Our diversity and inclusion initiatives also include:
· | | Corporate partnerships and programs to attract and retain underrepresented talent; |
· | | Sponsorship of over 70 business employee resource groups, which play a critical role in driving awareness, understanding of diverse backgrounds and execution against our diversity and inclusion strategy; |
· | | Training programs and innovative learning opportunities, which includes a “Breaking Bias” program that we launched to all employees globally in 2021; |
· | | Internal initiatives such as “Count Me In” to help build our diversity data and deepen our talent insights; and |
· | | Expanded external reporting. |
Health and wellbeing
The past two years have had a profound impact on all of us and our company has adjusted to new ways of working. The health and wellbeing of all of our employees is a priority of our leadership and we have put in place several initiatives related to mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing to support them.
We recently launched a new “Flex My Way” program, which is a supportive workplace policy that promotes work-life balance and improved flexibility. Policies include flexible and hybrid working, caregiver paid time off, increased bereavement leave and work from anywhere in your country of employment for up to eight weeks per year.
Our mental health resources include free access to an employee assistance program, a meditation app, mindfulness discussions, eLearning sessions, two annual Mental Health Days, mental health self-assessments and COVID-19 related resources. We are also signatories to the Mindful Business Charter, which was founded to rehumanize the workplace.
Our physical health resources include health risk assessments, nutrition and sleep guides. Financial wellbeing resources include an app to help employees achieve specific financial goals and manage finances, counseling resources, and Thomson Reuters University courses to help employees expand their knowledge.
Our social resources include the business resource groups mentioned above, mentoring programs, a digital platform that curates social learning and networking experiences for employees.
Community Involvement
At Thomson Reuters, we have a shared responsibility to do business in ways that respect, protect and benefit our customers, our employees, our communities and our environment. To support this corporate value, we encourage employee volunteerism, provide financial and in-kind donations and offer corporate matches for employee donations.
Thomson Reuters employees have personal and professional skills that can help our communities address their needs. Our employees, in turn, can become more knowledgeable about important social issues and develop a variety of relevant organizational skills through volunteer projects. In 2021, we provided 16 hours per employee of paid time off for volunteering (in-person and virtual). Our employees logged over 66,000 volunteer hours, despite the impact of the ongoing pandemic. We also provide an additional 20 hours of paid legal pro bono volunteer time per year to employees with law degrees and who meet other criteria.
We also provide some of our products and services free of charge to various not-for-profit organizations to support their initiatives. For example, Thomson Reuters has provided access to our CLEAR product to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children since 2010. We also provide our Westlaw, Practical Law and HighQ products to various not-for-profit organizations.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation
Our corporate charitable foundation, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, works to advance media freedom, foster more inclusive economies and raise awareness of human rights issues. Through news, media development, free legal assistance and convening initiatives, the Foundation combines its unique media and legal services to drive change. Its mission is to inspire collective leadership, empowering free, fair and informed societies. The Foundation operates TrustLaw, the largest global pro bono network. Additional information on the Foundation can be found at www.trust.org.
Governance Practices
Our Board and its committees oversee ESG initiatives, as discussed in the “Corporate Governance Practices” section of this circular. The Corporate Governance Committee evaluates our ESG strategy and progress and is updated on a quarterly basis by our management. We remain committed to our values and ethics through our governance practices, which include our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.
Management Proxy Circular and Notice of Annual Meeting of Shareholders Page 61