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Apple pushes back on call to end diversity programme

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Apple’s board has asked its investors to vote against a proposal to end its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programmes.
It comes after a conservative group, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), called on the technology giant to abolish its DEI policies, saying they expose firms to “litigation, reputational and financial risks”.
Apple’s directors say the NCPPR’s proposal is unnecessary because the company has appropriate checks and balances in place.
Other major US firms, including Meta and Amazon, have rolled back DEI programmes ahead of the return to the White House this month of Donald Trump, who has been highly critical of DEI policies.
“The proposal is unnecessary as Apple already has a well-established compliance program,” the firm’s filing to investors said.
Apple’s board also said the DEI rollback plan “inappropriately seeks to micromanage the Company’s programs and policies by suggesting a specific means of legal compliance.”
NCPPR’s proposal is set to be put to a vote by shareholders at Apple’s annual general meeting on 25 February.
Conservative groups have threatened to take legal action against major companies over their DEI programmes, saying such policies are at odds with a Supreme Court decision in 2023 against affirmative action at universities.
Last week, Facebook owner Meta became the latest US company to roll back its DEI initiatives, joining a growing list of major firms that includes Amazon, Walmart and McDonald’s.
In a memo to staff about the decision – which affects, hiring, supplier and training efforts – Meta cited a “shifting legal and policy landscape”.
It also referred to the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling.
Meta’s boss, Mark Zuckerberg, has been moving to reconcile with Trump since his election in November.
The firm has donated $1m (£820,000) to the President-elect’s inauguration fund, hired a Republican as his public affairs chief and announced it is getting rid of fact-checkers on Meta’s social media platforms.
Mr Zuckerberg is not alone among top executives making such moves in the face of mounting pressure from conservative groups.

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Why is TikTok back after being banned for one day?

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TikTok briefly went dark in the US over the weekend, after the Supreme Court denied a bid by Chinese owner ByteDance to overturn a law banning it.
But it was back after a day with a message thanking incoming president Donald Trump for his “efforts” in restoring the app.

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Shein backlash fails to deter shoppers: ‘I spend £20 a month’

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Emily, 21, spends around £20 a month at Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein, turning to it whenever she needs a new party or holiday outfit.
“You can almost always find what you’re looking for, even if the quality is bad,” she says.
Like millions in the UK and the US, she buys from the online shop mostly because of how affordable it is.
The firm has faced scrutiny over how it treats workers, with a BBC investigation highlighting 75-hour weeks for workers in contravention of Chinese labour laws, but it is unlikely shoppers will be put off buying their clothes there.

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Working from home ‘not proper work’ – ex-Asda boss

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Working from home is creating a generation who are “not doing proper work”, the former boss of Marks and Spencer and Asda has warned.
Lord Rose told BBC Panorama that home working was part of the UK economy’s “general decline” and employees’ productivity was suffering.
His comments come as some companies are calling time on remote working. Amazon, Boots and JP Morgan are just some of the businesses who now require their head office staff to be in every day.
However, work-from-home expert Prof Nicholas Bloom said that while fully remote work can be “quite damaging” to some workers’ productivity, spending three days out of five in the office was as productive as fully office-based work overall.
Lord Rose, who was chief executive of M&S and recently stepped down as the chairman of Asda, said: “We have regressed in this country in terms of working practices, productivity and in terms of the country’s wellbeing, I think, by 20 years in the last four.”
In a December 2024 UK snapshot survey by the Office for National Statistics, 26% of people said they had been hybrid-working in the prior seven days, with some days in the office and some days at home – while 13% had been fully remote and 41% had been fully office-based (the remainder were not working at the time).
The shift to working from home has transformed local economies. Industry estimates indicate that vacant office space has nearly doubled since the pandemic, a quarter of dry-cleaning businesses have shut down, and the number of golf games played during the working week has risen 350% – suggesting some people are mixing work and pleasure.

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