CSR - Should Apple Pay More for its Geniuses?

To what extent should the corporate social responsibility of a firm extend to paying its employees a fair wage? That could almost be an exam-style essay question! And if it was, then this topical news story about Apple Inc would be useful research-based evidence to include in the essay arguments.

Apple’s record on CSR has often been in the news. Recently, however, the focus has been on Apple’s manufacturing operations in emerging markets, notably the Foxconn factory in China.

The Independent reports on a CSR issue much closer to home. The staff at Apple’s famous retail outlets are known as “geniuses”, imparting expert product knowledge as they wander round the store. But does their pay reflect their hero status in the firm? Perhaps not.

One employee, Cory Moll, is attempting to create a trade union for Apple retail employees to enable the staff to exert greater bargaining power over Apple. His main gripe? Cory’s pay is £8.50 per hour - hardly a fortune in one of the world’s most expensive cities. You can read more about Cory Moll here.

Apple currently makes profits of almost $20 billion per year - so the employee stakeholders might legitimately argue that their employer can afford to pay them much more generously.

But should it? Are Cory and his colleagues simply being paid the market rate for a genius?