Empowering Workers

Education is always the first step toward change.

Factory workers in Shenzhen, China, attend a graphic design class as part of the Supplier Employee Education and Development (SEED) program.

Apple offers educational programs that help workers gain the skills they need to advance within the factory or transition to a completely new field. We also strive to help workers understand their rights as employees and make sure they have avenues to speak up if they believe these rights are being violated.

Empowering Workers Highlights from Our 2015 Report

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Trained 2.3 million workers on their rights in 2014 and over 6.2 million since 2007.

Launched a new mobile, app-based iPad education program at 10 sites.

Expanded SEED participants by over 379,000 in 2014, totaling over 861,000 since 2008.

Creating an educated workforce.

All workers deserve to be treated with dignity. And we want every worker in our supply chain to know that it’s his or her right to work in a fair and ethical environment. That’s why our suppliers trained 2.3 million workers in 2014 — and more than 6.2 million since 2007 — to understand the Apple Code of Conduct, local laws, and health and safety regulations. We also provide educational resources to factory supervisors, training them on how best to communicate with their workers, uphold human resources policies, and maintain a safe workplace.

Participation in Workers’ Rights Training

2K
27K
128K
172K
700K
1.3M
1.5M
2.3M
2K
29K
157K
329K
1.02M
2.3M
3.8M
6.2M

Expanding opportunities for learning.

As part of our Supplier Employee Education and Development (SEED) program, we’ve invested millions of dollars to equip factories with computers, educational software, and video conferencing capabilities. This helps workers gain the skills they need to grow within the factory — or to forge entirely new paths. We are committed to offering these courses for as many workers as possible — fully funded by Apple and the supplier. In 2014, the SEED program expanded to five more supplier sites, now totaling 48 classrooms in 23 sites. SEED had over 379,000 participants in 2014 alone, and over 861,000 total since 2008.

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Of the 861,000 total SEED participants to date, over 379,000 participated in 2014 alone. That’s more than twice the number of students enrolled in the top 10 largest U.S. colleges.

Workers who want to gain new skills can take courses like personal finance free of charge. Some have used what they’ve learned to advance from the assembly line to positions in human resources. Others prefer to take a few courses casually to learn English or computer skills. We’ve also partnered with local universities to give workers access to high school equivalency programs and associates and bachelors degrees. In 2014, our program grew to offer vocational certifications in subjects such as culinary arts, welding, and cosmetology.

Workers study on iPad devices as part of the new SEED e-learning program in Shenzhen, China.

Offering innovative learning tools.

While SEED began as an iMac-only program, we feel it’s important to continually adapt our programs to changing learning styles and technological advancements. So after reviewing worker feedback, we moved beyond the traditional classroom setting and launched an iPad-based learning program at 10 facilities. Each one uses iPad devices loaded with the latest educational apps. And all are set in cafe-style classrooms that promote a more casual and collaborative learning environment.

In 2014, we also piloted a mobile education program. This new program offers more than 70 courses that workers can access from their personal smartphones, and in iPad classrooms. Topics range from factory production skills to health, and even lifestyle-focused classes such as raising a family and navigating personal relationships. So far we’ve seen high participation and deep interest in learning topics on the go. And we plan to double the number of participants in our iPad program in 2015.