Progress Releases 2021 Corporate Social Responsibility Report

Third-annual report highlights award-winning CSR efforts and adds new Sustainability Appendix

Progress (Nasdaq: PRGS), the trusted provider of infrastructure software, today announced the release of its third-annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report. Highlights from this year’s report touch on inclusion and diversity (I&D) and human rights; philanthropy, charitable giving and volunteerism; and environmental sustainability. Progress also released a Sustainability Appendix, providing additional details about the company’s sustainability efforts.

“2021 was an important year for Progress and marked many new milestones for our multi-faceted Corporate Social Responsibility program,” said Yogesh Gupta, CEO, Progress. “In addition to celebrating our 40^th anniversary, we hired our first ever Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer, added two new Employee Resource Groups, expanded our Women in STEM scholarship series and established our first Earth Team dedicated to helping us achieve our sustainability objectives. In addition, through our global charitable giving program, we made a real impact in improving the lives of those in need. I am proud of the work we have done and the people who made it happen, and I look forward to achieving even more of our program priorities in the years to come.”

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Progress strives to conduct business in ways that have a positive impact on its people, customers and communities. Progress employees consider it an important part of their responsibilities to build and fortify an inclusive culture while using their talents and resources to advance social and environmental causes. That is why the company’s comprehensive CSR program, Progress for Tomorrow, has been consistently recognized with accolades including The International CSR Excellence Awards, MassTLC’s Tech Top 50, and the American Business Awards. Progress has been recognized as a Best Employer by the Forbes, the Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal, Kincentric Research, and Great Place to Work®.

Highlights from the 2021 CSR report include:

Our People

• The hiring of Progress’ first Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer, Dr. Shirley Knowles, who is responsible for enhancing inclusion and diversity awareness and executing I&D initiatives across all functions and geographies of the organization.
• Training and development initiatives including a mentorship program and I&D training for managers and employees focused on inclusive hiring, unconscious bias and the importance of intersectionality.
• Development of two new employee resource groups (ERGs): ASPIRE (Asian-Pacific Islanders) and Unidos en Progress (Hispanics and Latinx). They join our four existing ERGs: Progress for Her, Blacks@ Progress, LGBTQ+ and Military Veterans@Progress.
• Established Juneteenth and International Women’s Day as paid Progress holidays.

Our Communities

• The donation of $400,000, in dollars and innumerable people-hours, to 74 charitable organizations worldwide supporting causes from STEM education to emergency relief.
• An expanded charitable giving program in the US with the addition of an employee-driven sponsorship program where employees can submit for Progress sponsorship of charitable events or organizations.
• Expansion of the Women in STEM scholarship series with the establishment of the Progress Software Akanksha Scholarship for Women in STEM in India. The scholarship joins the existing US-based Mary Székely Scholarship for Women in STEM and the Women in Tech Scholarship at American University in Bulgaria.

Our World

• Investment in certified sustainable and healthy office spaces in, Hyderabad, India, Rotterdam, The Netherlands and Burlington, MA while retaining ENERGY STAR® certification of its Global Headquarters.
• Establishment the Progress Earth Team, focused on developing fresh ideas for how they can promote sustainable behavior at Progress.
• Improvement of the company’s energy utilization tracking with the installation of smart/connected electric and water meters in offices in the U.S. and Rotterdam.

For the first time, Progress has included a Sustainability Appendix, based on recommendations by the Sustainability Accounting Standard Board (SASB) for companies in the Software and IT Services industry, and specifically, the Technology and Communications sector.

Added CEO Gupta, “In today’s economy, sustainability is a global business issue that impacts the financial condition, operating performance and enterprise value of companies. We opted to standardize our reporting on SASB because it is the industry standard used to help businesses and investors develop a common language about the financial impacts of sustainability. Progress is committed to transparency in its sustainability reporting, an issue that is critical to our investors.”

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