
Corporate Social Responsibility
A continuing commitment to employees,
local communities and the environment.
This site serves as an overview of our corporate social responsibility and integrates our performance measures from 2016. The achievements made in 2016 are highlighted within each area.
About this report | GRI Index

For more than 40 years, caring for our people – and our planet – has been paramount to SAS, influencing many decisions we make as a global company.
Corporate social responsibility has been a part of SAS’ foundation since 1976. For more than 40 years, caring for our people – and our planet – has been paramount to SAS, influencing many decisions we make as a global company.
Focusing on the Earth’s resources has long been a priority for us. Multiyear programs advancing energy conservation, solar projects, emission management, pollution mitigation, water conservation, waste reduction and recycling, procurement and green building continue to reduce SAS’ environmental footprint. In just the past decade, SAS has improved energy efficiency in our office buildings a full 28 percent; diverted more than 50 percent of waste away from landfills, and generated more than 3.8 million kilowatt-hours annually of clean, renewable energy from our nine solar installations.
SAS also makes a difference through our Data for Good efforts. Armed with information and analytics, we are tackling critical humanitarian needs, whether it’s helping fight cancer, preventing child abuse or saving endangered species. We recognize that analytics can make a difference in the world, and since we began, we have worked with our customers and many organizations to turn their data into valuable insights that can help others.
But being able to make an impact begins with our greatest resource – our employees. Our world-class workplace supports our employees by creating an environment that helps them balance career and personal life. This support eliminates many everyday worries and distractions, and ultimately inspires creativity and innovation.
With better health and lower stress, employees are naturally more energized on the job. It’s a virtuous circle: Healthy, satisfied employees contribute to customers’ success, which in turn feeds SAS’ success. This culture helps position SAS and our employees to be good corporate citizens.
Beyond our own workforce, we appreciate the evolving need for technology proficiency in the global community. Because SAS views education as the driver for economic growth, our primary philanthropic initiative is to develop the next generation of innovators. It starts with younger learners: Studies show that those who cannot read proficiently by third grade are more likely to drop out of school. We’re reaching them through SAS® Curriculum Pathways®, free P-12 digital learning resources used by more than 2 million teachers and students.
With job demand outpacing available talent, SAS provides older students with relevant tools and resources to tackle today’s increasing analytics skills gap. We collaborate with colleges and universities worldwide to promote analytics skills. And we offer several free and low-cost SAS software and training options.
More than four decades of growth speaks for itself: Our analytics make it easier to tackle challenges and use data for the greater good. Since we want our employees, our customers and our planet to be ready for the future, we must provide the resources, tools and insight to make that happen.
Sincerely,
Jim Goodnight
CEO of SAS

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 multiyear programs focused on energy conservation and solar projects, emission 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 2016 achievements:
- Energy consumption decreased by .1 percent despite adding more than 190,000 square feet of office space globally - a 4.4 percent increase.
- Energy use intensity for office buildings decreased 3.6 percent to 15.9 kWh per square foot.
- Energy consumption in SAS data centers decreased 3.9 percent despite adding almost 2,000 additional servers.
- Generated 3.8 million kWh of clean, renewably sourced energy from rooftop and ground-mounted solar systems.
- Improved CDP score to a B performance rating.
- Diverted 62.6 percent of operational and construction waste from landfills globally.
- Initiated LEED® certification for SAS’ largest office building and data center.
- Reduced paper use per employee from 1,254 sheets to 1,067 – a 15 percent decrease from 2015 and close to a 60 percent reduction since 2009.
- Water use intensity for office buildings decreased 9 percent to 16.4 gallons per square foot.

Employees & Culture
SAS' world-renowned culture is based on trust, flexibility and values.
SAS is not only known as the pioneer in analytics but as the pioneer in workplace culture. SAS’ culture is anchored by meaningful work, excellent 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.
SAS employees share a common spirit, 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 it to work. We understand there’s a direct correlation between our culture and business success with 40 years of uninterrupted revenue growth and profitability. If you treat employees well, they will continue to innovate and create amazing software that creates happy customers.

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 computer innovators has the knowledge and skills to succeed. SAS also supports thoughtful and evidenced-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.
Contributing to the improvement of local and global communities has always been important to SAS. Since 1976, SAS Analytics have been helping organizations gain valuable insights from data. The Data for Good movement is a natural extension of that, and SAS continues to look for opportunities to improve how people live.
SAS uses analytics to 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.