Named and shamed: the IT companies which fail the business ethics test

Dozens of the UK's leading IT companies have been slammed for their poor business ethics.

The companies, including Autonomy, Guardian IT, Innovation, ITnet and Psion, have all been excluded from a high-profile index of ethical businesses for failing to demonstrate they have proper employment policies in place.

Another 50 famous technology names from the FTSE All Share index are missing from the approved list.

The findings emerged as the FTSE published its FTSE4GOOD UK index of companies that meet certain ethical measures.

To make the list, companies must meet at least two of FTSE's criteria, which include having a code of business ethics, an equal opportunities policy, flexible working policies, health and safety policies, and comprehensive employee training schemes.

These criteria are not particularly exacting, and the fact that 50 technology companies cannot even meet this minimal level of employee protection reflects very badly on the sector as a whole.

However, a spokeswoman for Eiris, which compiled the list on behalf of FTSE, said that this damning indictment of employment practices in the sector may not be as bad as it appears.

"The FTSE criteria are very precise and very clear, and it's not that difficult to meet them," she said.

"It's more about disclosure. Many of the companies in this sector are doing these things, but they just need to disclose that they are doing it."

One such company which pleads this defence is ITnet, which protests that its failure to appear on the list had nothing to do with a lack of ethics.

An ITnet spokeswoman said: "As a company we take very seriously the criteria listed in the test, particularly flexible working, health and safety and employee training."

Logica has also been excluded for its lack of a business ethics policy. An Eiris spokeswoman said: "There is little or no evidence of a human rights policy in place at Logica."

Martino Corbelli, marketing director at Surfcontrol, another of the companies missing from the index, said: "We have a human rights director who works to make sure that we have the full range of employment policies in place.

"There may well have been an error of communication here. We're confident that we should be in the index, and we'll do what we can to make sure that we are included in future."

FTSE is an index calculation organisation owned by the London Stock Exchange and the Financial Times.