Blog
Building a sustainable business
Our vision is to become the most trusted global technology, supply chain, and manufacturing solutions partner to improve the world. Sustainability is a cornerstone to making that vision a reality.
Building on 20 years of sustainability investment, our disciplined practices stand strong to help address broader environmental and social challenges, cultivate a workplace that empowers every team member to thrive, lead with integrity, and accelerate a more sustainable value chain.
Our stakeholders can have confidence in how we drive an accountable, ethical approach to doing business and help our customers responsibly and sustainably build great products while maintaining a competitive, enduring advantage.
Our framework and commitments center on our world, people and approach and align with the UN Global Compact and Sustainable Development Goals.
A better future starts with measurement and science, which is the basis of our sustainable manufacturing practices and targets for reducing emissions, water usage and achieving zero waste. We also engage with local NGOs and an employee volunteer program to improve the quality of life in our communities.
It’s our people who create the extraordinary, every day. We strive to ensure team members are empowered to reach their full potential by promoting a culture of safety, inclusion, and continuous development. We also invest in mental health resources and hold our facilities to the highest global standards for labor practices.
What defines our approach? We do the right thing, always. Whether we’re helping customers deliver great products, addressing sustainability requirements with suppliers, or collaborating with customers and suppliers to further a more sustainable value chain, responsibility and transparency inform our every action.
Our advancement of sustainability includes clear, consistent communications about our goals, activities, performance, and results.
Environment
14% reduction in absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse emissions in 2021, from 2019 baseline year
Health and Safety
100% of our employees had access to emotional / mental health programs in 2021
Suppliers
29% of preferred suppliers had greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets in 2021
Every customer engagement is an opportunity to build a healthier, cleaner world where communities prosper. Our science-based environmental targets include reducing greenhouse gas emissions toward net zero as part of our involvement with the Science Based Targets initiative and the World Economic Forum’s Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders. Our targets also prioritize decreasing water consumption and making waste reduction and circular economy strides towards a zero-waste footprint.
Flex’s global presence and cross-industry expertise uniquely position us to implement sustainable manufacturing practices, like renewable energy implementation, the promotion of circular practices, and community-driven positive change. We ensure these efforts make the maximum impact as we partner with customers and suppliers to share lessons learned and scale best practices.
reduction in absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse emissions in 2021, from 2019 baseline year
waste diverted from landfill, globally in 2021
of our major sites with 1,000 employees or more partnered with a local NGO in 2021
Our journey to reduce our environmental footprint and ambition to reach net zero emissions by 2040 focuses on implementing and purchasing renewable energy, optimizing site infrastructure, and partnering with our ecosystem of customers and suppliers on energy and emissions reduction strategies.
Meanwhile, we’re charting a path to zero waste by applying our circular economy practices to reuse, repurpose, and extend the use of materials. In addition to our commitment to decreased water consumption, we participate in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s WASH Pledge to increase safe water access at all our workplaces.
1 The target boundary includes biogenic emissions and removals from bioenergy feedstocks
2 Per revenue
We don’t just want to just protect the planet — we aspire to uplift and invest in the communities where we operate and empower our employees to do so too. Our community building investment approach is two-fold: strategic initiatives supported by the Flex Foundation and employee involvement globally.
Our community building efforts are aligned with four strategic UN Sustainable Development Goals: #3 good health and wellbeing, #8 decent work economic growth, #12 responsible consumption and production, and #13 climate action.
3 Sites with more than 1,000 employees
Our 2022 annual sustainability report is a summary of our most important sustainability activities, performance, and results from the 2021 calendar year.
Without our people, there is no Flex. Guided by our purpose and values, we recognize the undeniable importance of providing a safe, inclusive, and respectful work environment for every team member to thrive.
We hold ourselves to the highest global standards for labor practices and believe in the power of diversity, equity, and inclusion for the sake of business and humanity. We also promote a learn-and-adapt approach to ongoing development.
Our team members work together to help our customers and suppliers responsibly manage every step of the product lifecycle. Whether our teams are navigating a customer challenge or a global disruption, we ensure our employees have what they need to stay protected, included, and empowered to show up to work as their best selves.
decrease in safety incident rate year over year in 2021
of our employees had access to emotional / mental health programs in 2021
average hours of training per employee provided in 2021
We promote workforce safety, health, and well-being from all angles. Our strong social management system aligns to the RBA code of conduct as we pursue industry certifications to ensure the respectful treatment of workers and the consistent adherence of responsible business practices.
By investing in Industry 4.0 technologies and staying apprised of equipment safety improvements, we’re continuously designing risk out of manufacturing processes.
The diversity of our teams serves as a competitive advantage and spans background, experience, talent, education, gender identity, race, ethnicity, and ability.
Together, we’re working toward more equitable outcomes that strengthen gender, racial, and ethnic diverse representation through employee empowerment, enhanced opportunities, and resource accessibility. And we do it all through a culture of inclusion rooted in mutual respect.
We promote and protect human rights to safeguard the fundamental freedoms of our workforce and treat team members with the utmost respect, dignity, and care. This includes providing well-being and development resources.
We recognize the importance of accessible mental health programs to support team members, psychologically and emotionally. We’re continuing to evolve and develop formal and on-the-job learning and upskilling opportunities so that every team member is empowered to prepare for their next role while gaining valuable experience.
Our 2022 annual sustainability report is a summary of our most important sustainability activities, performance, and results from the 2021 calendar year.
The work we do is complex, and the sustainability landscape is quickly evolving, so we work to conduct our business with the utmost integrity and transparency. Our approach to ethical business practices is foundational to accelerating sustainability across the value chain as we extend the principle of doing the right thing, always, across all our partnerships.
Whether we’re operating as an extension of a customer’s operations or in partnership with suppliers to address evolving stakeholder requirements or take steps toward a more circular supply chain, integrity is our guiding principle.
We maintain a strong emphasis on accountability and risk mitigation while coupling the strongest governance standards, policies, and procedures with transparent reporting.
of preferred suppliers had greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets in 2021
of our new global suppliers screened using social and environmental criteria in 2021
launch of ethics and compliance scorecard program for manufacturing sites and corporate functions.
We hold our supplier network to the highest ethical standards by requiring strong management systems, transparent reporting, effective social and environmental activities, ethical practices, and comprehensive risk mitigation. We also work to reduce emissions across the value chain by working with suppliers to set reduction targets by sharing lessons learned and scaling best practices.
We’re helping leading brands identify the optimal route to reduce emissions, waste, and energy while balancing lead time, cost, and sustainability requirements through our circular economy solutions. We also partner with a set of our customers to help them identify science-based emission targets, accelerating a more sustainable value chain.
Integrity starts at the top and serves as the foundation of trust for our employees, customers, and other stakeholders. In everything we do, we maintain the highest standards of ethical business practices and compliance with integrated scorecards for risk assessment, code of business conduct and ethics training for direct and indirect labor, and more. In addition to local reporting channels, we have a toll-free hotline and online reporting channel available 24 hours, 7 days a week in several languages.
We never stop evaluating and enhancing our oversight processes and procedures to ensure the highest levels of accountability and transparency, as reflected in our strong ratings in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). We also maintain strong oversight through annual review of committee composition.
Our 2022 annual sustainability report is a summary of our most important sustainability activities, performance, and results from the 2021 calendar year.
Established in 2002, the Flex Foundation is a private organization that awards grants to philanthropic initiatives and fosters positive change for the global communities where we along with our customers, suppliers, and partners operate.
The foundation’s giving and volunteer strategy aligns with four UN Sustainable Development Goals:
