KPN

KPN demonstrates leading practice by disclosing country-by-country information on its employment and taxes paid.

KPN supports school connectivity by equipping chronically ill children with a laptop that is connected to an IT device in their classroom. This enables children to follow classes and stay in touch with their friends.

KPN demonstrates high-level accountability for cybersecurity and describes its approach to information security management in detail. The company reports the number of its data breaches. The company works with national authorities and other third parties to combat child online abuse and offers a service enabling parents to control the content their children see online.

KPN supports open innovation by offering its application programming interfaces via one platform and by partnering with Dutch universities on quantum computing. The company provides venture capital and operates a division that connects start-ups with KPN, enabling them to share knowledge. KPN is a leader in promoting sustainable innovation. It participates in a data sharing agreement, which ensures data is used for improvement of sustainability practice across the Netherlands. It also reports emissions across all scopes and is committed to reducing its environmental footprint. The company sources 100% of its electricity use from renewable sources.

KPN offered additional TV and cybersecurity services free of charge as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also accommodated its workplace to the needs of employees with disabilities. However, limited evidence has been found of KPN’s efforts in ensuring that digital technologies are universal, affordable and accessible. The company should also provide information on the amount it contributes to community investments, as well as calculate its indirect economic impact.

There is evidence that KPN volunteers teach people with learning difficulties how they can use the internet. However, the company has an opportunity to expand its efforts across all levels of digital skills development. The company can also provide additional information about its programme to ensure that chronically ill children stay connected to their classrooms, including the financial and in-kind contribution it makes to the programme as well as the programme’s impact.

In addition to its initiatives for protecting children online, KPN should integrate a high-level commitment to child online protection in its operating policies.

KPN should disclose how many women work in R&D roles at the company, and how it applies ethics in its R&D activities and in its use and deployment of artificial intelligence. KPN could further consider supporting start-ups and enterprises founded by persons from underrepresented groups.

KPN commits to respect human rights and has a publicly available policy statement that expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the ILO core labour rights. However, the company does not have a policy statement committing to respect all the labour fundamentals outlined in the ILO core labour rights, including freedom of association and collective bargaining.
The company has a grievance mechanism that is accessible to both workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints. Furthermore, KPN has included human rights issues in its materiality assessment. Nevertheless, it does not disclose a process to identify, assess and take action on salient human rights risks associated with its own operations or with its business relationships. The company describes the different stakeholders it engages with in general, but it does not specify whether it engages with stakeholders whose human rights could be affected by its activities.

KPN places health and safety expectations on its business relationships and monitors their performance. It also discloses what proportion of its workforce is covered by collective bargaining agreements. The company does not have a policy commitment to respect the health and safety of workers. It does not explicitly state that it does not require workers to work more than 48 hours in a regular work week or 60 hours including overtime.
The company can improve its disclosures on quantitative health and safety information. KPN has a time-bound target on gender equality and women’s empowerment. In relation to workforce diversity, the company provides a breakdown of employees in different employee categories by gender. However, it does not disclose information on other indicators of diversity per employee category, such as age group.

KPN has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption. The company takes steps to identify and address bribery and corruption and has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints. The company has a global tax strategy in place and discloses its income tax payments for its main markets. KPN specifies that it does not make political contributions. However, the company does not disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a policy statement and does not report its lobbying expenditures.

The below datasheet disaggregates scores within the three core social measurement areas and by specific indicators.