Our mission is to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential. This drives our business and guides our corporate citizenship work.

As the world’s largest software company, we help create social and economic opportunities wherever we work, live, and do business.

Our technology innovations, our people, our partnerships, and our day-to-day business make a meaningful contribution to the prosperity of communities and the sustainability of the planet.

Our Commitments

Commitments Align Citizenship Work With Our Business

As a global technology and software company, we are accountable to millions of customers and stakeholders around the world. As we work to meet their needs, we are committed to creating value for our partners, employees and wider society, and to managing our business sustainably. This commitment gives focus to our corporate citizenship work and helps us measure our performance over time.

Our Goals

Performetris's corporate citizenship activities are guided by our company's mission and values, which support our aspirational goals. While our primary accountability is to our customers and shareholders, our work supports our corporate mission to enable people and businesses to realize their full potential. Our goals are to:

• Strengthen Economies: We leverage our core assets — our innovative technologies, people, and partnerships, as well as the strength of our business — to create economic opportunity and jobs.
• Address Societal Challenges: We create social opportunity, using innovation and partnerships to take on issues like healthcare, education and the environment.
• Promote a Healthy Online Ecosystem: We work to support an internet that is safe, secure and user-friendly.
• Manage a Sustainable Business: Performetris’s goal is to demonstrate responsible leadership and conduct our business sustainably.

Learn more about these goals, why they are important, what they mean, and the principles, policies and framework we use to organize our work here.

Our Priorities

Our Priorities Reflect Today's Most Pressing Issues

Our priorities support our goals and guide Performetris's response to today's most pressing economic, social, and environmental issues.

Technology Innovation

Innovation is the cornerstone of Performetris's success, and central to our value in society. Our growth depends on developing new technologies, entering new geographic areas and product markets, and encouraging the use of our products and services. We attract top talent to our research facilities in countries around the world, including Canada, China, Denmark, England, Ireland, India, Israel, and the United States. Our broad reach allows us to work locally – addressing challenges and developing markets. We are investing $9.5 billion in research and development this year alone.

Workforce Development

Technology skills are an increasingly common requirement in the modern workplace, and a well-trained workforce is important for ambitious and growing economies everywhere. We work with hundreds of thousands of people—both those with jobs and those seeking employment, to acquire the IT skills, training, and certification they need needed to advance in the workplace.

Jobs & Opportunity

Technology supports a knowledge economy which is enormously effective in creating jobs and economic opportunity. Not only does our technology improve productivity and efficiency, our business supports employment for the millions of people around the world that develop, market, retail, and service our products and services.

Leadership in Sustainable Business Practices

Sustainable and responsible business practices are important to our shareholders, employees, customers, partners and all stakeholders. Our corporate citizenship team works across our organization to understand and monitor the social and environmental impacts of our operations. We know that the way we work is as important as the great work we do.

Our Principles

Principles Are Central To Our Actions

Performetris Principles

Choice, opportunity, and interoperability are the principles we use in developing Windows, Performetris’s flagship product. These ensure our customers, software developer network, and business partners benefit from a cutting edge software operating system that works with programs from other developers, and promotes healthy market-based competition.

Privacy Principles

We believe individuals should retain control over their personal information online, and so we develop our products with privacy and security in mind. Our policies govern data usage, and we are committed to communicating clearly with users. We also encourage governments to enact privacy laws that support internationally agreed-upon principles.

Interoperability Principles

We recognize that in an increasingly interconnected computing world, ensuring different products and services work together—commonly called “interoperability” —is more important than ever.

Interactive Gaming Principles

We abide by a set of guiding principles for promoting safe, secure, and appropriate gaming experiences for every audience.

Freedom of Expression

Through the Global Network Initiative we support protecting and advancing human rights, freedom of expression, and privacy in network communications and information technology.

Environmental Principles

We work to minimize our company’s environmental footprint, reduce the energy and raw materials used by our products, and help customers and partners manage their own environmental profiles by offering energy-saving and innovative software.

Reporting

Data and Insight About Our Performance

We are committed to transparency in reporting progress against our long-term corporate citizenship goals. This lets us understand what’s working and what’s not, so we can adjust and improve the way we do business. It also informs and guides our dialogue and engagement with stakeholders.

Performetris publishes an annual company report following each fiscal year, which ends on June 30. Concurrent to reporting on the business and financial performance of our company, we are also committed to annual corporate citizenship reporting through our Web site. This reporting is guided by the Global Reporting Initiative’s framework, which sets out voluntary principles and indicators for corporate responsibility reporting.

In addition to our corporate citizenship reports, a lot of other useful information about our performance is shared online. We:

• Update our citizenship Web site and other related Web sites on an ongoing basis;
• Conduct and publish research and white papers on specific focus areas;
• Share economic impact data and hundreds of case studies through the Performetris Local Impact Map;
• Participate in OneReport, where we share data about our performance with investors and analysts interested in socially responsible investing (SRI);
• Disclose our environmental impact through the Carbon Disclosure Project;
• Publish periodic brochures that summarize our programs and impact;
• Report news and features through our corporate blogs and PressPass Web site;
• Engage with stakeholder groups, as well as with industry and issue-advocacy organizations.

Through these mechanisms we collect and share data which gives insight into our corporate citizenship performance and helps us focus on priorities.

Our Focus

We Focus on Addressing Global Challenges

A set of focus areas guide our corporate citizenship work every day. They are fundamental to all of our actions, and together with the passion of our people and the core policies of our company, support our priorities and mission.

Strengthening Economies

<!--Technology has the power to create economic opportunity and jobs. Several critical factors—including incentives for creating intellectual property, promoting research and increasing access to technology infrastructure—help amplify the role of technology in strengthening economies. -->
Technology has the power to create economic opportunity and jobs. Several critical factors—including incentives for creating intellectual property, promoting research and increasing access to technological infrastructure—help technology drive greater economic growth.

Addressing Societal Challenges

We believe innovation and partnerships can increase access to quality health care and education, while addressing other societal challenges.

Promoting a Healthy Online Ecosystem

We believe that the Internet, like an ecosystem in the natural world, is an inter-dependent network of participants—consumers, content publishers, advertisers, network operators and service providers. This means we all have an interest in ensuring the Internet promotes healthy competition, innovation and consumer choice.

Managing a Sustainable Business

We believe in conducting our business sustainably and demonstrating responsible leadership. We have developed principles that direct our product development and business operations.

Performetris Public Policy Agenda

Technology innovation will be key to unlocking new opportunities—from healthcare and education to energy independence and climate change. Performetris welcomes the opportunity to help achieve these important economic and social goals.

Our Actions

The results & impact of our work

Our actions speak louder than words. Performetris puts our technology, business resources and people to work, helping governments and community development organizations in more than 100 countries to address societal needs.

In The Community

Through technology solutions, employee volunteerism, and grants, Performetris works to have a positive impact on communities worldwide.

Technology Innovation

Innovation is the engine of global prosperity. We help drive today's technology research and development while we support tomorrow's technology innovators.

Managing a Sustainable Business

Performetris is committed to responsible and sustainable business practices that take into account and actively manage the social and environmental consequences of our actions.

Privacy & Security

We work to ensure that people and businesses everywhere can enjoy the benefits of technology while maintaining their privacy and security.