Indeed’s commitment to human rights
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights defines human rights as the rights we have simply because we exist as human beings — they are not granted by any state. These universal rights are inherent to us all, regardless of nationality, sex, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, religion, language, or any other status or characteristic. They range from the most fundamental — the right to life — to those that make life worth living, such as the rights to food, education, work, health, and liberty.
Human rights at Indeed
Indeed’s mission is to help all people get jobs, and labor rights are human rights. We have a long history of upholding many of the values enshrined in international human rights law — including respect, dignity, and fairness, and providing people with the ability to access decent employment opportunities. Our overall approach to ESG is guided by the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, of which human rights are a fundamental component.
Here at Indeed, a dedicated team works to embed human rights throughout our global operations, partnering across the business to identify areas of opportunity and support team members in centering human rights in their work. You can read more about our approach to human rights in our commitment statement below.
Our human rights commitment
Indeed is committed to protecting the human rights of our employees, job seekers, clients, and vendors to ensure our workplace and our platform are a safe and empowering environment for all. Our Human Rights Commitment applies to our entire operations, including our platform.
Our approach
Indeed is committed to respecting the human rights of all people as reflected in the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the International Bill of Human Rights, and the principles concerning fundamental rights at work in the ten International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions as set out in the ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
This Human Rights Commitment (Commitment) applies to our entire operations, including our platform. We expect Indeed employees and our contractors to respect human rights consistent with this Commitment. We expect our vendors to comply with our Vendor Code of Conduct, applicable laws, and regulations, to uphold the principles in this Commitment, and to adopt and implement similar policies and practices within their operations. We also expect employers using our platform to comply with applicable laws, regulations, and our Job Posting Standards.
We will communicate this Commitment to all those who work in our operations, to our jobseekers and employers using our platform, and to our vendors providing products and services to Indeed. We will seek opportunities to educate our employees and contractors, build awareness amongst users of our platform, and continue to work with our vendors to promote our expectations.
Our commitment
Indeed is committed to protecting the human rights of our employees, jobseekers, clients, and vendors to ensure our workplace and our platform are a safe and empowering environment for all.
Indeed implements a number of guidelines and policies that outline our respect for human rights. These include internal employee guidelines such as our Code of Conduct, Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Guidelines, Gift Guidelines, Anti-Bullying, Harassment & Discrimination policies, and Whistleblowing Guidelines. Respect for human rights is also outlined in external policies such as our Vendor Code of Conduct, Anti-Slavery Statement, Privacy Policy, AI Principles, and Job Posting Standards, as well as in our commitment to Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG).
Vendors providing services to Indeed are required to abide by our Vendor Code of Conduct, as well as all applicable contractual obligations, laws, and regulations. Users of Indeed’s platform are required to abide by our Terms of Service and Platform Policies.
We recognize that our efforts to respect human rights is an iterative process that will require us to engage with a variety of stakeholders to whom we need to listen, and from whom we need to learn.
We will review this Commitment on a regular basis and revise it as appropriate.
We recognize that there are human rights risks which are particularly relevant to our activities. In 2023, we conducted a saliency assessment with external experts, including engagement with internal and external stakeholders. With this learning, we will strive to progress our approach, and will conduct human rights due diligence in our operations and supply chain.
Our principles
Principles are expressed intentions and values that are written in general terms.
At Indeed, we recognize the rights of all people to be treated with dignity and respect, and are committed to working to ensure that all employees are provided with a safe working environment which is free from all forms of bullying, discrimination, or unequal treatment in employment, sexual harassment, and other forms of harassment. Unequal treatment includes the payment of unequal remuneration for equal or substantially equal work.
Our Anti-Bullying, Anti-Harassment, and Anti-Discrimination policies state that Indeed shall not tolerate bullying, discrimination, or harassment of any kind. Allegations of bullying, discrimination, sexual harassment, or other forms of harassment shall be investigated (if appropriate), and disciplinary action may be taken, up to and including dismissal. Indeed shall also not tolerate retaliation against a person for making allegations of bullying, discrimination, or harassment in good faith, or retaliation against supporting someone to make such a complaint.
We prohibit discrimination on our platform. Our Jobs Posting Standards prohibit discrimination in job ads. Our Terms of Service outline that employers who use our platform are solely responsible for compliance with all applicable laws, including anti-discrimination laws. We are committed to eliminating discrimination on our platform and will take action to remove discriminatory content. Our Trust and Safety team has policies and procedures in place to detect and remove discriminatory content.
At Indeed, we strictly adhere to all applicable laws and regulations in the markets in which we operate. This includes regulations concerning our relationships with government officials and government entities. We avoid acts that may create even the appearance of impropriety or misconduct in our dealings with government officials and other third parties. Our Code of Conduct, Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Guidelines, and other relevant policies such as our Gift Guidelines clearly outline the rules governing third party relationships that are applicable to all Indeed employees, officers, and temporary workers.
Indeed does not tolerate any form of child labor, including the worst forms of child labor. We are committed to identifying any form of child labor in our operations, on our platform, and in our supply chain, and will act against any such practices identified.
At Indeed, we are committed to fostering an equitable, psychologically safe environment where everyone belongs. We believe that advancing a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging makes us a stronger, more successful company, and directly supports our mission of helping all people get jobs.
Our values of inclusion and belonging are central to how we build products, engage with jobseekers and clients, and how we interact with each other as colleagues. Our Code of Conduct outlines the standards of behavior we expect from all Indeed employees, officers, temporary workers, and contractors. It outlines that we recruit, train, reward, and promote people based on their performance and contribution.
We are committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and ensuring that those in our workforce, users of our platform, and workers in our supply chain feel safe to raise any concerns without fear of harassment, retribution, or retaliation.
We respect the human right to a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. We strive to anticipate and adapt to changing environmental conditions, standards, and sustainable practices, including through integrating a human rights lens in efforts to address climate change. We recognize that adverse impacts on the environment may negatively impact human rights.
We have programs in place to minimize the impact of our activities on natural resources, and to reduce our carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions. We achieved carbon neutrality in 2022 and are committed to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
At Indeed, our mission is to help people get jobs. We strive to make a positive impact on society by connecting people to work that enables them to thrive. We are committed to making the world of work better, and to supporting our jobseekers by connecting them with a wide variety of opportunities.
We are committed to freely chosen employment. Indeed does not tolerate forced labor, bonded or compulsory labor, human trafficking, or labor exploitation of any kind.
We are committed to working to ensure jobs advertised on our platform are aligned to applicable labor laws, and to the greatest extent possible, with international labor standards. Indeed retains the right to remove material from our platform if we feel it is in the best interest of our jobseekers, or if such material breaches applicable legislation and/or our policies. More information on our policies can be found on our Employer Help Center.
We are committed to proactively identifying forced labor, as well as all forms of slavery and human trafficking in our operations, on our platform, and in our supply chain. We will act against such practices as are identified.
At Indeed, we respect the right of workers to form or to join a trade union or other form of representative organization in accordance with applicable local laws, as well as the right of workers to refrain from such activities. We recognize the right of workers to collective bargaining through representatives who can communicate openly about working conditions without fear of retaliation. We respect the right of workers to form and join trade unions or other forms of representative organizations of their own choosing in accordance with applicable local laws, to bargain collectively, and to engage in peaceful assembly, as well as respect the right of workers to refrain from such activities.
At Indeed, we expect our vendors to comply with our Vendor Code of Conduct and applicable laws and regulations, to uphold the principles in this Commitment, and to adopt and implement similar policies and practices within their operations. Employers advertising on our platform are expected to comply with relevant local legislation regarding freedom of association.
At Indeed, we are committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for all in our workplace. We comply with all relevant health and safety legislation, and carry out regular risk assessments to identify hazards and avoid or reduce occupational health and safety risks.
Our Terms of Service outline that employers advertising on our platform are solely responsible for compliance with all applicable laws.
At Indeed, we value the trust our users and customers place in us when they give us access to their personal data. We take that personal data very seriously, and we make significant investments to protect it. We provide a suite of data rights to all our users of our products globally. This includes the rights to access your personal data, delete your personal data, get your personal data in a portable format, and restrict or object to certain processing of your personal data. However, some rights may not be allowed to be exercised as an interpretation of local law. For detailed information on our approach to data privacy, see our Privacy Policy.
Our Terms of Service outline that employers are solely responsible for compliance with all applicable laws, including any applicable data protection or privacy laws.
At Indeed, we expect all vendors to comply with all relevant Indeed policies and local legislation regarding human rights, wherever they operate. Where local legislation is stricter than Indeed’s policies, that local legislation shall apply. Vendors are also required to comply with Indeed’s Vendor Code of Conduct.
We will engage with and listen to people whose human rights we may affect. We will examine our business practices for alignment with internationally recognized human rights, continuously seek to improve these, and operate systems to implement this Commitment throughout our operations and supply chain.
We expect that vendors do all that is practicable to prevent and minimize the risk of human rights violations in their direct operations, supply chains, and value chains. In line with local legislation, Indeed shall regularly request information from our vendors so that we can assess any potential or actual human rights impacts in our business relationships. Vendors are required to comply with these requests.
At Indeed, we recognize that the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence are evolving, and we strive to ensure fairness is at the center of how we approach technological innovation. We commit to approaching these issues with care, collecting data along the way to measure progress, and assessing our processes. For more information, see our AI Principles.
Alongside responsible development of our technology, we are committed to the responsible use of our technology and products. Indeed seeks to understand how our products and services could be used in ways that adversely impact human rights, and to prevent such impacts through appropriate human rights due diligence.
The Human Rights Team at Indeed works closely with Recruit Holdings to ensure strategic alignment and provide information required for reporting and compliance purposes. Recruit Holdings regularly publishes ESG reports and data here.
Indeed publishes a transparency report bi-annually, focusing on how our content policies protect the jobseekers and employers who use our platform.
In advancing our commitment to respecting human rights, we are developing key indicators to assess our performance. We will communicate internally and externally on a regular basis.
At Indeed, we pay our employees an adequate living wage, representing at least the minimum wage as laid down by the applicable law. We are committed to pay transparency, and ensure that data is available on all salary bands up to and including the Senior Director level. To the greatest extent possible, we strive to monitor jobs advertised on our platform to ensure they are aligned with applicable wage and labor laws.
Governance
Our commitment to human rights is endorsed by our Senior Leadership Team (SLT).
At Indeed, we have a Human Rights team that sits as part of our wider ESG function and is led by our Senior Vice President of ESG. The ESG team regularly reports up to Indeed’s SLT and relevant teams at Recruit Holdings.
We will continue to investigate ways to further embed our respect for human rights, and will look to establish a cross functional committee to support the implementation of this Commitment.
Human rights due diligence
At Indeed, we strive to undertake regular human rights due diligence, in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, to identify, assess, prevent, and mitigate human rights impacts associated with our business activities and business relationships. Indeed aims to identify opportunities to further embed human rights into products, policies, and operations.
We recognize that there are human rights risks that are particularly relevant to our activities. In 2023, we conducted a corporate wide saliency assessment with external experts, including engagement with internal and external stakeholders. With this learning, we will strive to advance our approach and conduct human rights due diligence in our operations and supply chain. We will regularly assess Indeed’s salient risks and monitor the effectiveness of our due diligence process, including our processes to prevent, identify, and remove content on our platform which contravenes our policies.
We recognize that our efforts to respect human rights is an iterative process that will require us to engage with all stakeholders to whom we need to listen and from whom we need to learn.
We recognize that some groups may be at greater risk of adverse human rights impacts due to their vulnerability or marginalization, such as women, children, and migrant or piece-workers. We strive to pay particular attention to the rights of vulnerable groups, including our jobseekers who face barriers to employment.
Access to remedy
At Indeed, we are committed to providing for, or cooperating in, remediation for affected parties through legitimate processes where we have identified that we may have caused or contributed to adverse human rights impacts. Where we are directly linked to adverse impacts through our business relationships, we commit to engaging with relevant stakeholders to drive best practices.
We have established grievance mechanisms that are available to all stakeholders that may interact with our business. Our Ethics Hotline can be used anonymously by employees, officers and contractors. It protects confidentiality of identity, and together with related policies, helps ensure protection against retaliation as a result of a complaint.
Alongside the ability to report through their manager, and/or relevant Human Resources representative, employees, officers, and contractors also have the ability to report any illegal or unethical behavior through our Whistleblowing System. No individual who reports a violation in good faith, or cooperates in the investigation of a violation, shall suffer harassment, retaliation, adverse employment, or consequences as a result of such reporting or participation.
Clients and jobseekers have the ability to contact us through our Help Center. As per our Vendor Code of Conduct, vendors are required to report any known or suspected improper behavior by Indeed employees by email to the appointed Indeed contact person(s). Reported violations shall be treated confidentially without retaliation.
We commit to regularly review the effectiveness of our grievance mechanisms and make changes as appropriate.