IT vendors - look after your staff

Working in IT isn't the easiest thing to do, and it certainly has its drawbacks. But being mistreated by your boss shouldn't be one of them.

Like a line from The Office, a company is all about its people - IT vendor companies particularly so. But it seems many don't take care of their main asset.

Why can't 50 of the country's top IT companies find the time to look after their workers properly?

The FTSE's list of ethically approved companies was published today. And it's not the most difficult club to join. A couple of companies have been kicked out for doing deals with dodgy regimes, but 50 have been evicted for not looking after their own staff.

To make the list, a business only has to have two of the following: a code of business ethics, an equal opportunities policy, flexible working policies, health and safety policies, and comprehensive employee training schemes.

Any decent company should have all these things. It's not like laying on free croissants or vintage champagne every Friday afternoon. But not to have two of them is a disgrace.

Some companies have a legitimate excuse here. Flexible working policies are probably not a priority right now at Redstone Telecom, where staff are working around the clock to keep the company afloat.

Others may be looking after their staff OK, but haven't really communicated this to Eiris, who drew up the index on FTSE's behalf. If so, we exhort them to get in touch with Eiris and let them know.

But if they really aren't capable of delivering simple things like an equal opportunities policy or a training scheme, we say to them get on with it.

Otherwise it won't just be ethical investors who won't touch your shares with their righteous bargepoles. Any sane investor will pull out of a company that doesn't look after its staff.