Apple, Microsoft Defend DEI as Big Tech Rivals Back Down

Big tech companies like Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are remaining steadfast in their diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments in the wake of Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.'s decisions to scale back their initiatives, signaling a growing divide in Silicon Valley over how to approach DEI.

Apple defended its DEI initiatives against a conservative shareholder group’s attempt to eliminate them, saying as part of a Jan. 10 disclosure to investors that the iPhone maker strives “to create a culture of belonging.” Earlier, Microsoft’s Chief Diversity Officer doubled down on the software maker’s DEI commitments and spelled out the business case for them in a December post on its LinkedIn platform.

The Apple filing published the same day news broke that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, disbanded and reassigned its entire DEI team and was sunsetting its hiring policy that focused on diversity. E-commerce behemoth Amazon similarly announced it had retired diversity programs and dialed down its DEI rhetoric as part of a review of hundreds of initiatives.

Corporate efforts to recruit and retain more women and minorities have come under intense scrutiny recently as conservative activists and politicians have tried to reframe DEI as discrimination against White male workers.

Meta’s announcement came after meetings CEO Mark Zuckerberg had with members of President Donald Trump’s incoming Republican administration, according to news reports. Trump advisers are reportedly considering plans to ax diversity offices across the federal government. And Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, has been an outspoken critic of DEI, even authoring a bill during his time as Ohio’s junior senator that would sway companies to disband their DEI initiatives.

Whether tech companies affirm or ax their DEI policies is important to their business, according to Lindsey Stewart, director of stewardship research and policy for Morningstar Sustainalytics. That’s because the industry is in the business of disseminating and publicizing information to a diverse global audience, Stewart said.

Any tech company that doesn’t consider the risks of failing to recruit and retain a diverse workforce could be in for a rude awakening from its consumers and prospective employees, Stewart said.

“If there are companies that are genuinely scaling back,” Stewart said, “it is possible they could find out the hard way that’s a mistake.”

Public Affirmations

Microsoft Chief Diversity Officer Lindsay-Rae McIntyre wrote in a Dec. 20 blog posted on LinkedIn that “Microsoft’s diversity and inclusion work is more important than ever.”

The post followed the company’s October diversity and inclusion report spelling out and reaffirming its commitments to DEI.

“We continue to believe it’s the business of Microsoft to be diverse and inclusive so we can build products, services, and a workforce that empowers the world,” McIntyre wrote.

The October diversity and inclusion report, as well as McIntyre’s sentiments, remain unchanged, the company confirmed.

Apple’s comments on diversity came within its latest proxy statement, a document where publicly traded companies discuss issues going up for a vote at their next annual shareholder meeting.

One of the items on the ballot for Apple’s Feb. 25 meeting is a shareholder proposal from the National Center for Public Policy Research urging the company to cease its DEI efforts because they pose “litigation, reputation and financial risks.”

The National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative shareholder activist group, referred to a landmark ruling by the US Supreme Court that curbed affirmative action in college admissions. The 2023 decision calls the legality of corporate DEI efforts into question, the center’s proposal said.

Apple’s board recommended investors vote against the proposal to shutter the company’s DEI programs because its anti-discrimination policies are robust and leadership already takes legal concerns into account.

“We strive to create a culture of belonging where everyone can do their best work,” Apple added in the disclosure.

Apple didn’t respond to a request for further comment.

Tech Needs Talent

Meanwhile, Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, hasn’t publicly indicated any change in the status of its DEI programs. As of Jan. 17, the Google’s DEI website still affirmed its pledges to disability inclusion, gender equity, LGBTQ+ inclusion, racial equity, and veteran inclusion, among other headline programs.

A spokesperson for Alphabet didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Tech companies in particular have struggled with worker diversity.

The high tech sector was less racially and ethnically diverse than the US workforce at large in 2022—the most recent year with data available—according to a US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission study released last year. Black workers accounted for 7.4% of the high tech workforce and 5.7% of high tech managers, despite making up 11.6% of the total US workforce, the report said.

Younger generations from which tech companies will need to recruit are far more diverse in race, ethnicity, gender, and a host of other categories, said Michelle Hebl, chair of Rice University’s psychology department, and a scholar on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. To draw talent from that workforce requires an understanding and prioritization of DEI initiatives, she said.

“Our world is different,” she said. “So when we are serving people who are not White, we want our workforces to be reflective of populations, because the technology that we’re making is servicing individuals who are also not White.”