Hive Ethical Policy.

We only work with ethical companies

• We screen all potential clients
• We screen all potential suppliers

We value all our employees

• We pay the real living wage to all employees and subcontractors
• We are committed to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
• Our strategy is driven by all our employees
• We provide paid time off for volunteering to all employees
• We provide a comprehensive benefits package

We value end users

• We test with end users whenever it is possible
• Everything we do and make is inclusive and accessible

We work with others to end poverty, hunger, inequality and climate change

• We are committed to becoming a B Corporation
• We are committed to reducing our carbon impact
• We are committed to our environmental and social goals

We want to use AI ethically

• We are developing a policy for ethical use of AI

We are transparent and open

• We report our progress everywhere we can

We aim to make the world a better place, and we actively seek out clients that do likewise. We call these our Green List.

We also choose in almost all circumstances not to work with organisations that, through action or inaction, make the world worse. We call these our Red List.

We also recognise that many organisations have positives and negatives, and opportunities for these will be reviewed as set out in the Grey List.

Grey List

Outside the Green and Red Lists, we evaluate each potential client on their individual merits. Anyone in our new business team can do this.

• The first step is a simple gut feel test for the project and client - does it feel right? Does it feel like something we should be doing? Can we add value and provide value for money?
• This will lead to an informal discussion within the new business team, and where there is doubt it will be passed to SLT to review
• At this stage, SLT will either rule it out or consult with the entire company, initially on Slack and in a meeting if needed
• We then attempt to reach consensus, and failing that, understand everyone’s reasons and depth of feeling. This might mean working with a client but allowing individuals not to work with them or ruling out a client depending on the strength of feelings and reasons behind the objection.

Purchasing and supplier screening

As with our clients, we have a strong preference to give our business to those aiming to make the world better, and withhold it from those who do not.

Furthermore, in 2024, 6.1 tonnes of CO2e - 30% of our total carbon footprint - came from purchasing new computers and IT equipment, making this an area we can have a large impact in.

We apply the Red/Green list principles we use for clients, as well as having a strong preference to work with local suppliers where possible.

Wherever possible, we aim to:

1. Repair not replace
2. Buy refurbished not new
3. Use for as long as practical and secure
4. Use local suppliers
5. Use suppliers who are charities, non-profits, social enterprises, or Certified B Corps
6. Buy from organisations scoring over 80 on Ethical Consumer index
7. Check Ethical Consumer index to find the highest rated option if this is not possible.
8. Avoid buying from organisations scoring under 20 on Ethical Consumer index wherever possible, and if this is necessary require SLT sign off

We pay the real living wage to all employees and subcontractors

We are proud to have been accredited by the Living Wage Foundation as a Living Wage Employer. The real Living Wage is calculated on the real cost of living.

We are committed to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

At Hive IT, we value the principles of Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI), and believe that by embodying these principles we can bring out the best in ourselves and deliver the best to our clients. We recognise that, as a company, we still have a long way to go but are committed to taking the necessary steps to be a truly equitable, diverse and inclusive organisation, which has included setting up an EDI strategy team to help inform the company’s actions in reaching this goal.

We have undergone an EDI Accreditation Assessment which has determined that Hive IT is "Invested" in Improving EDI. Our assessment has provided guidance on areas for us to focus on and improve and we are working towards those improvements.

You can find out more about our commitment and plans to improve on our EDI page.

Our strategy is driven by all our employees

We have four strategy pillars to drive the key areas we have recognised as being our priorities as a company.

Each of these is driven by our employees. They can choose which team they want to join, and each team sets their own aims and chooses how to achieve them.

We provide paid time off for volunteering to all employees

Every employee is given 5 paid days a year to take part in volunteer and community service activities during work hours. They can also receive Time Off In Lieu for volunteering outside work hours.

We provide a comprehensive benefits package

• Additional health insurance from Westfield Health and Vitality
• Employee Assistance Programme mental health and wellbeing service from PAM
• Employer pension contributions of 5% of salary
• Bike2Work schemes
• EV salary sacrifice scheme
• Fully flexible working including remote or hybrid working, flexible working hours and part-time working

We test with end users whenever it is possible

• Our standard process always involves testing with real users, and in the rare cases where the client’s budget doesn’t allow for this, we still try and find a way to do this in practice and training sessions
• We always pay participants where this is allowed by client policies

Everything we do and make is inclusive and accessible

• We test with users with a variety of access needs where possible.
• We follow our accessibility testing checklist on all development projects
• We ensure all our staff observe live accessibility testing or recordings of these sessions where possible to share awareness
• Everything we build is designed to be accessible and inclusive

We are committed to becoming a B Corporation

Achieving the standard will facilitate a number of positive changes to our structure, processes and general practices. It will provide external oversight and validation of our mission and provide further opportunities to work and engage with other businesses who share our passion.

• We are currently completing our B Corporation application and will submit it by Autumn 2025

We are committed to reducing our carbon impact

• We have been tracking our Carbon impact since 2020
• Although we recognise it is not a complete solution, we have also been offsetting our annual emissions (using Verified Carbon Standard or Gold Standard VER credits that take place in developing countries and provide additional societal benefits)
• Home working emissions account for more than 50% of our total footprint. Furthermore, due to the nature of our business, our overall footprint is lower than the average Sheffield household. Therefore we provide carbon awareness training, advice to our staff on minimising their home working footprint and provide Bike2work and EV salary sacrifice schemes
• Where the option is available when purchasing, we commit to always offsetting our carbon impact

We are committed to our environmental and social goals

We monitor our performance against our social and environmental KPIs, and our performance reviews incorporate our higher level goals:

Social goals

• Local: Support local businesses and buy local wherever possible
• Local: Actively engage with and support local charities and organisations which address social and environmental improvements
• Ethical: buy products and services from charities, 3rd sector organisations and ethical companies wherever possible
• Everyone: Take action to improve our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and proudly be seen to be doing so

Environmental Goals

• Climate: Minimise the end to end environmental impact of Hive, our services and our staff
• Biodiversity: Support biodiversity and conservation efforts
• Advocacy: Advocate for the climate, biodiversity and nature

• The expanding use of Artificial Intelligence offers incredible opportunities, but at the same time tremendous risks, environmental and social
• We do not pretend to have any answers to these problems, and equally we can’t ignore the opportunities
• We pledge to continually work to try and use AI ethically, and developing a policy is a high priority for us
• We do pledge however:
  • To never use AI where we would otherwise pay a human to do it
  • To never use it to create job adverts or analyse responses

EDI reporting

While we have detailed statistics provided in our EDI accreditation, in an SME of our size, the redactions we would need to protect the privacy of individuals would render the statistics meaningless.

Salary ratio reporting

Our pay ratio is the ratio of our highest to lowest paid employees.

• 2025-2026 - 2.1
• 2023-2024 - 2.4
• 2022-2023 - 2.1

Carbon emissions reporting

Emissions (tonnes of CO2e):

• 2020 - 29.02
• 2021 - 19.19
• 2022 - 9.92
• 2023 - 19.1
• 2024 - 20.11

Charitable giving reporting

• For the year ended 30 June 2024 - £1,767.50
• For the year 2024 - £2,088

We raised an additional £2,120 for charities through fundraising

Volunteer hours reporting

• 2024 - 63.75 hours

• About us
• Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion statement
• Our Carbon Reduction Plan
• Our Ethical Marketing Policy
• Social & Environmental Goals and outsourced staffing policy

We have pulled ideas, inspiration and — with permission — wording from organizations we admire and respect to create this Code of Ethics:

• The B Corp Declaration of Interdependence
  • As B Corps and leaders of this emerging economy, we believe:
    • We must be the change we seek in this world.
    • All business ought to be conducted as if people and place matter.
    • Through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all.
    • To do so requires that we act with the understanding that we are each dependent upon another and thus responsible for each other and future generations.
• Mightybytes
• Solve
• Wholegrain digital (with particular thanks for allowing us to use and build on their superbly thought out definitions of who they won’t work with)
• W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative and Web Sustainability Guidelines
• Association for Computing Machinery’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
• The Sustainable Web Manifesto
• The Open Source Way
• Design Justice Network Principles
• The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals

Please feel free to use or modify this Code of Ethics for your own organization.