VMWare

The company’s VMinclusion Taara programme stands out for upskilling women in India on a career break through technical digital education so they can enter the technology sector. VMware also reports the number of people with disabilities it employs and shows effort in creating an inclusive workplace for them.

Through VMware IT Academy, the company partners with academic institutions, governmental and non-governmental agencies to teach technical digital skills to individuals for a career in the technology sector. The company’s programme VMWare Sakura equips unemployed women in Japan with technical skills to enter or return to the technical workforce.

VMware follows best practice with senior-level oversight of cybersecurity. The company also makes its information security management certificate public. Furthermore, it publishes a transparency report detailing the number of government demands for user information it receives by country.

The company’s commitment to open innovation is evident in its support for open source projects and the various ways it supports the digitization of non profits around the world. It also reports the number of women in tech roles at the company.

VMware reports its community investment but can also report how it distributes the wealth it creates among its stakeholders. Additionally, it can report the taxes it pays and its employment in its main markets.

While the company has a robust technical digital skills programme, it can also support initiatives to teach basic and intermediate digital skills as well as contribute to improving school connectivity.

VMware can make high-level commitments to child online safety. It can also follow best practice by reporting data breaches and establishing a group privacy policy.

The company can contribute to the tech innovation ecosystem by supporting start-ups. VMware mentions that it is developing an AI code of ethics. A leading practice would be for the company to make this public once it is ready.

VMware 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. Furthermore, it does not disclose a process to identify, assess and act on salient human rights risks associated with its own operations and with its business relationships. The company does have a grievance mechanism accessible to both workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints.

The company publicly commits to respecting worker health and safety and expects its business relationships to do the same. But it does not disclose quantitative information on health and safety for its workers. It makes a commitment to women’s empowerment and gender equality and has also set a target to have equal representation of men and women in its management team by 2030. However, it can enhance its disclosure on other decent work topics, such as its policy for regular and overtime working hours.

The company’s Chief Financial Officer is tasked with accountability for the company’s global tax strategy. Additionally, VMware has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption; however, it lacks disclosure of how it identifies its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. VMware can also improve its disclosure of its approach to lobbying and political engagement.