Corporate social responsibility

Throughout our history, as a company and as individual employees, we have dedicated our time, talents, and resources to organizations and programs that make a positive difference in the lives of others.


Corporate social responsibility

We are committed to improving the lives of our employees, customers, patients, stakeholders, and the communities in which we live and work. Conducting our business ethically, responsibly, and transparently is the right thing to do, allows us and others to hold us accountable, and, in the long run, generates pride and commitment from our employees and creates value for all our stakeholders.

Align is committed to enhancing our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosures over time. As we move forward, we will continue to align our ESG communications with our corporate objectives and to demonstrate the relationship between our ESG disclosures and our strategy and purpose.

 

Philanthropy

We believe in changing the world in which our employees, customers, suppliers and friends live, play, and work for the better, starting with transforming smiles. As a company and as individual employees, we have dedicated our time, talents, and resources to organizations and programs that make positive differences in the lives of others. To further transform our workplace, culture, and the communities where we live and work, we recently launched a partnership with Benevity to connect causes all over the world to our volunteering and giving programs. Contributing to our communities has always played an important role in our culture and the COVID-19 pandemic increased this significantly in 2020 and 2021. While we maintained our overall philanthropic philosophy to support organizations whose visions tie closely to our own - transforming smiles, supporting and educating teens, and advancing technology through research and other partnerships with learning institutions and/or foundations – we also focused on the needs of our communities, employees, customers and their patients, and healthcare workers in general.

Globally, we provide opportunities for and actively encourage employees to support local charities through volunteerism, team building, and donation programs and are extremely proud of our corporate commitment to philanthropic work and are equally proud of the generosity and dedication of our employees.


At an APAC leadership conference, employees spent time building bikes for children

Our employees supporting Ukraine humanitarian aid

Our efforts to better the world include:

The Align Foundation

Launched in 2020, the Align Foundation provides a structured means to by which significant donations are directed from a donor-advised fund overseen by Fidelity Charitable, the flexibility to provide smaller monetary donations, processes to donate our products (Invisalign® System treatments and iTero scanners), and organized ways to involve our employees in activities that contribute to worthy causes. We and our employees made significant donations of money, materials and effort over the years. In 2021, we funded $10 million to the Align Foundation after achieving our 10 million smiles milestone.

COVID-19 Response

As part Align’s response to COVID-19, our focus was on our employees, customers, patients, and the communities we serve. In 2020, we funded over $1 million to support COVID-19 relief efforts globally and donated personal protective equipment (PPE) and worked with partners to source supplies for additional PPE to help hospitals and healthcare providers. Early in 2021, we donated $80,000 USD to Sewa International as part of their Help India Fight COVID-19 campaign. In August 2021, as part of an effort to improving access to the COVID-19 vaccine in vulnerable communities, our team in Juarez, Mexico held a vaccination campaign over a two-week period. We had over 300 employee volunteers contributing over 15,000 hours leading to 43,803 vaccines provided to those who need it most.

Operation Smile

Since 2013 Align has been a proud supporter of Operation Smile, a global medical nonprofit that has provided hundreds of thousands of free surgeries for people born with cleft lip and cleft palate in low- and middle-income countries. Together, we envision a future where health and dignity are improved by safe surgery – consistent with our mission to transform smiles and change lives. To date, we have donated more than $2.5 million, enabling the organization to deliver the highest quality surgical care to tens of thousands of the world’s most vulnerable patients, and grow its reach to more than 60 countries. We sponsored Operation Smile’s 2018 and 2022 International Student Leadership Conferences and in 2021, we donated $1 million to Operation Smile. In recognition of our support, Align received Operation Smile's Corporate Humanitarian Award. “We are so appreciative of the dedication and support from Align Technology over the years and are excited for what we can do to bring families renewed hope and help children around the world smile even more as a result of this latest donation,” said Kristie Magee Porcaro, chief strategy officer, Operation Smile. “Together, we’re improving the health of many children and ensuring that they have the opportunity for a better future.”

Learn more about Operation Smile

 

Month of Smiles

Align is committed to transforming smiles and changing lives, and that starts with our employees. Every October, we host Month of Smiles where we encourage all employees to make a positive difference through volunteerism, donations, and intentional acts of goodness.

In 2021, we held our 4th annual Month of Smiles. Our various offices, manufacturing sites and individual employees participated in virtual or socially distanced activities, showing our commitment to the communities where we work and live. There were so many examples of support- cycling (while wearing suits) for Operation Smile, litter clean-ups, tree plantings, fundraisers, donation drives, mentoring/networking sessions for underrepresented students, blood drives and vaccination drives (for employees and those in our communities). In addition to many activities and initiatives held in our sites and offices around the world, we also held several global activities:

impact@align: Our new goodness platform, hosted by Benevity, was launched during Month of Smiles. Employees were able to search for local and global organizations to support through personal donations and/or volunteering where help was needed most. Employees also tracked their volunteer time and donation and were entered into a lottery where 100 employees received $100 USD into their impact@align account to donate to a cause (or causes) of their choice.

  • You Choose $105,000 Donation to Three Non-profit Organizations:
    Our employees voted for their top three (3) global non-profit organizations to receive a recommendation for an impactful grant of $35,000 USD each by the Align Foundation. Our winners were Save the Children, UNICEF, United Way Chihuahua.
  • Operation Smile Empathy Activities: We partnered with Operation Smile to host our first ever interactive 60-minute virtual empathy experience for our global workforce. During this experience almost 50 employees participated in a virtual journey of an Operation Smile patient where they learned about the patient's challenges and gained a better understanding of the impact of Operation Smile’s work.
  • Make-a-Wish: Align joined together with Make-A-Wish® America and Make- A-Wish® International, to host a global airline mile drive. In total, our employees donated more than 100,000 miles.

Donation ceremony held for Child Fund Korea


America’s ToothFairy

In underserved communities across America, many families don’t know what causes dental disease and how they can prevent tooth decay. America’s ToothFairy improves the lives of children by preventing dental disease through educational programs that encourage effective dental hygiene habits and help families break the cycle of poor oral health. Align supports America’s ToothFairy’s Health Education Resources and Outreach (HERO) Program and 2022 marks the 14th year of Underwriter support helping America’s ToothFairy reach millions of kids. The organization estimates that at least 831,000 children and nearly 323,000 caregivers were reached through the program and by their program members between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021.


We are proud to support an organization that is helping families in underserved communities learn about oral health and the best ways to maintain a healthy smile,” said Align’s Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and America’s ToothFairy Board Secretary, Julie Paulsen. “We are delighted to sponsor the HERO Program and support the efforts of America’s ToothFairy, whose vision is closely tied to Align’s purpose – to transform smiles and change lives.” You can find more about America’s ToothFairy here .


Supporting Youth and Education

Cristo Rey San José High School- Align has partnered with Cristo Rey San José High School since 2017 through their corporate work study program and mentoring programs. This provides a diverse workforce of students who receive valuable work skills, confidence, and professional role models.

Seizing Every Opportunity (SEO) Scholars Program- In 2021, we donated to the SEO Scholars program, which is a free, eight-year, academic program in the United States that assists low-income public high school students through college – with a 90% graduation rate.

JA Worldwide- In honor of Align's 25th Anniversary, the company donated $250,000 to support the important work that JA (Junior Achievement) Worldwide does to prepare young people for work and career readiness while developing critical life skills. As the world’s largest youth-serving NGO, JA Worldwide prepares young people for employment and entrepreneurship through hands on, experiential learning. They create pathways for employability, job creation, and financial success and each year, their network of over 500,000 volunteers and teachers serves more than 10 million students in over 100 countries.

Align sponsored Junior Achievement’s STEM career summit for local high school students.


International Student Leadership Conference- Once again, Align was the corporate sponsor for Operation Smile’s 2022 International Student Leadership Conference where 250 participants from 20 countries came together for one week to support one cause. Operation Smile student volunteers from around the world came together to learn how they can best advocate for Operation Smile’s patients and people born with cleft conditions. Check out a brief overview of the conference here

Operation Smile’s International Student Leadership Conference sponsored by Align


Employees

“At Align, we provide a vibrant employee experience that encourages inclusion and diversity, supports health and wellness, and inspires and develops personal and professional growth” - Stuart Hockridge, executive vice president, Human Resources

We are fortunate to have a smart, diverse, and agile global team of employees. It’s imperative that we provide a vibrant employee experience and value our employees’ collective voices. As a result, we conduct an employee survey annually. We have a consistently high response rate to our annual surveys and receive consistently high scores in overall engagement and alignment. While we score high, we continue to seek ways to ensure employees can thrive in our business.

Align’s core values of agility, customer, and accountability are more than words to work by, they are words we live by. The actions we take every day speak to who we are as a company and our focus on being truly impactful. We celebrate our differences, and the many ways we support one another— ultimately creating a more inclusive organization and world as we continue transforming smiles and changing lives.

Promoting diversity and encouraging inclusion in the workplace makes Align a more successful, welcoming, and enjoyable place to work. We are committed to building a workforce of diverse cultural backgrounds and life experiences and fostering open-mindedness and compassion for all our employees. Our work culture is designed to create financial, health, career, and personal benefits for our employees and organization. We sponsor diverse and cultural recognition events to increase awareness of inclusion and diversity, including its importance in creating an environment where every employee can thrive. Align’s global CSR events recognize and help increase awareness of our commitment to inclusion and diversity, especially its importance in creating an environment where every employee can thrive. A variety of employee resources and standards embody this commitment to diversity and inclusion, including our Global Code of Conduct, Global Speak Up policy, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), and Align University education programs covering anti-harassment and discrimination, inclusion, bias, the importance of diversity, cultural awareness, and much more.

Our employee resource groups (ERGs) are based on shared characteristics or life experiences and are open to all employees, including those who do not directly identify with other members but are passionate in supporting the group’s members in creating an educated, supportive, and inclusive culture.

We have incorporated diversity, inclusion and belonging into our policies and practices, education and events, and executive and community programs, including:

Women in Leadership

Our global women@align chapters offer and encourage networking, professional development, leadership mentoring, and educational projects. The intent is to attract, develop, and retain talented women while engaging all employees. As part of our commitment, we have initiated programs and dedicated resources aimed at recruiting, monitoring, and enhancing programs designed to achieve our goals.

Volunteer and Service Leadership

Our goal is to inspire and develop employees through serving others in the communities where they work and live. We encourage our employees to volunteer through organized company activities or on their own with volunteer time off programs for applicable employees.

Awards and recognitions


Align has been honored with numerous awards for our positive work environment and culture during the past couple of years.

  • Forbes as one of the World’s Best Employers in 2021
  • Great Place to Work and Best Places to Work based on our employee-validated great workplaces in the following countries- Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Germany, India, Italy, Poland, Singapore, United States (RTP, NC), Thailand, and Vietnam
  • Best Place to Work in IT by Computerworld who surveyed organizations across the United States to identify those that provide the best benefits and amenities for IT professionals.
  • 100 Best Companies to Work for in Israel by CofaceBdi
  • We were selected by Untapped, a diversity recruiting platform, for having one of the Top 75 Internship Programs based on a quality internship program focusing on career advancement opportunities, an inclusive and diverse work environment, and significant growth potential. Align was recognized for focus and dedication to diversity, equality, inclusion and belonging (DEIB).

Month of Wellness


It is our responsibility to support the health and well-being of our employees. Every year, we have a month dedicated to well-being, called Month of Wellness, which is a worldwide movement fostering employee health. This provides employees with a variety of wellness activities and initiatives to support their overall health and happiness covering areas such as nutrition, fitness, financial planning, and stress management. In response to the pandemic and the continuing impact of remote working, we encouraged employees to take time away from work to be with their families and implemented initiatives to promote better work-life balance.

Health and Safety

We prioritize the health, safety and well-being of our employees and their families. Our objective is to prevent injuries and occupational diseases by focusing first and foremost on creating and maintaining environments that are safe. We therefore offer a wide variety of robust programs and initiatives designed to promote the overall health and welfare of all our employees and their families. In addition to the compensation and benefits listed above, we offer family support services, healthcare initiatives and career services support, among many others. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impacts of remote working, we have encouraged employees to take time away from work to be with their families and implemented initiatives to promote better work-life balance. In addition, we have several health and safety programs in place to help protect our employees. For instance, we have training programs and courses that employees exposed to particular risks are required to take and update periodically. Examples include hazardous material training, emergency response and evacuation training, ergonomics training, biohazard and personal protective equipment training, and, more recently, COVID-19 related safety training.

We have an Environmental Health, Safety and Sustainability Director who is responsible for ensuring health and safety programs are maintained and effective at each of our locations. Major worksites, such as our aligner fabrication sites, and large offices have dedicated Environmental Health and Safety (“EHS”) departments that ensure health and safety programs are maintained while contributing Best Management Practices (“BMP”) and general input to corporate-wide programs. Each EHS department is responsible for ensuring all employees at their location are properly trained on various EHS topics and at the appropriate frequencies. A training suite is determined for each employee depending on their responsibilities and function modeled off ISO 45001.

Sustainability and the Environment


Tree planting in Costa Rica


Beach clean-up

We are committed to environmental protection and continuous improvement of all environmental aspects related to our supply-chain, processes, and services. To help us achieve these commitments, we look to integrate sustainability into our business operations and products in ways that help manage our environmental impact, mitigate risk, reduce costs, and increase stockholder value.

  • EMS. We have implemented an energy management system (EMS) at all of our large manufacturing locations. The system is modeled after the ISO 14001:2015 standard and managed by our Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) staff.
  • Renewable Energy. We have increased investments in onsite photovoltaic solar systems, with new or enlarged installations at four locations and more scheduled for 2022. We entered into agreements to procure renewable electricity for portions of our operations.
  • Smart Building. We are bringing operations closer to our customers, including breaking ground on our new manufacturing facility in Wroclaw, Poland that is scheduled to open in 2022. This site is expected to help reduce the costs and impact of transporting raw materials to our facilities and shipping costs to our customers. We are also investing in energy-efficient building designs and controls along with adopting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) principles for all new or modified workspaces, reducing energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions. In our Turkey Istanbul office, our goal is to become certified as a LEED Gold green building. To learn more about LEED Gold certification go here.
  • Water Conservation. We have implemented initiatives to conserve water, including outfitting most of our facilities with low-flow toilets and faucet sensors, recycling water for vegetation and grey water use and installing catch basins to collect and use rainwater for operations at our manufacturing location in Juarez, Mexico.
  • Waste reduction. We have implemented programs to reduce waste from our operations, including:
    • Implementing product design and manufacturing innovations that have reduced the polymer content used in our aligner fabrication process by almost 50% and the amount of resin used in our aligner molding by 33% since 2016.
    • Expanding the use of intraoral scanners such as our iTero scanners to reduce the need for traditional polyvinyl-siloxane impressions and the mining of the materials used to make those impressions.
    • Separating water from resin waste prior to resin leaving the manufacturing site as hazardous waste.
    • Powering the operations of a strategic third-party incinerator using the majority of our scrap and waste generated by our manufacturing processes, significantly reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills.
    • Repurposing most of our scrap and waste plastics generated at our manufacturing location in China for reuse in floor tiles.
    • Redesigning our packaging materials to decrease the impact of our packaging materials.
    • Working to eliminate single use plastics in our facilities.
    • Piloting an Invisalign clear aligner recycling program in the U.S. and Brazil that encourages customers and their patients to return used and unused aligners for recycling by TerraCycle®, a global leader in recycling hard-to-recycle materials.

Dr. Bella Shen Garnett

Reducing our environmental impact

Globally, we are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our operations by using energy efficient building designs and controls (e.g. solar panels, motion activated lights, LED lighting, etc.). In our Turkey Istanbul office, our goal is to become certified as a LEED Gold green building. To learn more about LEED Gold certification go here. We also have programs in place to reduce emissions from employee transportation by providing car charging stations that promote zero or low emissions cars, incentives for carpooling, and organizing company sponsored employee transportation. We have begun the process of eliminating single use plastics in our cafeterias.

Responsible Procurement Practices

Our suppliers are essential to all aspects of our business and our supplier relationships are based on trust and shared commitments to ethical and legal conduct. We choose key suppliers that have implemented sustainable business practices to serve our core business processes.

  • We expect our supply partners to follow the highest standards in the industry, such as ISO 14001, and we require our suppliers to adhere to responsible sourcing. We prohibit our suppliers from profiting from the sale of tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold ("conflict minerals") that funds conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and adjoining countries and require them to source such minerals from socially responsible suppliers.
  • We expect our suppliers to respect human rights and treat others fairly, including complying with labor and employment laws, namely minimum wages, overtime, forced and child labors, not unlawfully confiscating immigration documents, and respecting the rights of individuals to return to their home countries.