The 100 Top Socially Responsible Companies: Where's Hewlett-Packard ?

San Jose Mercury News Blog

For the first time in the seven-year history of the "Top 100 Corporate Citizens" list, Hewlett-Packard didn't make it.

The list by Corporate Responsibility Officer Magazine includes 15 Silicon Valley companies that are ranked as socially responsible based on data collected by KLD Research & Analytics. If you think about what the pretexting scandal from last year cost HP, this is part of the fallout. After all, spying on your own employees and journalists can't be called "socially responsible" in anybody's book.

Here's what the list makers said about HP:"Missing from the list and from the top 10 for the first time ever is Hewlett-Packard. Like many companies on the list, the Palo Alto, Calif., computer company has an impressive record in giving to the community, creating a diverse, fair workplace and actively protecting the environment. But last year, HP was charged with using illegal methods known as "pretexting," or pretending to be someone else, to investigate leaks of information from the board of directors. Patricia Dunn resigned as Chairman of the Board last September in the wake of the scandal, and HP paid $14.5 million to settle civil charges with the California Attorney General. The company is still under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission."

HP has a long way to go climb out of the hole it dug : fairness toward employees is one of the criteria....