Orange

Orange is a leader in providing universal, affordable and inclusive access to digital technologies. In 2020, it expanded its discounted internet and telephony offer for low-income households to Spain, having started this initiative in France in 2019. Since 2015, its Women’s Digital Centres programme has trained more than 40,000 unemployed women with no existing qualifications in the digital space, across its operating markets in Europe and Africa. The company solicits feedback from the disability community in product design and offers products designed for them. It also discloses its number of employees with disabilities, as well as adaptations it has made to the workplace to meet their needs. Additionally, Orange demonstrates leading practice by reporting how the economic value it generates is distributed among its stakeholders, disclosing country-by-country employment and income taxes paid, and calculating indirect impact in the markets where it operates.

Orange shows leadership in supporting digital skills development and school connectivity through several programmes. Through its Digital Workshops programme, it provides training to people across Europe on topics such as using smartphones or personal data protection. Since 2014, its Solidarity FabLabs programme has boosted the job prospects of young people by teaching them skills such as modelling and 3D printing. As part of its Orange Digital Centers programme, the company hosts coding schools, which are currently open in Tunisia, Cameroon and Senegal. The company also equips schools with digital equipment across 16 of its operating markets as part of its Digital Schools programme.

Orange demonstrates high-level accountability for cybersecurity and discloses how it manages information security across the group. It demonstrates leading practice by reporting on government requests for personal information. The company also extensively discloses its efforts to keep children safe online. It is a member of a national online platform where consumers can report child online harm. Additionally, it cooperates with the Internet Watch Foundation and is a signatory of the European alliance to better protect minors online. Furthermore, it offers a service to parents to control the content that their children see online.

Orange has a website dedicated to open source projects and public code sharing, signifying its commitment to open innovation. It has signed nearly 60 research contracts with universities between 2018 and 2020 and provides non-profit organisations with access to its technology to address sustainability challenges. It also demonstrates support for sustainability innovation by making a commitment to reduce the environmental footprint of its operations through innovation and by disclosing its emissions across all scopes. The company supports the tech innovation ecosystem through venture capital, accelerators and incubators. It also reports the number of women employed in technical and engineering roles at the company, and is transparent about how it applies ethics in its AI activities.

Orange can improve its performance by reporting the financial and in-kind contributions it makes towards its programmes for enhancing access to digital technologies. It can also commission a third-party assessment to gauge the impact of these programmes.

Although Orange discloses the contributions it makes towards some programmes focusing on digital skills development, it can do so consistently across all its programmes in the area. The company should also consider conducting assessments to gauge the impact of the programmes.

While there is evidence that Orange’s information security management system is certified by international standards, the company can make a copy of the certificate publicly available. In addition, Orange should report data breaches it has experienced over the reporting period.

Orange can extend its venture capital investments towards enterprises owned by people from underrepresented groups. It also has an opportunity to demonstrate how its ethics committee discusses topics related to application of ethics in its research and development (R&D) activities.

Orange commits to respecting the ILO core labour rights, and it has a publicly available policy statement that expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the ILO core labour rights. The company is not explicit, however, that it commits to upholding all of the ILO core labour rights, for example the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Orange identifies and assesses the salient human rights issues in its own operations and in its business relationships. Furthermore, the company identifies and engages with stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be impacted by its operations. Orange has a grievance mechanism accessible to both workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints.

Orange places health and safety expectations on its business relationships and monitors their performance. The company also reports the proportion of its total direct workforce that is covered by collective bargaining agreements. While Orange complies with national legislation regarding working times, it does not disclose a policy commitment stating that it does not require workers to work more than the regular and overtime hours. It is also not explicit on whether it requires its business relationships to make this commitment. The company does not disclose any commitment towards paying its workers a living wage. Orange does, however, commit to gender equality and women’s empowerment and has time-bound targets on the subject. In relation to workforce diversity, the company provides a breakdown of employees in different employee categories by various indicators of diversity.

Orange has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and takes steps to identify and address bribery and corruption. It also includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with business relationships. Furthermore, the company discloses a global tax strategy and income tax payments for its individual tax jurisdictions. In its 2021 Universal Registration Document, Orange states that it is listed on the European Union Transparency Register and that its lobbying representatives follow the company’s Code of Ethics. The company also states that it does not make political contributions. However, Orange does not disclose its overarching approach to lobbying and political engagement in a separate, publicly available policy document.

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