A Complete Case

Study Upon Issues

Related to Human
Resource
Management at Apple
Inc.

Submitted to: Dr. Teena Saharan

Submitted by: Narava Ruchitha
MBA “C”
ERP ID: 0211MBA061

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A Human Resource Issue

In April 2018, all organisations with more than 250 employees, over 10,000 companies, in
U.K were forced through law to file data whereby the government took a snapshot of their
workforce payroll. With companies revealing their figures, including Apple, the gender pay
gap was found to be a major talking point in offices across the UK.

In turning to the Apple website (www.Apple.com) which state that the company is an
international corporation that specializes in the manufacture of electronics and software
products. Strategic Human Resource Activities at Apple Inc was founded in 1976 by Steven
Jobs and Stephen Wozniak. The company has its headquarters in Cupertino, California. The
primary and more well-known hardware products including iPod, iPhone, iPad, and
Macintosh personal computers are sold worldwide. Moreover, it is the only electronic
company that can provide and manage both software and hardware products. 

According to Apple gender pay gap report (Apple, 2017), 71% of its top earning employees
were men. Men are getting paid more across each of the three separate entities, including
Apple UK; where the median pay gap is 25%. In other words, in Apple, the gap is in favour of
men in the higher managerial positions by up to 84%. Although, Apple’s latest report
illustrates that from the lower entities until the upper ones, men seem to be dominating,
even though, according to the Independent (April 2018), through one of their articles, Apple
claim to support men and women equally.  At the same time, the Guardian (April 2018)
depicts exactly the opposite image about this company and its payment preferences. These
contrasting views are just how Apple traded the media.

The mean salary for women at Apple is actually 5% lower than the figure for men
(Keach,2018). By saying mean, it is simple the average salary of all employees. We should
consider that these figures don’t mean women are being paid less than men for the same
jobs. The problem is that women represent a smaller proportion of Apple’s workforce –
around 30%. Apple admits there are “more men in leadership positions, which pay more”,
and the average bonuses are 22% lower for women overall.

As it is reported from Financial Times written by Wisniewska, Gordon and Shannon in April
2018, the UK’s national gender pay gap is higher than EU average and now that the first year
of gender pay gap reporting is complete, the most crucial question is what the government
does with the findings. The data reveal that the sectors in UK economy with the worst
gender pay gap are construction, financial, insurance services and education. But why is
crucial to decrease the gender wage gap?

 Additionally, women with young children due to lack of time, will opt more for a part-time
job. Furthermore, a big drop of women’s earnings and career progression after having
children holds back is another result. Ultimately, as working women have a plethora of roles
to cover, it is likely to deny the opportunity to develop the skills needed to progress or for
example, networking opportunities that take place outside of their office hours.

As Guardian support, it will take decades to close the gap. A toxic mix of factors is
responsible, including outright discrimination, over-representation of women in lower-paid

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sectors and unconscious stereotyping, with assumptions about women not seeking
promotion, or not being able to do so, particularly where they have caring responsibilities.

At this point let’s clarify the meanings of gender pay gap and equal pay. The gender pay gap
is the difference in percentage between average hourly earnings for men and
women(service.gov.uk). In this early stage, it is important to clarify that the pay gap is not
the same as equal pay, which means that men and women in the same employment
performing equal work must receive equal pay, as set out in the (Equality Act, 2010)

But in which way Apple achieve this level?

Concerning the training the truth is that it is highly secretive and rarely written about,
referred to briefly in the biography of Mr. Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Apple employees are
discouraged from talking about the company in general, and the classes are no exception.

That’s why photos from the classrooms have never surfaced publicly. One of the three
employees who have taken classes agreed to speak to The New York Times on the condition
that he not be identified. He described the program as an especially vivid reflection of Apple
and the image it presents to the world.

  The press in January 2018 released that Apple is increasing the size of the fund from $1
billion to $5 billion. The fund was established to support innovation among American
manufacturers and help others establish a presence in the US. Plus, Apples plans to
accelerate its efforts across the US in support of coding education as well as programs
focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math.

The clear strategy of Apple is also emphasized in research that human resource is very
important to be a part of an organisation. Actually, it also confirmed that Apple’s strategy is
the ability to balance intense efficiency in operations with outstanding serial innovation and
addictive product design (Heracleous,2016). In the meanwhile, between the two reports in
period from 2018 and 2019 Deirdre O’Brien, vice-president of people at Apple said “We’re
determined to continue our progress towards a workforce that’s more representative of the
world around us.”

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