analysed, at least as a starting point for a continued conversation. It doesn't mean the workforce of any company should have to match the demographics and backgrounds of the nation in general 1:1, but I think it's important to even recognise that equality of opportunity (as opposed to the idea of 'positive discrimination' which I think is often not all that positive) is something that should be consciously looked at and worked on.

TL;DR version - this is a positive thing and it doesn't mean people aren't being employed based on merit, it just means everyone getting a fair shot at proving they have the merit.

 

[melendezest]

I will never understand the significance of reports such as this. Yes, diversity is a wonderful thing and shouldn't even be an issue in 2016 - but surely the person most qualified should be given the job, regardless of whether they are black, white, gay, straight or whatever you like.

I agree 100%.

The problem, however, lies in the fact that those doing the hiring are human beings, which grow up in the under-the-rug-hush-hush racist society that is the United States today, and thus are subject to their sub-conscious pollution of the mind.

Therefore, all things (qualifications) being equal, people would still hire whites over non-whites, which is the reason why these issues get reported on now and there are programs trying to mitigate them.

Until we ADMIT to ourselves that the problem exists, we will NEVER be able to fully overcome it.

A racist in a position of hiring people will NEVER admit he/she is a racist. Many people honestly don't even realize they are racist themselves.

So again, I'm with you. But hiring someone is often subjective, and that is why you interview and not just submit a form and call it good.