CO1: Contractor Engagement
Maximum Score
Determined by materiality
Prefill
Eligible
Validation
Other answer is manually validated
2026 Updates
None
Does the entity ensure its contractors are engaged in training or satisfaction monitoring?
Assessment Instructions
Intent: What is the purpose of this indicator?
This indicator assesses the coverage and scope of the entity’s engagement with contractors through training and satisfaction surveys. Training on sustainability-related topics helps build contractor capability to manage complex issues and can contribute to improved performance.
Contractor satisfaction surveys help organizations identify project-level challenges and may support higher productivity. Using widely applied survey approaches and translating results into clear, comparable metrics enables more effective analysis across entities.
Input: How do I complete this indicator?
Select Yes or No: If selecting 'Yes', select all applicable checkbox(es).
Contractor training: Provide the percentages for the number of contractors that received training out of the total number of contractors during the reporting year. The percentage of employees covered should be based on Full Time Equivalents (FTE) or headcount. Answers should be applicable at the entity, developer and/or manager level.
Contractors receiving professional training: Number of contractors receiving training / Total number of contractors x 100
Contractors receiving sustainability-related training: Number of contractors receiving sustainability-related training / Total number of contractors x 100
Contractor satisfaction surveys: Indicate the percentage of contractors that were surveyed during the last three years. The percentage of contractors covered should be based on Full Time Equivalents (FTE) or headcount. If the number of contractors changed during the reporting year, the percentage should be calculated based on the average number.
The response rate is the percentage of contractors that received and completed the survey, compared to the total number of contractors that received the survey. For example, if the survey was sent to 100 contractors and 40 responded, the response rate would be 40%.
Quantitative Metrics: The entity can indicate what quantitative metrics were used for the survey. It is possible to report using the ‘Other’ answer option.
Exceptions
Select Yes or No: GRESB is seeking to standardize the scope and boundaries of reporting to allow for more accurate benchmarking and to progressively move towards scoring of performance. If the scope of the data reported for this indicator does not exactly match the reporting scope (facilities and time period) as reported in “Entity and Reporting Characteristics” (EC4, RC3), then answer ‘No’ to this question and describe these exceptions in the “Exceptions” text box.
Terminology
Contractor(s)
Persons or organizations working onsite or offsite on behalf of an entity. A contractor can contract their own workers directly, or contract sub-contractors or independent contractors.
Contractor Satisfaction Survey
Survey measuring overall and work-specific contractor satisfaction at the individual and organizational levels. The survey should directly address contractor concerns and include the opportunity to provide recommendations for improvement.
Environmental issues
The impact on living and non-living natural systems, including land, air, water and ecosystems. This includes, but is not limited to, biodiversity, transport and product and service-related impacts, as well as environmental compliance and expenditures.
Sustainability-related training
Training related to environmental, social and governance issues. Examples of sustainability-specific training topics include, but are not limited to: sexual harassment prevention, workplace discrimination and inclusivity, cybersecurity, health and safety, resources and waste management.
Training can be delivered in person, online or in other formats.
Governance issues
Governance structure and composition of the entity. This includes how the highest governance body is established and structured in support of the entity’s purpose, and how this purpose relates to economic, environmental and social dimensions.
Independent third party
In the context of survey administration, an independent third party is an external organization that is financially and structurally independent from the reporting entity and is responsible for administering the survey in a matter that safeguards the impartiality, integrity, and quality of survey results. For a survey to be considered third-party administered:
The organization administering the survey must be a separate legal entity from the fund manager or reporting entity.
The administrator must ensure that the reporting entity cannot access, edit, or influence individual responses or aggregated survey results once the survey is launched.
Participant anonymity must be preserved, and the survey process must protect the integrity of the data and the resulting quantitative metrics.
The use of survey development tools, such as SurveyMonkey and SurveyGizmo, may not qualify as an independent third party unless the tool’s service explicitly includes independent creation and administration. This must be clearly specified in the evidence provided.
Net Promoter Score
The Net Promoter Score ® (NPS) is a customer loyalty metric developed by Bain & Company, Fred Reichheld, and Satmetrix. It divides customers, tenants or employees into three segments: passives, detractors and promoters, using the following question “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely would you be to recommend this company (or this product) to friends and colleagues?” The Net Promoter Score ® (NPS) ratings of 9 or 10 indicate promoters; 7 and 8, passives; and 0 through 6, detractors. The NPS is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage detractors.
Overall satisfaction score
An overarching metric in a satisfaction survey, with no prescribed scale, that measures how happy an employee or tenant is with the organization, lease, and/or services provided. The industry best practice is a 1-5 scale - very poor, poor, average, good, and excellent, respectively.
Professional training
Training that supports employees in advancing their careers and/or handling day-to-day work responsibilities. Examples of professional training topics include, but are not limited to: information security, annual compliance, leadership and project management, effective communication, technical tools and software, remote work best practice, customer service.
Training can be delivered in person, online or in other formats.
Quantitative metric
Any measure or parameter of satisfaction that can be represented numerically.
Social issues
Concerns the impacts the entity has on the social systems within which it operates. This includes, but is not limited to community social and economic impacts, safety, health & well-being.
Survey response rate
The proportion of submitted surveys as a percentage of the total number of people or organizations that received a request to complete a survey.
Training
Refers to: (1) All types of vocational training and instruction; (2) Paid educational leave provided by the organization for its employees; (3) Training or education pursued externally and paid for in whole or in part by the organization; (4) Training on specific topics such as health and safety. Training does not include on-site coaching by supervisors.
Validation: What evidence is required?
No evidence required. Only the 'Other' answer is manually validated.
Other Answer
Add a response that applies to the entity but is not already listed. Ensure that the ‘Other’ answer provided is not a duplicate or subset of another option (e.g. “recycling” when “‘Waste” is selected). It is possible to report multiple ‘Other’ answers. It is possible to report multiple ‘Other’ answers. If multiple ‘Other’ answers are accepted, only one will be counted towards scoring.
Scoring
Scoring: How does GRESB score this indicator?
The scoring of this indicator is equal to the fraction assigned to the selected option, multiplied by the total score of the indicator.
Other Answer
The 'Other' answer is manually validated and assigned a score which is used as a multiplying factor, as per the table below:
Accepted
1/1
Not Accepted
0
Duplicate
0
Materiality-based scoring
The relevance of the 'Contractor engagement' issue (determined by the GRESB Materiality Assessment (RC6)) defines the materiality weighting of this indicator.
The weighting is set at one of four levels:
No relevance (weighting:0)
Low relevance (weighting:0)
Medium relevance (weighting:1)
High relevance (weighting:2)
Where an issue is of 'No relevance' or ‘Low relevance’ the indicator is not considered in scoring (i.e. it has a weighting of 0%). If an issue is of 'Medium relevance' the indicator counts towards the score with ‘standard’ weighting. If an issue is of 'High relevance' the indicator counts towards the score with higher than ‘standard’ weighting.
As a result, the weight of this indicator may differ for each participant based on their materiality profile. The weighting of the material (scored) indicators is automatically redistributed to ensure that a project’s sustainability evaluation is reflective of its unique circumstances.
For more details, download the GRESB Materiality & Scoring Tool.
References
Bain & Company, Introducing: The Net Promoter System®
Alignment with External Frameworks
GRI Standards 2016 - 102-43: Approach to stakeholder engagement
Get Support: Solution Providers
GRESB Solution Providers are independent, third-party organizations within the GRESB Partner network that offer specialized products, tools, and services to support sustainability performance outside the GRESB Assessment process.
Currently, there are no GRESB Solution Providers associated with this indicator.
GRESB will continue to update this section as the GRESB Solution Provider network grows. Please check back regularly to find GRESB Solution Providers who can support your sustainability performance.
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