AT&T

AT&T has been providing affordable internet access to low-income households in the US through its Access from AT&T programme since 2015. The company also supports digital inclusivity for women and girls by funding non-profits such as Black Girls CODE and Girls Who Code. Further, its Universal Design Statement commits to following industry standards and guidelines in developing accessibility features for users with disabilities. The company also discloses the number of its own employees with disabilities.

AT&T operates the ESCUELA+ programme across eight Latin American countries. The programme provides DIRECTV and SKY satellite technology, third-party educational content, customer service support and custom-designed pedagogical support materials to 9,800 schools, benefitting two million students. The company’s Connected Learning programme includes digital learning and literacy initiatives to help students, parents and families make the most of broadband connections. The company also funds organisations that teach basic and technical digital skills.

AT&T demonstrates high-level responsibility for cybersecurity and clearly describes how it monitors and responds to threats to the company’s operations. It follows best practice by reporting government requests for personal information. AT&T commits to safeguarding children online in its human rights policy and is one of the few companies to have conducted a child digital rights impact assessment.

AT&T supports open source projects through various programmes and follows leading practice in making its climate data sets available to universities for research. Further, the company outlines its approach to AI research, describing how it incorporates ethical considerations. The AT&T Aspire Accelerator supports and mentors young start-ups.

AT&T can disclose the number of beneficiaries of its programmes to increase access to digital technologies. The company can provide further detail on how it solicits feedback from people with disabilities to make its products more accessible. The company discloses how much money it invests in communities; however, it could also disclose how the economic value it creates is distributed among other stakeholders.

AT&T can arrange a third-party assessment of its school connectivity programme to gauge its effects and potential for replication. Additionally, the company has an opportunity to support initiatives for developing digital skills that enhance livelihoods outside of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector.

AT&T can strengthen its commitment to cybersecurity by making a copy of its information security management certificate publicly available as a standalone document and following industry best practice by reporting data breaches.

AT&T could disclose the number of women working in tech roles at the company.

AT&T makes a commitment to respect human rights in a publicly available policy document approved by its highest governance body. However, the company’s commitment to respect the ILO core labour rights can be stronger. For example, the company does not publicly state a commitment to respect the right to collective bargaining, which is a labour fundamental. While the company describes activities in relation to human rights issues, such as child labour, it does not explicitly disclose its own salient human rights risks. It also does not disclose a process to identify and assess the salient human rights risks associated with its own operations and with its business relationships.

AT&T publicly commits to respecting worker health and safety. However, the company makes no explicit statement indicating that it does not require workers to work more than regular and overtime hours. AT&T mentions the percentage of workers who are members of different trade unions and the percentage of workers covered by collective bargaining agreements. In relation to workforce diversity, AT&T provides a breakdown of employees in different employee categories by gender and other indicators of diversity. However, it does not disclose employee breakdowns by age group for its entire workforce.

AT&T has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, and it includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its business relationship contracts. However, it does not provide a grievance mechanism for raising concerns that is accessible to all stakeholders. AT&T discloses its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a publicly available policy statement. However, it makes no public statement indicating that it does not make political contributions. The company also provides limited information in relation to its tax payments in its different countries of operation.