Apple’s 2022 Supplier Responsibility report shows CSR focus

Apple has published its 2022 Supplier Responsibility report, the sixteenth such report, which it now seems to call its People and Environment in our Supply Chain report.

Investing in people and the planet, apparently

The report reveals investment in employees across its supply chain, movement toward better rights for workers and important progress towards becoming carbon neutral in the supply chain.

“At Apple, we are constantly innovating in the technology we make and in how we make it — with respect for people’s rights, for their health, and for the planet we share,” CEO Tim Cook writes at the beginning of the report, which also features extensive input from SVP Operations, Sabih Khan.

I’ll get to what Apple wants to say concerning its investments in its people later, but thought some data extracted from the report may be of interest.

• One big statistic is the $33.2 million in recruitment fees Apple suppliers have now paid back to over 37,000 employees since 2008.
• Another is news that over 170 companies have provided employees with access to Apple’s COVID-19 tools and resources during the ongoing pandemic.
• I was also interested to learn that 14 apps built in Swift were launched by supplier employees in 2021.
• Apple also claims to be the first company in the industry to “achieve’ a battery containing 100% responsibly sourced and recycled key minerals.

This claim may not sound like something you wanted to place too much importance in, given that batteries are all around. You’d be wrong to ignore it, given that at best industry analysts expect us to run out of the minerals used in batteries by 2100, or 2030 at worst.

This is why battery tech and recycling innovation is one of the more important tech topics today.

Apple recycling facts in one image

Educating supplier employees

Apple has launched a $50 million Supplier Employee Development Fund to expand access to work-related learning opportunities and skills development.

“The fund also includes new and expanded partnerships with leading rights advocates, universities, and nonprofits to drive Apple’s ongoing work to empower supplier employees and drive improvements in knowledge of and respect for workplace rights across industries,” the company said.

Apple is also working to improve worker rights programs created by the International Labour Organization (ILO) for people in the electronics sector, and the work the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is doing to expand rights trainings.

“We put people first in everything that we do, and we’re proud to announce a new commitment to accelerate our progress and provide even more opportunities for people across our supply chain,” said Sarah Chandler, Apple’s senior director of Environment and Supply Chain Innovation.

“Together with rights advocates and education leaders, we are continuing to drive new innovation to support people and the planet.”

New Educational and Career Development Opportunities

Apple has offered in-person and virtual education, skill-building, and enrichment courses since 2008. These have reached around 5 million people so far.

The company will expand the scope of this offering with new educational resources for people in its supply chain — and the surrounding communities — to develop the skills necessary for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

This will begin with training in the US, China, India, and Vietnam and the company hopes to get 100,000 supplier employees participating in this training by 2023.

Expanding and Scaling Worker Rights Programs

As part of its Supplier Code of Conduct, Apple requires all suppliers to provide their employees with training on their workplace rights. To date, over 23 million people across Apple’s global supply chain have received critical worker rights training.

In partnership with the IOM and the ILO — United Nations agencies that advocate for worker rights — Apple will expand this work, creating new programs, trainings, and worker feedback mechanisms that help ensure a safe, respectful work environment for people across its supply chain.

Apple is also announcing a variety of new and expanded partnerships with labor rights experts, organizations, and UN agencies, including:

• A new partnership with the ILO to advance fundamental labor rights in electronics supply chains.

• A new initiative to scale a best-in-class digital worker rights training program across Apple’s supply chain.

• Expanding work with the IOM to scale the Responsible Recruitment Toolkit — developed by Apple in partnership with the IOM — across Apple’s supply chain, which will soon be open-sourced for companies across industries.
• Developing communications platforms and driving awareness of existing independent worker hotlines for supplier employees to share feedback or concerns about their workplace.

The entire 100-page document is available right here.

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