by Jason Snell
Apple’s diversity report
Apple released its annual report on workforce diversity yesterday. Tim Cook wrote:
We are proud of the progress we’ve made, and our commitment to diversity is unwavering. But we know there is a lot more work to be done…. Some people will read this page and see our progress. Others will recognize how much farther we have to go. We see both.
This about sums it up. I’m glad Apple is disclosing its figures and appears to be making strides toward creating a more diverse workforce. Apple was 30 percent female in 2014 and 35 percent of its new hires were women, increasing the total percentage of women in its workforce to 31 percent. Progress, yes, but small progress. Black and hispanic hires were larger than the existing workforce, too, by a couple of percentage points.
Still, only 22 percent of Apple employees in technical positions are women, and only 28 percent of people in Apple leadership positions are women. As Cook said, “There is a lot more work to be done.”