Chapter 10: Societal impacts¶
Open questions¶
- How is the organisation engaged in diversity promotion and how does it fight all types of segregation within IT and digital? Do the taken actions cover the top management (executive committee or administration council) level too with quantified figures?
- How do you ensure the ethical level of your Sustainable IT initiative?
- How far is your organisation engaged in promoting digital inclusion, fighting “illectronism” and improving accessibility?
- What kind of physical psychosocial risks induced specifically by ICT does your organisation consider? What actions have been taken to prevent them?
- How do you consider and minimize the social impacts of your activities, considering the whole life cycle of IT products and services? From mining to e-waste disposal?
10.1 How is the organisation engaged in diversity promotion and how does it fight all types of segregation within IT and digital? Do the taken actions cover the top management (executive committee or administration council) level too with quantified figures?¶
Rationale¶
Diversity is a real vector of resilience and health of companies. For example, the percentage of women in high technologies can vary a lot according to the types of jobs and the level of management, with frequent “glass ceilings”. Some jobs dealing with sustainability are contributing to feminize IT with jobs that are more human centric, UX/UI for example, they are a real opportunity.
Evaluation criteria¶
| Evaluation criterion | Recommended priority | Proposed weighting (total = 20 points) |
|---|---|---|
| The organisation is able to quantify the feminization rate of its staff and top management. The feminization rate of top management (Executive committee and administration committee) is at least the same as that of the rest of the organisation. Other genders and types of diversities are also considered. | P1 | 8 |
| There is a HR policy to progress the feminization rate of staff, to promote diversity and to fight all types of racial or gender discrimination. Atypical IT professional training and experiences are a way to promote diversity in recruiting engineers. | P1 | 8 |
| Sustainable IT is considered to be an opportunity to contribute to the feminization of IT profiles, the promotion of diversity and to gender equality. Indeed, people contributing to the Sustainable IT workgroups greatly respect parity and diversity. | P2 | 4 |
10.2 How do you ensure the ethical level of your Sustainable IT initiative?¶
Rationale¶
New technologies can be badly used and induce real ethics issues, such as biases revealed in some AI tools. To identify these risks and mitigate them, teams with competences must be empowered to do so.
Evaluation criteria¶
| Evaluation criterion | Recommended priority | Proposed weighting (total = 15 points) |
|---|---|---|
| An ethics or deontological committee exists in the organisation to anticipate and solve potential ethics issues, conflicts of interest and cognitive biases. The organisation should be vigilant towards AI specifically. | P1 | 15 |
10.3 How far is your organisation engaged in promoting digital inclusion, fighting “illectronism” and improving accessibility?¶
Rationale¶
If IT is a great way to share information and communicate worldwide, it can also introduce gaps between employees that are familiar with high technologies and employees that have difficulties in accessing to them, in accessing training, and in maintaining competences. This gap can also be due to different types of disabilities that are not always easy to see or identify and that can be very frequent; for example, Daltonism.
Evaluation criteria¶
| Evaluation criterion | Recommended priority | Proposed weighting (total = 20 points) |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility topics are known to be specific in IT and are not limited to those associated with physical disabilities. Training to raise awareness of accessibility is given in order to encourage an inclusive culture. Specific references exist, they are known and respected in setting accessibility standards in a digital service used in the organisation. This internal reference can be included in the ecodesign process. | P1 | 6 |
| Staff are trained and certified in digital accessibility. The number of employees trained and certified is declared | P1 | 6 |
| Regulation about digital accessibility (EU Accessibility Act) is known and respected. For example: accessibility rates of internal tools or website are declared. | P2 | 3 |
| The opportunity to have contributions from training organisations that contribute to improving employment access, reinsertion, or continuous training shall be considered. This opportunity embraces digital inclusion, employee’ diversity and apprenticeships. Example: Simplon Association in France. | P2 | 3 |
| Helpdesk and technical support propose specific solutions for people who are in disabled situations and could face difficulties with classical procedures. | P3 | 2 |
10.4 What kind of physical psychosocial risks induced specifically by ICT does your organisation consider? What actions have been taken to prevent them?¶
Rationale¶
That digital tools now enable us to be permanently connected is increasingly a factor in social disease such as burn-out and can be the cause of some types of work addiction. Detecting such situations is key to preventing them. In order to set reference points, best practices and limits shall be declared and encouraged. IT equipment can also be the means to work in better conditions and promote well-being.
Evaluation criteria¶
| Evaluation criterion | Recommended priority | Proposed weighting (total = 16 points) |
|---|---|---|
| The organisation has taken action to prevent hyper-connection and digital addiction. The right to disconnection is recognized and promoted through concrete HR processes. Example: time that he or she spends on smartphones and computers can be communicated to an employee, respecting GDPR rules. | P1 | 5 |
| The balance between professional and personal life is promoted and surveyed. Notifications out of working time, for example, shall be inhibited. | P1 | 5 |
| The IT Policy promotes ergonomic IT tools and equipment to enable well-being and prevent professional diseases (both at office and in homeworking). Example: prevention of musculoskeletal disorders. | P2 | 3 |
| Socio-psychologic risks relative to homeworking, for example social exclusion, are known and actions are launched to prevent them. | P2 | 3 |
10.5 How do you consider and minimize the social impacts of your activities, considering the whole life cycle of IT products and services? From mining to e-waste disposal?¶
Rationale¶
Like the environmental impacts of IT, the social impacts of the value chain are predominant:
- in the upstream value chain (mining, conflict minerals, child labour, no schooling), in the manufacturing (working conditions in factories, forced labour, child labour);
- in the downstream value chain: massive international trafficking of WEEE, exportation to southern countries without standards for social conditions, work in landfills, diseases, modern slavery and child labour.
Helpdesk services also merit specific attention.
Evaluation criteria¶
| Evaluation criterion | Recommended priority | Proposed weighting (total = 29 points) |
|---|---|---|
| In its Calls for Tender, the organisation should require and demand respect for human rights in its value chain. The requirements should be aligned with due diligence regulation. The value chain must cover assembly of IT equipment as well as raw material extraction and refining, or the manufacturing of electronic components. | P1 | 7 |
| Amongst human rights, avoidance of child labor is the minimum but NOT SUFFICIENT: the requirements must also include respect of the right of children to education and the creation of free schools in the regions where mining companies work. When children stop working, they cannot access to school anymore in countries where education is not free. Delivering these requirements requires cooperation with local NGOs. | P1 | 6 |
| The highest standards are requested from suppliers that manage the organisation’s e-waste (or WEEE). In line with the Due Diligence regulation, the supplier must ensure that there is no risk of contributing to the illegal trafficking of e-waste (70% of European WEEE feeds it), and that e-waste won’t be exported to southern countries (Ghana, Nigeria and India for example). | P1 | 6 |
| All stakeholders involved in the manufacture of IT equipment should contribute to non-profit associations or NGOs that work for a more responsible mining industry (for example the Good Electronics network, the RMI – Responsible Minerals Initiative or the IRMA – Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance). They should encourage their supplier to do so. | P2 | 5 |
| A specific watch on social conditions of subcontractors offering technical support or helpdesk services, is requested and assured especially when delivery of these services is off-shored in distant countries. | P2 | 5 |