Paychex Named One of The World's Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere for the 14th Time

Recognition honors companies demonstrating exceptional leadership and a commitment to
business integrity through best-in-class ethics, compliance, and governance practices

ROCHESTER, N.Y., March 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Paychex, Inc., a leading provider of integrated human capital management software solutions for human resources, payroll, benefits, and insurance solutions, has been recognized by Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as one of the 2022 World's Most Ethical Companies. This marks the 14^th year Paychex has earned the designation, including consecutively since 2012.

"An unwavering commitment to ethics and integrity have guided Paychex since day one," said Martin Mucci, Paychex chairman and CEO. "We're especially proud to earn this honor from Ethisphere because it reflects the ongoing commitment by Paychex and our employees to practice corporate social responsibility while adhering to our corporate values."

"The stakes keep getting higher when it comes to corporate social responsibility," said Stephanie Schaeffer, vice president, chief legal and ethics officer, and secretary at Paychex. "Making the list of the World's Most Ethical Companies is truly a companywide effort, including a steering committee comprised of dedicated CSR champions; employees who embrace our efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion, environmental stewardship, and philanthropy; and executive and board-level commitment."

Corporate social responsibility at Paychex is evolving to address issues most important to the company's clients, employees, communities, and investors. The program is centered on four strategic pillars: employees, ethics, communities, and the environment.

• Employees: In 2021, Paychex put a strong emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The results of those efforts included achieving 100% gender pay equity in the U.S.; expanding employee resource groups; implementing a "Bridge" program to connect women and people of color to executive leaders, mentors, and promotional opportunities; joining the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion™ as a signatory; and adding oversight of the company's diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies to the charter of the Governance & Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors. A special focus was also put on employee wellness through a partnership with meQuilibrium, which provided resiliency training that helped employees make improvements in areas such as stress management, work-life balance, and healthy sleep habits.

• Community: The Paychex Charitable Foundation announced its Strategic Giving Framework, including the planned distribution of grants totaling more than $4 million over four years for non-profit organization programs that align with the foundation's four pillars focused on mental health, physical health, financial health, and skills development. In addition, employee participation in initiatives such as #PaychexCares for Ukraine, #PaychexCares for India, the American Heart Association Heart Walk, and United Way raised funds for communities and organizations in need.

• Ethics: The first external review of the Paychex's ethics compliance program was conducted. Along with publishing interactive SASB, GRI, and ESG indices, efforts such as these reflect our ongoing commitment to transparency and accountability

• Environment: In 2021, Paychex announced its ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In addition to tracking and reporting its energy consumption and gas emissions in owned facilities, Paychex added reporting on its leased facilities. The company also introduced a new environmental policy.

"Today, business leaders face their greatest mandate yet to be ethical, accountable, and trusted to drive positive change," said Ethisphere CEO, Timothy Erblich. "We continue to be inspired by the World's Most Ethical Companies honorees and their dedication to integrity, sustainability, governance, and community. Congratulations to Paychex for earning the World's Most Ethical Companies designation."

The full list of the 2022 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at https://worldsmostethicalcompanies.com/honorees.

For more information on corporate social responsibility at Paychex, visit https://www.paychex.com/corporate/corporate-responsibility.

Methodology & Scoring
Grounded in Ethisphere's proprietary Ethics Quotient®, the World's Most Ethical Companies assessment process includes more than 200 questions on culture, environmental and social practices, ethics and compliance activities, governance, diversity, and initiatives to support a strong value chain. The process serves as an operating framework to capture and codify the leading practices of organizations across industries and around the globe.

About Paychex
Paychex, Inc. (Nasdaq: PAYX) is a leading provider of integrated human capital management software solutions for human resources, payroll, benefits, and insurance services. By combining its innovative software-as-a-service technology and mobility platform with dedicated, personal service, Paychex empowers small- and medium-sized business owners to focus on the growth and management of their business. Backed by 50 years of industry expertise, Paychex served more than 710,000 payroll clients as of May 31, 2021 across more than 100 locations in the U.S. and Europe, and pays one out of every 12 American private sector employees. Learn more about Paychex by visiting paychex.com and stay connected on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Ethisphere
Ethisphere^® is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character and measure and improve culture. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies recognition program and provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA). More information about Ethisphere can be found at: https://ethisphere.com. 

Media Contacts
Lisa Fleming
Paychex, Inc.
+1 585-387-6402 
[email protected] 
@Paychex

Anne Walker
Ethisphere
[email protected] 

SOURCE Paychex, Inc.