PO2: Social Issues
Prefill
Eligible
Validation
Evidence not validated
2026 Updates
None
Does the entity have a policy or policies on social issues?
Assessment Instructions
Intent: What is the purpose of this indicator?
The intent of this indicator is to describe the existence and scope of policies that address social issues. Policies on social issues assist organizations with incorporating social criteria into their business practices and managing social risks.
Input: How do I complete this indicator?
Select Yes or No: If selecting ‘Yes’, select applicable sub-options.
Material social issues: Select all issues that are covered by the entity’s policy / policies. The policy or policies must exist and be valid during the reporting year provided in EC4. It is possible to report using the ‘Other’ answer option. Ensure that the ‘Other’ answer provided is not a duplicate or subset of another option. It is possible to report multiple ‘Other’ answers.
Other: List applicable social issues that apply to the entity but are not already listed. Ensure that the ‘Other’ answer provided is not a duplicate or subset of another option (e.g. “Health & Safety: Customers” when “‘Health & Safety: Users” is selected). It is possible to report multiple ‘Other’ answers. If multiple ‘Other’ answers are accepted, only one will be counted towards scoring. Answers cannot refer to evidence and/or other indicators.
Terminology
Child labor
Work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical or mental development including by interfering with their education. Specifically, it means types of work that are not permitted for children below the relevant minimum age.
Community development
Plan that details actions to minimize, mitigate, or compensate for adverse social and/or economic impacts, and/or to identify opportunities or actions to enhance positive impacts of a project on the community.
Contractor Engagement
A contractor's involvement with, commitment to and satisfaction with the entity.
Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is one measure of an entity's sensitivity to its customers’ needs and preferences and, from an organizational perspective, is essential for long-term success. In the context of sustainability, customer satisfaction provides insight into how the entity approaches its relationship with one stakeholder group (customers).
Employee engagement
An employee's involvement with, commitment to and satisfaction with the entity.
Forced or compulsory labor
All work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered themselves voluntarily.
Freedom of association
Right of employers and workers to form, to join and to run their own organizations without prior authorization or interference by the state or any other entity.
Health and safety
Protecting the entity's stakeholders from harm or death due to injury or disease. Often, this is executed by developing policy, analyzing and controlling health and safety risks, providing training, and recording and investigating health and safety incidents.
Heritage
Physical and non-physical elements of cultural and/or natural heritage.
Human capital
Human capital refers to the knowledge, culture, skills, experience, and overall contributions of an organization’s workforce. It encompasses strategies for fairly attracting, developing, and retaining talent, fostering a productive and engaged workplace, and ensuring fair and effective workforce management. Many organizational approaches can contribute to human capital objectives, including talent development & advancement; skills-based hiring & development; and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Indigenous People
May be referred to in different countries by such terms as “Indigenous ethnic minorities,” “aboriginals,” “hill tribes,” “minority nationalities,” “scheduled tribes,” “first nations,” or “tribal groups.”
Labor standards and working conditions
Labor standards and working conditions are at the core of paid work and employment relationships. Working conditions cover a broad range of topics and issues, from working time (hours of work, rest periods, and work schedules) to remuneration, as well as the physical conditions and mental demands that exist in the workplace.
Local employment
Providing jobs and skills to local people as employees, and to local contractors.
Policy
Defines an organizational commitment, direction or intention as formally adopted by the organization.
Social enterprise partnering
An entity's partnerships with organizations that have social objectives that serve as the primary purpose of the organization.
Stakeholder relations
The practice of forging mutually beneficial connections with third-party groups and indivduals that have a stake in common interest.
Transport/Traffic Management
The movement of construction materials and waste, construction workforce transport, as well as disruption to other users of the transport network during the life of the asset.
Validation: What evidence is required?
Evidence
Evidence is required, but it is not subject to manual validation.
The provided evidence must demonstrate the existence of a formal policy document(s) that address(es) each of the selected social issues and not simply a list of general goals and/or commitments.
A policy is a guide for action which can serve the purpose of:
Outlining rules and procedures
Providing principles that guide action
Setting roles and responsibilities
Describing values and beliefs
Stating an intention to act or achieve defined goals and/or company vision
Acceptable evidence may include a social policy document, official documents or links to online resources describing the entity's social policy(ies). References such as bullet points or passages within a policy, can be provided to describe the goals or ambition for each issue.
The evidence should support each of the selected issues with a relevant document such as an employee health & wellbeing policy, human rights policy, code of conduct, or community investment statement. Note that overarching social policy documents covering multiple issues must have separate sections/clauses relevant to each of the selected issues.
Evidence Exemption Criteria
For PO1–3, GRESB recognizes that an entity’s policies typically remain consistent from year to year and across multiple reporting periods.
Therefore, entities that either (1) achieved full points in the previous submission or (2) achieved partial points but do not wish to modify their responses or supporting evidence can pre-fill this indicator and leave it unchanged in the current assessment cycle.
So long as the indicator response and documentation remain consistent (i.e., the entity does not modify its selections or evidence), GRESB will automatically reapply the previous year's validation decision. GRESB recommends that participants simply note that the documents apply to the current reporting year to ensure the evidence remains year-agnostic.
Scenario (1) - Entities that previously earned full points: changing any selections or evidence will not affect the validation decision. In practice, this means that an entity could:
Leave the same links to policy documents, even if some links are no longer active,
Replace last year’s links with inactive ones, or
Replace last year’s documents with blank files — and still receive full acceptance for 2026.
However, an entity cannot:
Remove the previously provided links and supply no evidence this year. Once an entity selects 'Yes’ for PO1–3, the portal will continue requiring supporting documentation.
Scenario (2) - Entities that previously earned partial points: changing the indicator response and/or documentation will prompt GRESB to re-validate the indicator.
Please note that GRESB encourages participants to update their evidence if there have been any material changes to the policy that the entity wishes to present to investors.
Scoring
Does the entity have a policy or policies on social issues?
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.
This indicator is affected by dynamic materiality. See the 'Scoring Basics' page for more information.
Frequently Asked Questions
My entity has recently updated our sustainability policy. Can I submit it as evidence?
Indicator responses must be true at the close of the chosen reporting year in indicator EC4 (i.e., calendar or fiscal year). The response does not need to have been true for the entire reporting year. For example, if the policy was adopted one month before the end of the reporting year, the document can be uploaded as evidence in the assessment, even if the policy was not in place for the entire reporting year.
My company rebranded during the reporting year. Which version of policies should we submit for PO1-3?
GRESB recommends uploading the most recent (post-rebranding) versions of documents, as these will be used to pre-fill some indicators in the next assessment. However, GRESB accepts policies that were in effect at any time during the reporting year (fiscal year or calendar year, as selected in indicator EC4). This means participants can upload either the pre-rebranding policy, the post-rebranding policy, or both. Please use the open text box within the evidence upload section to explain that the rebranding occurred, and that the entity name changed during the year.
I have the relevant policies, but they aren't on our website. Can I still answer "Yes" to these indicators?
Yes. Public disclosure is not required. If you have the policies documented and implemented within your organization, you can answer "Yes," regardless of whether they are publicly available.
References
References
Supply Chain Sustainability School (UK and Australia), 2012
Alignment with External Frameworks
GRI Standards 2021 - General Disclosures 2021: 2-23: Policy commitments
GRI Standards 2016 - 400 series: Social Standards
Good practice examples: Multiple policies on issues such as Local engagement, Stakeholder engagement or H&S can be found on this page.
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.
The organizations below deliver commercially available solutions designed to help drive improvement for this indicator. Engagement is managed directly between the reporting entity and the Solution Provider.
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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