Intel

Intel joined the One Million Connected Devices Now initiative to assist students to remain connected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2017, the company’s She Will Connect programme has supported women in developing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) capabilities. Building on this, Intel’s Million Girls Moonshot initiative has engaged over one million girls in hands-on STEM related experiences. The company has also committed to integrating accessible design principles in its products and supports accessibility initiatives for people with disabilities. Intel discloses employment in countries where it has more than 50 employees.

Intel advances digital skills through its programmes for basic, intermediate and technical skills development and for school connectivity in India, Germany, Poland, Republic of Korea, Singapore and the US. Through its AI For Youth flagship programme, the company partners with institutions around the world to help students develop artificial intelligence (AI) related skills.

Intel has a high-level commitment and senior-level oversight of and accountability for cybersecurity. The company has an incident response team that coordinates internationally with security researchers through the Bug Bounty programme to identify product security vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the team is a member of the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams. Next to this, Intel has recently joined the WePROTECT Global Alliance to coordinate globally to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse online.

Intel demonstrates leading practice with its strong support for open source initiatives and standards. The company supports the tech innovation ecosystem through its venture capital fund and support for AI focused start-ups. It has a strong research focus evidenced by its support for university research and the Pandemic Response Technology Initiative (PRTI), which focuses on medical research to accelerate solutions for COVID-19 and future pandemics. Intel also demonstrates evidence of diversity and inclusivity in innovation by reporting the number of women it employs in technical and engineering roles.

The company should consider seeking a third-party impact assessment of its She Will Connect programme, to demonstrate the impacts on target groups. It can also enhance transparency by reporting income taxes paid in its main markets, and has an opportunity to calculate its indirect economic impact.

While Intel undertakes programmes for basic, intermediate and technical digital skills development and school connectivity, it should consider conducting third-party assessments to gauge the impact of its programmes.

The company should disclose the standards it follows for information security management and its number of data breaches. It should also consider implementing a global group-level privacy policy. As a tech company, Intel can also consider making a high-level commitment to child online protection.

Intel has an opportunity to strengthen its support for innovation by backing social entrepreneurship. While the company reports on the proportion of women it employs in technical roles and the locations of its research and development (R&D) facilities, it can also consider disclosing the ethical guidelines it follows for R&D, including its AI activities.

Intel commits to respecting human rights in a publicly available policy document. However, the company’s commitment to respect the ILO core labour rights can be stronger. For example, the company does not provide a policy statement explicitly stating a commitment to respect workers’ right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Intel has a grievance mechanism accessible to both workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints. The company also identifies and takes action to address its salient human rights issues in its own operations. Intel also describes that it engages with certain categories of stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. The company can, however, improve its disclosure on stakeholder engagement by providing specific examples of its engagement.

Intel publicly commits to respecting the health and safety of workers and places this expectation on its business relationships. The company does not disclose a policy commitment stating that it does not require workers to work more than the regular and overtime hours. There is also no publicly available commitment of the company towards paying workers a living wage. Intel mentions the percentage of its workers who are members of trade unions and/or a works council, but it is not clear if the same percentage of workers is covered by collective bargaining agreements. The company has a time-bound target regarding gender equality and women’s empowerment. Furthermore, Intel discloses a breakdown of employees per employee category by gender, race and ethnicity, but has an opportunity to provide this information on more indicators of diversity, such as age group.

Intel has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, and it includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in contracts with its business relationships. Intel discloses a tax strategy for its US operations only. The company discloses the income taxes it pays in three categories: US federal, US state and non US. However, it does not disclose income tax payments in all its individual tax jurisdictions. Intel discloses its approach to lobbying and political engagement. However, the company has no publicly available statement indicating that it does not make political contributions, and it does not disclose its lobbying expenditures for its global operations.

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