III.

Apple and its Effect to Globalization

A. Merits

Apple Supporting Local Communities

‘Global Volunteer Program’ was launched in 2011 to encourage employees to volunteer in local
communities. The program was revised in March 2015 to give the employees the freedom to choose
the projects in their local communities they would like to contribute. In 2018, more than 250,000
hours volunteered and more than USD125 million donated to organizations around the world within
the scope of the said program.
The company also responds to natural disasters. These include raising USD 1 million to help the
victims of Hurricane Maria and USD 2 million to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane
Irma in Puerto Rico.
In China, Apple powers all of its offices and retail stores through solar panels mounted high off
the ground, so the grass can grow and local yaks can eat it.

Educating and Empowering Workers

Since 2008, Apple provided educational programs to more than 3.6 million supplier employees.
Under the leadership of Denise Young Smith, as Apple’s vice president for HR, the company had also
expanded its employee benefits programs to a considerable extent. For example, expectant mothers
can take up to four weeks before a delivery and up to 14 weeks after a birth, while fathers and other
non-birth parents are eligible for up to six weeks of parental leave.

Labor and Human Rights

Apple has achieved an average of 95% compliance among suppliers to maximum 60-hour
workweek. It is because the company enforces The Supplier Code of Conduct that is claimed to be
the toughest in the electronics industry. They also educated more than 17.3 million employees of its
suppliers on their rights since 2007.
In 2018, Apple removed five mineral suppliers from is supply chain for failing to pass or not
being willing to participate in human rights audits.

Links: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/01/out-of-a-culture-of-giving-a-world-of-
difference/
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/09/apple-community-responds-to-natural-disasters/     
https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/
https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-ditches-five-mineral-suppliers-over-failure-to-pass-human-
rights-audits/