The News: Last week, UiPath released its inaugural environmental, social and governance (ESG) report with baseline metrics related to the company’s sustainability efforts, commitment to communities, and corporate governance. Ready the full press release here.
UiPath Releases Inaugural Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report
Analyst Take: UiPath, a leader in the automation software space and a newly public company, has never had to publicly release ESG metrics before, but the software automation giant is ready to be held accountable. With its newly released ESG Overview, UiPath defined the company’s four core pillars of alignment to its business strategy: Leveraging Automation for Good, Empowering People and Communities, Protecting Our Environment, and Fostering Good Governance.
The report provides baseline metrics and context around each of these pillars to measure success and identify areas of improvement. The organization is monitoring critical areas of performance including energy management, community involvement, and corporate governance. It also offers insight into diversity and inclusion initiatives like pay equity, employee recruitment, and talent retention.
Accountability Drives Action
In the last few years, we’ve seen an increase in ESG initiatives from organizations of all sizes. That said, there has been discrepancies in what information is reported to the public, as it’s not required by many countries and frameworks and standards vary. But in today’s world, regardless of the framework, accountability drives action. Future-focused companies understand the benefit of reporting ESG data and we are beginning to see a trend here: ESG initiatives are important, for a variety of reasons, and they are on the rise.
Socially responsible investing, like socially conscious shopping has exploded in popularity in recent years. According to a recent report, companies with strong ESG performance have high returns on investment and are more resilient in times of crisis. At the same time, the organizations that don’t disclose this information are demonstrating a lack of trust and transparency that might make some investors wary.
To anyone paying attention as our world changes, this should not be a surprise. Millennials and Gen Z have been pushing organizations in the B2C space to be more socially-conscious over the last decade. It was only a matter of time before B2B companies started to play along too.
UiPath is Ready for the Future
But we shouldn’t have expected anything less from UiPath. The company’s vision statement starts with, “We’re humble game-changers…” and in our work with the company over the last several years, we know that to be true. Moreover, as it relates to corporate ESG efforts, changing the game is clearly what UiPath is committed to trying to do here. This microscopic view of critical initiatives in one of the major players in the tech industry should serve as a source of inspiration to companies everywhere and something I hope we see more of in the future.
Disclosure: Futurum Research is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Additional Insights from Futurum Research:
ServiceNow Announced New ESG Solution with Aim to Help Companies Make a Better World
Dell Technologies’ Making Real Progress on ESG and People-Focused Initiatives
Image Credit: HR Tech Series
Author Information
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years' experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging development, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly's coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”
