Corporate Social Responsibility and Innovation

Governance & Management
Ethics, compliance and continuity of business

SAS is committed to high ethical standards in its dealings with colleagues, customers, suppliers and competitors. Robust regulatory compliance practices ensure that SAS conducts business in an honest, respectful, fair and safe manner. Guided by the company’s Code of Ethics, SAS’ compliance practices have earned the company its exceptional reputation as an ethical and responsible employer and business partner. SAS is also committed to building long-term relationships with both direct and indirect suppliers. There are a wide range of best practices to ensure the supply chain remains strong and the company is identifying the best fit for all procurement needs. Continuity of business is paramount as well, with a focus on corporate governance, information security and corporate social responsibility.

Environmental Program
Protecting the environment for a brighter future

SAS reduces its environmental footprint with ongoing programs focused on energy conservation and solar projects,  emissions management, pollution mitigation, water conservation, waste reduction and recycling, procurement and green building. View environmental performance reports using SAS^® Visual Analytics to see how SAS uses its own software to collect, manage, calculate and report its global environmental footprint. Top 2017 achievements:

• Energy consumption decreased by 7.7 percent and related emissions were reduced by 4.5 percent despite a 1 percent increase in office space and staff growth of 2.2 percent. 
• Energy use intensity for office buildings decreased 3.1 percent  to 15.4 kWh per square foot. 
• Energy consumption in SAS data centers decreased 1.9 percent despite a 43 percent increase in servers.
• Increased overall solar capacity by 140kW and generated 3.5 million kWh of clean, renewably sourced energy from rooftop and ground-mounted solar systems. 
• Diverted 56.1 percent of operational and construction waste from landfills globally.
• Achieved LEED^® Gold level certification for SAS’ largest office building and data center at its world headquarters.  All SAS HQ office buildings and data centers built in the last 25 years are now LEED certified.
• Reduced paper use per employee from 1,067 sheets to 939 – a 12 percent decrease from 2016 and almost a 65 percent reduction since 2009
• Continued support for plug-in electric vehicles by increasing the number of free workplace charging stations  to 94 globally.

Employees & Culture
SAS' world-renowned culture is based on trust, flexibility and our values: authentic, accountable, curious and passionate

We’re not only known as the pioneer in analytics, but also in workplace culture. SAS’ culture is anchored by meaningful work, empowering leadership and a world-class work environment. The company has been ranked on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list since the list’s inception for its corporate culture – which encourages work/life balance.

Our employees share a common spirit and a passion for their work, their customers and one another. It’s truly a workplace like no other, based on the belief that happy, healthy people have a passionate engagement with life – and bring that passion to work. We understand there’s a direct correlation between our exceptional culture and business success with more than 40 years of growth.  We’ve found that if you treat employees well, they will continue to innovate and create amazing software that ultimately keeps customers happy.

Education & Philanthropy
Meeting the challenges of the new millennium

SAS CEO Jim Goodnight refers to education as the engine of economic growth. By supporting efforts that prepare more graduates for college, work and success in the 21st century, SAS continues to play a vital role in the global community.

For the last 25 years, SAS has made education its primary philanthropic focus. As a company, we believe that quality public education is a critical imperative for our children and for the country in this competitive, global economy. We are actively engaged in ensuring that all students have the support necessary to reach their full potential and become productive citizens. 

In North Carolina and around the world, SAS targets education initiatives in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to ensure the next generation of innovators has the knowledge and skills to succeed. SAS also supports thoughtful and evidence-based approaches to increasing third-grade reading proficiency, which is critical to ensuring students leave high school ready for college and careers.

Data for Good
Analytics helping humanity

Our commitment to innovation means we believe technology advancements push boundaries, challenge the status quo and change the way we live. But it’s more than just technology innovation. At SAS, we also believe that social innovation is just as important. That means working with organizations to identify areas where we can make an impact together, then developing solutions and processes that result in positive changes for a community, a city, a state and even around the world.  Our corporate social innovation efforts help us focus our purpose on making the world better for all.

A natural extension of this social innovation is our participation in the Data for Good movement, where we seek  opportunities to improve how people live. By using SAS Analytics, we address humanitarian issues like poverty, health, human rights, education and the environment. Making a difference in the world is at the heart of what SAS does, and just another example of using our software to serve the greater good. Through these stories, learn how SAS is being socially innovative and using data to change lives.