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CUPERTINO, Calif. – Apple welcomes employees with "all" political views, CEO Tim Cook said Friday, adding that employees who felt ostracized because of their political views should talk to him.
Cook's comments came in response to a question asked at the company's annual meeting of shareholders at its headquarters here. The interlocutor said that she had a friend who was working in the company and did not "share the point of view of left" and had hinted that this friend was feeling bad about it. comfortable or even hated because of his opinions. She asked Cook how he would advise her friend.
One of Apple's most fundamental values is its openness to people of all kinds, said Cook. It is open to people of different ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations and political convictions, he said.
"I would encourage them to come talk to me if they have a problem," Cook told the interrogator. Adding that the person could also talk to Deirdre O. Brien, Human Resources Manager at Apple, he continued, "I would really encourage them to say something".
Silicon Valley companies have increasingly fired for their progressive political positions, the liberal affiliations of many of their workers, as well as for their alleged discrimination against conservative employees and their views. . Critics have particularly affected Facebook and Google, but Apple has not been spared.
Before the question about the Conservative worker, Apple's shareholders voted on a proposal that would have pushed the company to disclose to shareholders the "ideology" of each of its nominees for the position of director. In his statement in favor of the proposal, Justin Danhof, a lawyer at the National Center for Research on Public Policy, who submitted it, said that it was an effort to ensure that conservative political views are represented on Apple's board of directors.
"When society takes open political, legal and political positions, it would be advantageous to have voices on both sides of the room," Danhof said. "In this business, taking into account conservative points of view seems to be discouraged, if not totally forbidden."
The proposal sparked a long debate among investors about the wisdom of the proposal, the frequently progressive policy positions of society and its openness to the Conservatives and their views. Although proponents of the proposal were well represented in the audience, investors as a group overwhelmingly voted against. According to a preliminary statement released by Apple, this measure only got 1.7% of the votes of shareholders.
Later, in his comments, Cook disputed the idea that Apple should interview potential employees or anyone affiliated with the company about their political beliefs. As a gay Southern man, he learned not to ask people what they thought of homosexuality because he had done so, "you have no idea Not a lot of friends, "he said.
"I do not check people at the door to know who they are and what they believe," he said. "I'm interested in skills, abilities and contributions."
Apple focuses on promoting some policies, not on partisan politics, Cook said. It supports environmental and immigration friendly policies. It returns diversity and privacy. But he also believes in capitalism, he said.
However, like most of Silicon Valley's leading technology companies, Apple still has a long way to go to improve the diversity of its workforce. Mr. Cook said that more than half of the company's new employees last year were women or underrepresented minorities, but he did not specify the share of those who were hired for work in Apple stores, where a disproportionate number of women and employees belonging to minorities work. .
To promote its preferred policies, Apple collaborates with representatives of the two American political parties. Sometimes the policies it favors are supported by one party, sometimes the other. Sometimes he finds common ground for his favorite policies on both sides of the aisle; sometimes both sides are opposed, he said.
"We do not really look at politics," he said. "We think of his policy."
What's more, Apple does not have a political action committee and donates to political campaigns.
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