Espresa cares about all people. See how we embrace and live our mission, vision, principles, and values wherever we are.
Espresa, Inc. works to create mutually beneficial business relationships with diverse suppliers to help strengthen our global commitment to culture while also supporting the mission and vision of the clients and communities we serve. That’s why it’s critical that we collectively strive to work with businesses that are at least 51 percent owned, operated, and controlled by persons who fit into one of these ownership categories:
These companies must adhere to Espresa’s diversity, anti-racism, equity, and inclusion in hiring practices and be willing to sign a self-classification affidavit and/or show articles of incorporation documents that support one of our approved ownership categories.
Scope:
The requirements in this section apply to all service providers and suppliers performing services provided by Espresa’s platform.
Responsibilities:
It is the responsibility of all employees who are in a role of identifying a supplier to explore and identify businesses that, whenever possible, have significant ownership, operated, and controlled by persons who fit into one of these ownership categories:
These companies must adhere to Espresa’s diversity, anti-racism, equity, and inclusion in hiring practices and be willing to sign a self-classification affidavit and/or show articles of incorporation documents that support one of our approved ownership categories.
Definitions:
This procedure does not apply to Federal or State statutes, administrative rules, work instructions, or departmental directives that define specific departmental tasks.
Espresa is committed to maintaining a strong culture with a deep respect for individuals and human rights. We have adopted company policies, practices, and procedures to reflect and implement this broad commitment. Our Corporate and Social Responsibility Team and executive leadership provide oversight to enhance further this Policy and Espresa’s commitment to human rights.
Human rights are generally defined as the fundamental freedoms believed to be inherent to everyone. They are outlined in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration for Human Rights, which Espresa adheres to.
The U.N.’s Universal Declaration focuses on dignity, respect, and equality without discrimination. These principles are at the core of Espresa’s mission and values. We are committed to treating all employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, and the communities in which we operate with dignity, respect, and equality while partnering with our stakeholders to help them achieve the same.
Although governments have a primary duty to provide and protect human rights, companies share a responsibility to act in ways that support them. The U.N. Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, adopted by the U.N. in 2011, offers guidance on how governments, companies, and other parties can address these responsibilities.
Companies can advance human rights through the culture they establish, how they treat their employees and other stakeholders, how they manage their operations and engage in trade, and with the contributions they make to the global communities where they live, work, and serve. Espresa’s commitment to human rights is reflected in each of these areas.
Requirements:
Espresa’s commitment to human rights starts with our company culture and core values, which form the basis for everything we do. We work hard to foster a culture in which each person can thrive. Espresa’s mission and vision explicitly discuss this:
Do no harm and humanity first: We do the right thing – we earn trust, act with ethics, integrity, and transparency, treat everyone with respect, value diversity, and foster safe and inclusive environments.
On top of this foundation, our Standards of Business Conduct, policies, procedures, and practices set forth specific requirements for how we do business and what we expect of those with whom we do business. They both reflect and implement Espresa’s commitment to human rights. Of note, our Standards of Business Conduct, policies, procedures, and practices provide for:
Our people:
We respect and value the rights of our employees and strive to provide them with a physically and psychologically safe and inclusive environment in which they can excel.
We treat our employees with respect and dignity, protecting and progressing their human rights. We seek to be a preferred workplace where all are invited to be heard. We realize that the world we serve is diverse in its social customs and cultural traditions, and we respect and embrace those differences.
We believe the differing viewpoints we each bring to the workplace challenge and enable us to think more broadly while collectively better serving our customers and communities.
Espresa does not tolerate discrimination based on an individual’s protected status and strives to ensure equal pay for equal work. Equally, Espresa ensures a work environment free from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.
We treat our people with dignity and respect—not only our employees but also those with whom we do business, including our customers, suppliers, partners, and competitors.
Espresa respects the rights of employees to form, join, or not join labor unions. This includes the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Additionally, we work together and make every effort to reach an agreement through open and constructive negotiations.
Espresa employees have the right to fair working conditions, competitive wages, and reasonable working hours. Espresa does not tolerate the use of child labor, forced labor, bonded labor, or human trafficking of any kind.
We provide reasonable accommodations for qualified persons based on disabilities, religious beliefs, and pregnancy/childbirth (and related conditions). We strive to make our offices, websites, information, communications, and technology accessible to all audiences.
We respect the privacy of our employees and business partners who trust us with their personal information. Espresa has policies designed to safeguard personal information and ensure that it is collected, used, and shared appropriately and in conformity with our promises and legal obligations. Espresa also works to abide by all applicable privacy-related laws and regulations in the countries where we operate.
Our supply chain:
Espresa is committed to high standards of ethical and business conduct concerning its procurement of goods and services.
Espresa treats our suppliers with respect and integrity and is dedicated to being an excellent partner to the many companies that help us achieve our mission and vision.
We also work with our suppliers to help them embrace similar values and further our commitment to human rights. Espresa requires suppliers to adhere to a detailed Supplier Code of Conduct and relevant terms and conditions.
That Code sets out requirements related to ethics and integrity, labor, and employment practices, protecting human rights, sustainability, diversity, equity, and inclusion. This Code requires suppliers to protect workers’ rights in our extended supply chain, including health and safety standards and local wage and hour laws. It prohibits the use of forced labor, child labor, or human trafficking of any kind. Espresa requires compliance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation Combatting Trafficking in Persons, UK Modern Slavery Act, and California Transparency in Supply Chains legislation.
Before entering into supply agreements, we undertake due diligence on potential suppliers to assess whether they can meet our requirements. We also monitor their performance during contract performance. We take any issues with human rights or other labor practices in our supply chain very seriously. We investigate misconduct allegations and take appropriate, immediate, and remedial action, including terminating contracts.
Our programs and products:
Espresa is committed to high standards of ethical and business conduct in developing, offering, and providing goods and services.
The company considers potential risks at different stages throughout the life cycle of our services. This includes risks to human rights, technical issues, legal requirements, financial considerations or performance obligations, and risks to Espresa’s reputation, sustainability, and long-term value. Espresa considers potential risks as it assesses how best to design our services and to whom and under what circumstances we can and should sell them. Espresa is also mindful of how its products might be used over time and potential unintended uses.
Espresa has robust processes and procedures to help ensure we do not do business in countries or sell services and products through our supply partners to customers that the U.S. government does not approve. Espresa has procedures in place to engage in due diligence and to assess and potentially mitigate risks – including human rights and, more broadly, the reputation of Espresa – before undertaking any business opportunities, even if they are or would be approved. Where the risks of agreeing to such a business opportunity are unacceptable, Espresa will decline the opportunity regardless of whether it is legally permissible.
Espresa conducts business globally, consistent with its values and all applicable laws. Espresa works to incorporate its environmental, social, and governance responsibilities and customer support into decision-making, including the products the company designs, develops, manufactures, and sustains.
Our communities:
For Espresa, being a good corporate citizen means improving the people’s lives in the communities where we live and work. We invest in our communities, providing funding and other support to human dignity and environmental stewardship.
Espresa is committed to serving as thought leaders and consensus builders in our communities, advancing our values of respect for all individuals, equal opportunity, diversity, and inclusion, and protecting our environment.
The environment:
Espresa conducts its operations in an environmentally responsible manner. We establish, implement, monitor, and report on progress against specific environmental goals. Those goals are intended to reduce our ecological footprint, reduce waste production, reduce our use of scarce natural resources, and protect our global environment.
It is essential to Espresa, our employees, our shareholders, and our local communities that we continue to proactively strive to manage our environmental impacts and evolve and enhance the thoughtful sustainability of our operations.
Our commitment to integrity:
Espresa’s commitment to integrity lies at the core of our culture. We work daily to ensure an open, inclusive, and ethical work environment in which our employees strive to do the right thing to serve our many stakeholders and ensure our enterprise’s long-term success.
Training, communication, and oversight of Espresa’s Human Rights Program:
Espresa’s human rights program is founded on our culture and values and implemented through the abovementioned policies and procedures. In addition, Espresa is committed to training communication and broad oversight to help ensure our human rights program is effective and evolves to reflect learning and best practices.
Training and communication:
Effective training and communication are critical to the success of our human rights program. Espresa provides periodic employee training on various elements of our human rights program. We also offer more targeted training to leaders and employees based on their roles and responsibilities, including under the policies and procedures described in this Policy.
Espresa communicates more broadly with employees about the importance of human rights and the underlying principles of respect, dignity, and equality through internal communications and leadership messages.
Reporting, investigation, and corrective actions:
Employees who believe this policy may have been violated should report it through established channels, including to their supervisor, Executive Leadership, or human resources.
Reports of potential violations will be investigated, and if substantiated, remedial action will be taken. Espresa will not tolerate retaliatory action against someone who comes forward in good faith to raise concerns about possible violations of this Policy.
Oversight:
Espresa assesses potential human rights risks, the severity of the potential risk, and the relevant mitigation measures. Based on assessments, we integrate relevant findings into our policies and procedures as needed. We track various aspects of our progress as part of Espresa’s continuous improvement efforts.
We have established a Human Rights Working Group within Executive Leadership to help ensure this Policy is implemented effectively and achieves our goals. The Group considers the program’s effectiveness, the nature of the risk environment, and evolving best practices. As appropriate, it will recommend changes to this program. This team includes senior representatives from, among others, Global Corporate Responsibility, Human Resources, Legal, Global Supply Chain, Contracts, and Communications.
Assessment:
Espresa may conduct additional audits or assessments, as appropriate, to measure compliance related to the above commitments.
For more information on how our Corporate and Social Responsibility team can assist you today, please email culture@espresa.com.
Purpose:
While Espresa is remote-first, Espresa’s Workplace Health and Safety policy outlines our company’s commitment to ensuring a safe and hazard-free environment for our employees. Here, we detail preventative actions, emergency management, and additional measures to promote health and safety, emphasizing the importance of adhering to established guidelines and procedures.
This policy preserves the best possible work conditions for our employees wherever they are. Every employee has a right to feel safe at work, and our company is committed to following and exceeding legal standards while creating a hazard-free workplace.
Requirements:
This Health and Safety Policy applies to all prospective and current company employees, as well as volunteers, contractors, and consultants. This includes preventative action and emergency management.
Preventative action is any action we take to avoid injuries or illnesses related to workplace conditions. Espresa will conduct periodical risk assessments and job hazard analyses to discover what will harm employees and establish preventative measures accordingly.
Potential threats and dangerous situations are rare, as we are a non-physical and remote-first company. However, we take into consideration:
We’ll take the following preventative measures – this is rare to non-existent:
Espresa has multiple emergency measures, including managing sudden catastrophes like fire, flood, earthquake, or other natural and unforeseen acts.
Our emergency management also involves provisions where there is a physical location, such as:
When applicable in a physical location, Espresa will schedule fire drills and emergency evacuations periodically, monitor the performance of health and safety procedures, and revise them to ensure the greatest level of protection.
Additional measures:
Espresa will also continuously promote health and safety actively, including:
Espresa will also consult experts or insurance representatives to ensure it complies with local and international standards.
Disciplinary consequences:
Espresa’s employees are responsible for implementing this health and safety policy. Employees should follow health and safety instructions and will be held accountable when they don’t. We’ll take disciplinary action that may extend to termination when employees consistently disregard health and safety rules.
It’s everyone’s responsibility to contribute to a healthy and safe workplace.
Purpose:
Espresa is committed to protecting the environment, our employees’ health and safety, and our communities. Our policy seeks continual improvement throughout our business operations to lessen our impact on the local and global environment by conserving energy, water, and other natural resources, reducing waste generation, recycling, and reducing our use of toxic materials. Espresa is committed to environmental excellence and pollution prevention, meeting or exceeding all environmental regulatory requirements and purchasing products with more excellent recycled content with lower toxicity and packaging that reduce the use of natural resources.
Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Policy:
Preference will be given to purchasing products and services that have the following ecologically friendly attributes with acceptable parameters for price, quality, and delivery:
This policy ensures that products and services purchased or contracted for Espresa conform to our environmental policy goals. We will strive, where feasible, to purchase environmentally preferable products and services and favor suppliers who seek to improve their environmental performance, provide environmentally preferable products, and document the supply chain impacts of their efforts.
Wherever possible, purchasing decisions will favor products that:
Environmentally preferable products and services comparable in quality to their standard counterparts will receive a purchasing preference. When the most environmentally preferable product is unavailable or impractical, secondary considerations will include production methods and suppliers’ and producers’ ecologically and socially responsible management practices. Environmentally preferable purchasing is part of our long-term commitment to the environment.
Purpose:
The vast array of electronic devices has been a boon to productivity in Espresa’s remote workplace. Disposing of this electronic waste (e-waste) is essential to our sustainability mission. The rapid pace of technological advancement continues to offer new or upgraded electronic equipment opportunities for Espresa’s employees, which are hazardous due to the toxic metals in their internal materials, coatings, and glass. As a policy, all Espresa employees are first encouraged to donate e-waste to non-profit organizations such as suggested by the Environmental Protection Agency:
Espresa also encourages donations to local area schools with technical assistance programs that refurbish surplus devices.
Purpose:
Espresa is committed to creating and maintaining a work environment free from discrimination and harassment based on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or any other protected characteristic.
Additionally, Espresa is committed to providing equal opportunities for all employees and will not tolerate discrimination or harassment in the workplace. We will take appropriate disciplinary action against any employee who engages in discriminatory or harassing behavior, including termination.
Additionally, we are committed to promoting diversity and inclusion at all company levels. This includes recruiting, hiring, and promoting employees from various backgrounds and experiences and providing training and support to help all employees feel valued and respected.
Espresa believes that fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace is essential for our success and that of our partners and customers. We encourage all employees to join us in creating a work environment that is inclusive and respectful of all individuals.
A platform designed specifically for DEI
Espresa’s modularly based personal benefits platform is dedicated to inclusion, with technology designed specifically to meet people wherever they are and equitably. Including Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), community engagement, and Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSA) in all languages and currencies, Espresa actively encourages and celebrates the cultural diversity of all people through its technology.
