SES

SES supports free community Wi-Fi hotspots in Colombia.

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

SES demonstrates a high-level commitment to information security, evidenced by a clear approach to information security outlined in a publicly available document on the company’s website.

SES contributes to open innovation by partnering with universities across the globe on research advancing satellite-based business solutions. The company demonstrates best practice in supporting inclusive innovation by reporting the share of its women employees working in tech roles.

SES can disclose its financial and in-kind contributions to its programme for providing high-speed broadband services in Colombia. It can also commission a third party to conduct an impact assessment of the programme. The company can support digital inclusivity of women and girls. Further, SES should also disclose how many people with disabilities it employs, and how it distributes the economic value it creates among its stakeholders.

The company has an opportunity to support programmes for advancing digital skills and school connectivity to benefit vulnerable and underrepresented groups.

Although SES is transparent about its approach to information security, it can provide further information in relation to high-level accountability for information security. The company can also provide more information on its approach to information security incidents and data breaches. Moreover, the company can adopt a group privacy policy applicable to all locations in the same way, report government requests it receives for personal information, and integrate a commitment to child online safety into its group-level operating policies.

Little evidence was found in relation to the company supporting open, sustainable, inclusive and ethical innovation. In addition to partnering with universities on technology-related research topics, SES can extend these partnerships to sustainability topics as well. Further, it can support the work of international open standards organisations.
The company can demonstrate how it supports small- and medium-sized enterprises through accelerators or incubators and can disclose its carbon emissions. The company already discloses the share of its women employees working in tech roles. In addition to this, it can report how it applies ethics to its research and development (R&D) activities.

SES states in its annual report that it is committed to respecting human rights, but it does not make this same statement in a formal policy document. However, in its Code of Conduct, the company does commit to respecting all the labour fundamentals outlined in the ILO core labour rights. Furthermore, the company has a grievance mechanism accessible to both workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints. SES does not, however, disclose a process to identify, assess and act on salient human rights risks associated with its own operations and with its business relationships. Moreover, it does not engage with stakeholders whose human rights could be impacted by its operations.

While SES “strives to provide a safe and healthy working environment”, it does not have a publicly available policy statement committing to respect workers’ health and safety. Moreover, the company does not specify that it does not require workers to work more than regular and overtime hours. Further, it does not disclose the percentage of its workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements, and it provides no relevant evidence in relation to paying its workers a living wage. In relation to workforce diversity, the company provides a breakdown of employees in different employee categories by gender. But it does not disclose employee breakdowns against any other indicators of diversity.

SES does not disclose any relevant information in relation to tax, such as a global tax strategy or its income tax payments in individual tax jurisdictions. Similarly, the company does not disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a publicly available policy document, nor does it disclose its lobbying expenditures. SES does, however, have 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.