Apple Explains How It’s Dealing with COVID-19 in Its Supply Chain

Apple has just released its Annual Supplier Responsibility Progress Report for 2020, and this year’s report is especially interesting as it provides new insight into the company’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic among its supply partners and their employees.

This year’s report opens with a letter from Apple’s Senior VP of Operations, Sabin Khan, marking a first for Khan to write anything outside of Apple since his appointment to the role last year, as well as the first time that one of these reports has included an introduction by an Apple executive in the past few years; Apple’s reports in 2015 and 2016 included introductions from Khan’s boss, Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, but these were absent from reports in the years following.

In his opening statements, Khan reiterates the same stance that Apple has had for years when it comes to supplier responsibility, which includes putting “people first in everything we do” while also fighting climate change and reducing emissions. Khan adds, however, that although COVID-19 has created “unprecedented” challenges, it’s had a positive impact on making people pay more attention to their own health and the health of others around them.

What Apple Is Doing About COVID-19

In the report, Apple outlines how it has been actively working with its global supply chain to make sure that they have the resources to deal with the current pandemic, including implementing a range of protections “suited to the circumstances in each country.”

This includes things like health screenings, limiting the density of workers, and “ensuring strict adherence to social distancing” in supplier facilities, redesigning and reconfiguring factory floorplans where necessary, as well as setting up staggered work shifts.

From the outset, we worked with our suppliers to develop and execute a plan that puts the health of people first. Thousands of Apple employees have worked tirelessly to execute that plan in partnership with our suppliers around the world.

Sabin Khan, Apple Senior VP of Operations

Apple is also mandating that all suppliers require their workers to use personal protective equipment whenever they’re at work or in a common area, and has also assisted them in setting up deep cleaning protocols.

Other Highlights

Apple’s annual Supplier Responsibility Progress Reports are about a lot more than COVID-19, of course — they’re an opportunity for the company to provide transparency on what it’s doing in general about labour conditions, health and safety, and environmental issues within factories located in countries where these things are not typically priorities.

In putting together this year’s report, Apple interviewed 52,000 workers and conducted 1,142 audits among its suppliers in 49 different countries. The result was a determination that 82% of its suppliers fell into what it calls the “high performers” category, meaning that they are not only meeting but exceeding Apple’s standards for labour and environmental issues.

For instance, Apple notes that while “debt-bonded labor,” where people looking for work are required to pay a “recruitment fee” in order to get a job, is sadly all too common among many foreign contract workers, the company continues to fight against this among its suppliers, reporting that $1.3 million in illegally collected recruitment fees were repaid to 462 supply chain employees last year.

Meanwhile, Apple saw a 53% increase in supplier sites committed to achieving zero waste, diverting 1.3 million metric tons from landfills last year, while also conserving 30.5 billion gallons of freshwater. There was also full participation by suppliers in audits for raw materials such as tin, tantalum, tungsten, gold, and cobalt smelters and refiners — areas which are traditionally rife with both environmental and unfair labour practices.