Communication on Progress

Participant
Published
  • 14-Mar-2022
Time period
  • January 2021  –  March 2022
Format
  • Stand alone document – Basic COP Template
Differentiation Level
  • This COP qualifies for the Global Compact Active level
Self-assessment
  • Includes a CEO statement of continued support for the UN Global Compact and its ten principles
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Human Rights
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Labour
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Environment
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Anti-Corruption
  • Includes a measurement of outcomes
 
  • Statement of continued support by the Chief Executive Officer
  • Statement of the company's chief executive (CEO or equivalent) expressing continued support for the Global Compact and renewing the company's ongoing commitment to the initiative and its principles.

  • TO OUR STAKEHOLDERS,
    Our commitment to corporate sustainability is deeply rooted in
    our purpose to improve the health and wellbeing of society
    through higher quality sleep. As a global leader in sleep health,
    innovation, science and research, Sleep Number has a decadeslong record of improving individual lives and societal wellbeing.
    Our environmental stewardship, social priorities and strong
    governance (ESG) are integrated into our strategy, culture and
    operations. Our ESG investments are aligned with our pursuit of
    superior value creation that benefits all our stakeholders.
    The events of the past two years have underscored the
    relevance of our purpose – and the importance of our ESG
    efforts. More than ever, society is prioritizing health and
    recognizing that quality sleep is a vital contributor to overall
    wellbeing. In addition, the impact of the pandemic, climate
    change and racial inequity, among other factors, is creating
    heightened urgency for public and private sector action in
    addressing social and environmental issues.
    While we have incorporated sustainable practices and policies
    into our business for years, our responsibility to make the
    world better is further reinforced through our role as a
    signatory of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and
    support of their Ten Principles and Sustainable Development
    Goals. As detailed in this report, during the past year, we
    made important progress on our ESG ambition, including
    achieving the following milestones:
    ENVIRONMENTAL
    • We established a cross-functional Environmental
    Impact Team (EIT) to implement near-term initiatives
    related to reducing energy, fuel consumption and
    waste and identified longer-term opportunities for
    increased stewardship.
    • As a result of the EIT’s focus, we developed a
    baseline inventory of our Scope 1 and 2 emissions,
    preliminary quantitative waste reduction goals and a
    plan to initiate measurement of Scope 3 emissions
    beginning in 2022.
    • We are also advancing efforts to increase our use of
    renewable energy alternatives, beginning in 2022 in
    Minnesota, California and Texas.
    SOCIAL
    • We significantly increased our investment in team
    member wellbeing through our smart bed benefit and
    other individualized offerings and initiatives related to
    improving physical, mental, emotional, financial,
    community and career health.
    • We further strengthened our culture of individuality and
    advanced our diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategy,
    delivering on our commitment to provide a workplace
    where all team members unequivocally feel they belong.
    Our high team member retention and best-in-class
    engagement survey scores affirm our actions.
    • We amplified our social impact in the communities
    where we operate by working closely with strategic
    partners who share our commitment, directly engaging
    Sleep Number team members in our efforts and
    supporting individuals and families in need through
    product donations and financial support.
    • We also continued to fund studies to advance sleep
    science research that will enhance understanding of
    sleep's impact on disease prevention and care. We
    expect outcomes to contribute to life-changing
    improvements in individuals’ health. In addition to our
    ongoing collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, Sleep
    Number recently announced a multi-year partnership
    with the American Cancer Society.
    GOVERNANCE
    • We further strengthened our Board and its diversity,
    adding two new members and increasing disclosures
    about all members’ gender, race and ethnicity. With
    gender parity and racial and ethnic diversity, our
    Board composition reflects our culture of individuality.
    • Through proactive education and deliberate
    engagement, we broadened and deepened our Board’s
    and leadership team’s ESG knowledge and expertise.
    • And we increased our ESG transparency by initiating
    reporting in accordance with the Global Reporting
    Initiative (GRI) Standards and Sustainability Accounting
    Standards Board (SASB).
    Realizing that society has never needed Sleep Number more, our
    mission-driven team is motivated by both the clear impact and
    continued promise of our purpose. Our decisions and actions are
    guided by our values of Passion for making a difference and
    changing lives, Integrity to always do the right thing, Innovation
    to find a better way, Courage to embrace a challenge and
    Teamwork that celebrates individuality and the joy of working
    together. Through the power of our purpose, consistency of our
    differentiated strategy and agility and efficiency inherent in our
    vertically integrated business model, we will continue to deliver
    sustainable value for all our stakeholders.
    Sleep well, dream big,

    Shelly Ibach
    Chief Executive Officer, Sleep Number

Human Rights
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of human rights for the company (i.e. human rights risk-assessment). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on Human Rights.

  • Our report includes information on several SDGs, including Gender Equality, Reduced Inequities and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

    Laws and regulations touch all aspects of our
    business – from how we make, market and sell our
    products to how we disclose our financial results
    and from how we treat one another to how we do
    business with third parties.
    Sleep Number requires strict adherence to the
    letter and the spirit of all laws applicable to the
    conduct of our business.
    We are also committed to the highest standards
    of ethical business practices throughout our
    Company. Our Company values, team member
    training, Company policies and culture underscore
    our expectations for integrity and provide clear
    guidelines for business decisions and behavior.
    We have a Code of Business Conduct (p. 55),
    provided to all team members, which instructs
    and requires that our team members comply
    with applicable laws, engage in ethical and safe
    conduct in our work environment, avoid conflicts
    of interest, conduct our business with integrity
    and high ethical standards, and safeguard our
    Company’s assets. Annually, each team member
    is required to complete training and acknowledge
    their commitment to this Code.
    Our Code of Business Conduct directs team
    members who observe or suspect unethical or
    illegal behavior to report it to their management,
    Human Resources or our Chief Legal and Risk
    Officer. We also offer a confidential Business
    Abuse Hotline for team members. The hotline is
    operated by an independent third-party service
    to ensure confidentiality and 24-hour accessibility.
    On a quarterly basis, senior management
    provides the Audit Committee of our Board of
    Directors with a detailed update on any and all
    reported concerns and shares corresponding
    mitigation plans and actions, demonstrating our
    accountability and governance practices.
    We train our team members on our equal
    employment opportunity, anti-harassment and
    standards of conduct policies to foster a culture
    of diversity, inclusion, dignity and respect, and
    ensure adherence to our high standards of
    integrity. As part of a larger strategy to bolster
    our compliance and prevention efforts related
    to bribery and corruption, we conduct annual
    training in key functions where team members
    may interact with foreign entities and officials,
    increasing their vulnerability to Foreign Corrupt
    Practices Act (FCPA) issues. Members of the
    Direct Materials and Bedding departments are
    among those who participate in this focused
    training which includes how to identify and refuse
    bribery or “agent” payments.

    Sleep Number expects our suppliers and third-party business partners to uphold high standards of business integrity,
    reputable business practices and sound ethical judgment. To ensure all of our suppliers are aware of their responsibilities,
    we provide our Business Conduct for Business Partners (p. 55), to all active business partners and suppliers of goods
    and services. This Code articulates our expectations for performance that align with Sleep Number’s Code of Business
    Conduct for its team members and describes our rights to monitor and enforce supplier compliance. The Code of
    Conduct for Business Partners contains provisions that explicitly address business partner responsibilities related to: labor and human rights, health and safety, environmental issues and legal and ethical practices.

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions to implement Human Rights policies, address Human Rights risks and respond to Human Rights violations.

  • In addition, we leverage our contracts with business partners and suppliers to underscore our expectations of business
    integrity, incent appropriate behaviors and enforce compliance with our Code. For example, the contractual terms that
    are applicable to the vast majority of Sleep Number suppliers include language that requires each supplier to represent
    and warrant “that it will, at all times, comply with the Code of Business Conduct for Business Partners as may be
    amended from time to time.”
    In 2021, we also added human rights-related content to supplier audits and report cards to ensure explicit awareness
    of Sleep Number expectations. Suppliers representing approximately 90% of direct spend are audited annually for
    compliance with the Sleep Number Code of Conduct for Business Partners and are asked to renew their written
    adherence to the Code.

    Our values of Passion, Integrity, Innovation,
    Courage and Teamwork are our compass and
    guide our decisions. We expect Sleep Number
    team members and our business partners –
    both key stakeholders in the implementation
    of our Human Rights Policy (p. 55) – to act
    with the highest ethical standards and to
    treat others with respect every single day.
    Their conduct should be in accordance with
    standards set forth in our Code of Business
    Conduct, our Team Member Handbook, our
    Code of Conduct for Business Partners, the
    expectations of the United Nations Global
    Compact, of which Sleep Number became a
    signatory in 2020, and the principles detailed in
    our Human Rights Policy. Our enterprise-wide
    commitment to human rights, which is overseen
    by the Sleep Number Board of Directors and
    senior leadership team, include the following
    principles: Child Labor Restrictions; Equal and
    Nondiscriminatory Practices; Human Trafficking,
    Slavery and Forced Labor; Wages and Working
    Hours; and Right to Freedom of Association and
    Collective Bargaining. These principles provide
    guidance to ensure that our business practices
    and processes support our commitment to
    human rights, and that our team members and
    business partners understand their role in – and
    responsibility for – upholding human rights and
    equality in the workplace. No Sleep Number
    team member or business partner should ever
    be complicit in human rights abuses or ethical
    violations of any kind.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates performance.

  • In 2021, we also added human rights-related content to supplier audits and report cards to ensure explicit awareness
    of Sleep Number expectations. Suppliers representing approximately 90% of direct spend are audited annually for
    compliance with the Sleep Number Code of Conduct for Business Partners and are asked to renew their written
    adherence to the Code.

    Our report also includes robust demographics of our Board of Directors, senior leadership team and all other team members. We disclose that we have 12 members on our Board of Directors, of which 6 self-identify as female, three Board members self-identify as African American or Black or Hispanic or Latinx, and one Board member self-identifies as LGBTQ+. We disclose that three of our eight senior leadership team self-identify as female, and that two members of our senior leadership team self-identify as African American or Black or Hispanic or Latinx. We also disclose the gender makeup of our entire team member demographics.

Labour
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of labour rights for the company (i.e. labour rights-related risks and opportunities). Description of written policies, public commitments and company goals on labour rights.

  • Our values of Passion, Integrity, Innovation,
    Courage and Teamwork are our compass and
    guide our decisions. We expect Sleep Number
    team members and our business partners –
    both key stakeholders in the implementation
    of our Human Rights Policy (p. 55) – to act
    with the highest ethical standards and to
    treat others with respect every single day.
    Their conduct should be in accordance with
    standards set forth in our Code of Business
    Conduct, our Team Member Handbook, our
    Code of Conduct for Business Partners, the
    expectations of the United Nations Global
    Compact, of which Sleep Number became a
    signatory in 2020, and the principles detailed in
    our Human Rights Policy. Our enterprise-wide
    commitment to human rights, which is overseen
    by the Sleep Number Board of Directors and
    senior leadership team, include the following
    principles: Child Labor Restrictions; Equal and
    Nondiscriminatory Practices; Human Trafficking,
    Slavery and Forced Labor; Wages and Working
    Hours; and Right to Freedom of Association and
    Collective Bargaining. These principles provide
    guidance to ensure that our business practices
    and processes support our commitment to
    human rights, and that our team members and
    business partners understand their role in – and
    responsibility for – upholding human rights and
    equality in the workplace. No Sleep Number
    team member or business partner should ever
    be complicit in human rights abuses or ethical
    violations of any kind.

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions taken by the company to implement labour policies, address labour risks and respond to labour violations.

  • Sleep Number expects our suppliers and third-party business partners to uphold high standards of business integrity,
    reputable business practices and sound ethical judgment. To ensure all of our suppliers are aware of their responsibilities,
    we provide our Business Conduct for Business Partners (p. 55), to all active business partners and suppliers of goods
    and services. This Code articulates our expectations for performance that align with Sleep Number’s Code of Business
    Conduct for its team members and describes our rights to monitor and enforce supplier compliance. The Code of
    Conduct for Business Partners contains provisions that explicitly address business partner responsibilities related to:
    Labor and Human Rights: Including fair
    treatment
    of workers,
    nondiscrimination
    in hiring and
    employment
    practices, strict
    prohibition of
    underage and
    involuntary labor
    and human
    trafficking,
    respect for
    freedom to
    associate and
    fair and timely
    compensation.
    Health and Safety: Including training,
    injury prevention
    and workplace
    environment such
    as safeguards
    from physical
    hazards, access to
    potable water and
    sanitary facilities,
    fire safety and
    adequate lighting
    and ventilation.
    Environmental Issues: Including
    compliance with
    environmental
    laws, rules and
    regulations related
    to hazardous
    substances,
    conflict minerals,
    waste disposal
    and recycling, as
    well as adoption
    of initiatives and
    programs to reduce
    and conserve
    natural resources.
    Legal and Ethical Practices: Including
    compliance with
    the principles
    described in our
    Code of Conduct
    for Business
    Partners, which
    is a condition of
    doing business
    with Sleep
    Number. We ask
    our suppliers to
    agree, in writing,
    to the terms and
    conditions of our
    Code of Conduct
    for Business
    Partners.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates performance.

  • We leverage our contracts with business partners and suppliers to underscore our expectations of business
    integrity, incent appropriate behaviors and enforce compliance with our Code. For example, the contractual terms that
    are applicable to the vast majority of Sleep Number suppliers include language that requires each supplier to represent
    and warrant “that it will, at all times, comply with the Code of Business Conduct for Business Partners as may be
    amended from time to time.”
    In 2021, we also added human rights-related content to supplier audits and report cards to ensure explicit awareness
    of Sleep Number expectations. Suppliers representing approximately 90% of direct spend are audited annually for
    compliance with the Sleep Number Code of Conduct for Business Partners and are asked to renew their written
    adherence to the Code.

Environment
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of environmental protection for the company (i.e. environmental risks and opportunities). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on environmental protection.

  • Our report highlights some of our work to support SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production and SDG 13 - Climate Action. We have adopted an Enterprise Environmental Policy. This year's report includes tables reporting our company-wide consumption of energy, waste and natural resources.

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions to implement environmental policies, address environmental risks and respond to environmental incidents.

  • We have a plan to initiate measurement of Scope 3 emissions beginning in 2022.
    We are also advancing efforts to increase our use of renewable energy alternatives, beginning in 2022 in Minnesota, California and Texas.
    Our report discloses our aim to align on enterprise greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals and commit to science-based targets by the end of 2022.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates environmental performance.

  • Our report discloses that we developed a baseline inventory of Scope 1 and 2 emissions and discloses the relevant metrics. We track, monitor and plan to set goals related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Anti-Corruption
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of anti-corruption for the company (i.e. anti-corruption risk-assessment). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on anti-corruption.

  • Our report discloses our commitment to ethical business practices and legal compliance.

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions to implement anti-corruption policies, address anti-corruption risks and respond to incidents.

  • Laws and regulations touch all aspects of our
    business – from how we make, market and sell our
    products to how we disclose our financial results
    and from how we treat one another to how we do
    business with third parties.
    Sleep Number requires strict adherence to the
    letter and the spirit of all laws applicable to the
    conduct of our business.
    We are also committed to the highest standards
    of ethical business practices throughout our
    Company. Our Company values, team member
    training, Company policies and culture underscore
    our expectations for integrity and provide clear
    guidelines for business decisions and behavior.
    We have a Code of Business Conduct (p. 55),
    provided to all team members, which instructs
    and requires that our team members comply
    with applicable laws, engage in ethical and safe
    conduct in our work environment, avoid conflicts
    of interest, conduct our business with integrity
    and high ethical standards, and safeguard our
    Company’s assets. Annually, each team member
    is required to complete training and acknowledge
    their commitment to this Code.
    Our Code of Business Conduct directs team
    members who observe or suspect unethical or
    illegal behavior to report it to their management,
    Human Resources or our Chief Legal and Risk
    Officer. We also offer a confidential Business
    Abuse Hotline for team members. The hotline is
    operated by an independent third-party service
    to ensure confidentiality and 24-hour accessibility.
    On a quarterly basis, senior management
    provides the Audit Committee of our Board of
    Directors with a detailed update on any and all
    reported concerns and shares corresponding
    mitigation plans and actions, demonstrating our
    accountability and governance practices.
    We train our team members on our equal
    employment opportunity, anti-harassment and
    standards of conduct policies to foster a culture
    of diversity, inclusion, dignity and respect, and
    ensure adherence to our high standards of
    integrity. As part of a larger strategy to bolster
    our compliance and prevention efforts related
    to bribery and corruption, we conduct annual
    training in key functions where team members
    may interact with foreign entities and officials,
    increasing their vulnerability to Foreign Corrupt
    Practices Act (FCPA) issues. Members of the
    Direct Materials and Bedding departments are
    among those who participate in this focused
    training which includes how to identify and refuse
    bribery or “agent” payments.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates anti-corruption performance.

  • We train on our Code of Business Conduct and have a 24-hour hotline for team members to report abuses. We also maintain a Code of Business Conduct for Business Partners that we include in our key contractual requirements and use to set expectations with suppliers and vendors.