Salesforce

Salesforce supports access to digital technologies through discounts and resources for non-profits and educational institutions around the world. The company also commits to supporting accessible design for customers and solicits feedback from the disability community on making its products more accessible. It reports the number of its employees with disabilities and has several initiatives aimed at making its workplaces accessible to them. Further, it has partnered with the non-profit organisation Disability:IN to use and promote the Disability Equality Index, a benchmarking tool for disability inclusion. Salesforce also discloses its community investments.

No evidence was found of the company’s leading practices in this area.

Salesforce has a high-level commitment to cybersecurity, and it has published a white paper that details how it manages cybersecurity. The company also follows industry norms for monitoring and responding to security incidents.

Salesforce demonstrates support for open source initiatives and standards through participation in standards organisations and collaboration with universities. Salesforce also makes venture capital investments in companies that are in different stages, sectors and geographies and has committed to investing in start-ups led by people from underrepresented groups. The company demonstrates leadership in sustainable innovation through collaborative programs researching the use of digital technology to address social issues. Furthermore, it uses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework for aligning its goals. The company also discloses the number of its women employees engaged in technical roles, the locations of its research and development (R&D) facilities and how ethics are applied in its R&D.

Salesforce can enhance transparency around its contributions to digital technology for vulnerable people. Additionally, the company should disclose how the economic value it generates is distributed among its stakeholders, as well as its employment and income taxes paid in its main markets.

Salesforce has an opportunity to develop initiatives supporting digital skills training and enhancing school connectivity among vulnerable and underrepresented groups.

Although Salesforce publishes a white paper detailing its cybersecurity procedures, it can provide additional disclosure about senior-level responsibility for information security within the company. Further, the company has an opportunity to enhance transparency by disclosing the number of data breaches it experiences and the government requests it receives for user data. It can also implement a group-wide privacy policy. In addition, as a digital technology company, Salesforce should make a high-level commitment to child online protection.

While the company has indicated its support for safe AI, it should publish the principles it commits to in its AI activities.

Salesforce commits to respecting human rights, and has a grievance mechanism accessible to both workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints. However, the company does not commit to respecting all the labour fundamentals outlined in the ILO core labour rights, including the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. While the company states that human rights risks have been identified using a human rights impact assessment, it does not provide further detail in regard to its risk identification process. Furthermore, Salesforce does not disclose a process to assess and take action on salient human rights risks in its own operations and in its business relationships.

Salesforce publicly commits to respecting the health and safety of workers, and it places health and safety expectations on its business relationships and monitors their performance. The company also discloses the proportion of its workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. However, it lacks relevant disclosure in relation to living wages and working hours. For example, the company does not specify that workers are not required to work more than 48 hours in a regular working week. In relation to workforce diversity, Salesforce provides a breakdown of employees in different employee categories by gender, race and ethnicity. However, it has an opportunity to disclose information against additional indicators of diversity per employee category.

Salesforce discloses that its tax planning is overseen by a board-level committee. Nevertheless, the company does not disclose a global tax strategy. The company discloses the income taxes it pays in three categories: US federal, US state and foreign taxes. However, it does not disclose income tax payments in individual tax jurisdictions. The company discloses its approach to lobbying and political engagement in the US, but not globally. Furthermore, the company has no publicly available statement indicating that it does not make political contributions. However, Salesforce does have a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, and it includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in contracts with its business relationships. It also has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise bribery and corruption concerns and complaints.

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