Block

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

Block supports digital skills development by providing basic training in digital marketing to small businesses.

Block follows industry norms in disclosing senior-level oversight of cybersecurity. The company also makes its information security management certifications publicly available.

Block demonstrates support for the tech innovation ecosystem with start-up accelerators. Furthermore, the company contributes to sustainability research and also discloses the number of women in its tech teams.

Block can demonstrate support for gender inclusivity by supporting initiatives that enhance digital opportunities for women and girls. It can also disclose how it supports people with disabilities. For example, the company can make a public commitment to integrating accessible design principles and disclose the number of people with disabilities it employs. The company can also disclose how the economic value it creates is distributed among its stakeholders.

The company has an opportunity to support initiatives in basic and technical digital skills development. 

Block can publish a document detailing how cybersecurity is managed in the company. It can also increase transparency by disclosing the number of data breaches it experiences as well as the government requests it receives for user information.

Block can disclose more information on its activities relating to open source initiatives and standards. In addition, the company has the opportunity to disclose the ethical principles it follows in its research and development (R&D) and artificial intelligence (AI) activities.

Block expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the ILO core labour rights. Furthermore, the company has a grievance mechanism for employees and external shareholders to raise human rights complaints. However, the company could make a public commitment to respect human rights and the ILO core labour rights within its own operations. The company can also disclose a process to identify, assess and act on salient human rights risks in its own operations and in its business relationships.

Block publicly commits to respecting worker health and safety and places the same expectations on its business relationships. The company also provides the gender breakdown of its workforce by employee category. However, the company does not specify that workers are not required to work more than regular and overtime hours.  Furthermore, the company could disclose how it monitors health and safety performance of its business relationships.

Block has a publicly available policy statement prohibiting bribery and corruption. The company also has a mechanism accessible to all stakeholders to raise bribery and corruption concerns. However, Block does not disclose any relevant information in relation to tax, such as a global tax strategy or its income tax payments for all its individual tax jurisdictions. Further, Block lacks disclosure across the board in relation to lobbying and political engagement. The company has no public statement indicating that it does not make political contributions, and it does not disclose its lobbying expenditures.