Equinix

Equinix supports digital inclusivity for women and girls through its partnership with World Pulse, a women-led organisation providing digital skills training in more than 30 countries. The company discloses its community investments.

To support school connectivity, Equinix partners with various non-governmental organisations in India to help enhance digital infrastructure in government schools.

The company follows some good practices for making digital technologies safe and secure, such as demonstrating senior-level oversight of cybersecurity, having information security management certification and having a group privacy policy.

Equinix contributes to the tech innovation ecosystem by providing support for start-ups. The company also supports the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and uses them as a framework for its community investments. Furthermore, the company’s Energy Efficiency Centre of Excellence is dedicated to fostering innovation and maximising the impact of its key sustainable technologies. For the first time this year, it also discloses the number of women in tech roles in the company.

Equinix has an opportunity to support more initiatives relating to access to digital technologies. It can also disclose how it supports inclusion and diversity in its workplace and report the number of its employees with disabilities. Further, it should report how the economic value it generates is distributed among stakeholders as well as the income taxes it pays and employment in its main markets.

The company can build on its support for skills development at all levels.

Equinix can enhance disclosure on how it monitors and responds to security incidents. It can also follow industry best practice by making its information security management certification public. As a digital company, Equinix should make a high-level policy commitment to child online safety.

The company can enhance support for social and non-profit start-ups as well as start-ups founded by people from underrepresented groups.

Equinix commits to respecting human rights. It also has a publicly available policy statement that expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the ILO core labour rights. For its own operations, however, the company does not commit to respecting all the labour fundamentals outlined in the ILO core labour rights, including the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Furthermore, the company does not disclose a process to identify, assess and act on the salient human rights risks in its own operations and in its business relationships. Equinix does, however, have a grievance mechanism accessible to all stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints.

Equinix publicly commits to respecting worker health and safety, and it places health and safety expectations on its business relationships and monitors their performance. The company discloses some information in relation to collective bargaining. However, it does not disclose the proportion of its total direct workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. Furthermore, the company lacks any relevant disclosure in relation to living wages and working hours. In relation to workforce diversity, the company provides a breakdown of employees in different employee categories by gender. However, it does not disclose employee figures against other indicators of diversity, such as age group, or provide breakdowns for its entire operational workforce.

Equinix has a global tax strategy overseen by the company’s board. The company discloses the income taxes it pays in three categories – US federal, US state & local, and foreign – However, it does not disclose its income tax payments for individual tax jurisdictions. The company has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, and it includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its business relationship contracts. It also has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints on the topic. In relation to lobbying and political engagement, the company states that it does not make political contributions. However, it does not disclose its overarching approach to lobbying and political engagement in a publicly available policy statement.