Sustainability
The purpose of Sleep Cycle is to help people sleep better and by doing so, contributing to an increased quality of life and better health. With this as our guide, we conduct long-term sustainability work that is characterized throughout by a business-ethical, social and environmental responsibility.
Sleep Cycle offers one of the world's most used sleep services and is an important part of millions of peoples’ lives. Conducting long-term sustainability work is a matter of course for us and within the framework of our operations, five areas have been identified as the most important for us to work with, follow up and report on. We also see that our activities can contribute to a number of the UN's Global Goals.
Our five focus areas
1. Customer Integrity
Strict regulatory compliance to protect customer data.
2. Attractive workplace
Remain an attractive workplace by offering a healthy work environment where employees thrive and develop.
3. Improve global health
Help people sleep better and thus contribute to better quality of life and global health.
4. Participation in research
Participate in research projects to make full use of our data and spread knowledge about the importance of sleep.
5. Sustainable product range
Strive to make Sleep Cycle globally available on all devices.
1. Focus on customer's Integrity
Users of Sleep Cycle’s sleep service share their sleep data with us voluntarily by choosing to opt in. Managing personal sleep and health data in a way that builds continued trust and customer satisfaction is therefore business critical for Sleep Cycle. Fundamental to good customer integrity is that it is based on compliance with laws and internal regulations that specify how the user's sleep and health data are to be protected or used. In connection with the European Data Protection Regulation, GDPR put into practice, a Data Protector Officer was appointed who is continuously involved in all processes where personal data is handled and stored. This to ensure that the processing of data is based on a legal premise and that relevant security measures are taken.
The starting point for our work with customer integrity is the following:
- No data is transferred from the user's device without the user's active and direct permission, which the user can revoke at any time.
- The sleep data that the user chooses to share is stored with encrypted upload in cloud-based data centers and used in anonymized and aggregated form.
- Our data and risk management policies govern the work and affirm approved authentication methods as well as descriptions of how data access should take place at each role level.
We continuously carry out internal information efforts to ensure a high level of awareness among employees about the importance of customer integrity, coupled with good knowledge of the regulations that govern the handling of personal data.
2. Attractive workplace
We are convinced that employees with different backgrounds, genders, ages and experiences enrich the business and make us a more creative, profitable and efficient organization. Our mission as an employer is therefore to be an attractive workplace that offers a gender-equal, inclusive and healthy work environment where employees thrive and have good opportunities for individual development. In addition, a workplace where there is an obvious zero tolerance for discrimination and sexual harassment, and where there is an opportunity to adapt the work to the prevailing life and family situation.
Our strong focus on offering our employees an attractive workplace is in line with the UN's global goal number eight that all people should have a job with good working conditions and promote inclusive economic growth.
3. Contribution to better global health
Good health is a basic prerequisite for people's opportunities to reach their full potential and to contribute to progress in society. With our sleep service, we help people sleep better and can thus contribute to a better individual quality of life and in the long run to better global health. We already know that our service has a positive impact on users’ sleep as 72 percent of our users say they sleep better with the help of Sleep Cycle’s sleep service.
Our efforts to contribute to better sleep support the UN's global third goal of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well - being for all ages.
4. Important contribution for sleep research
Sleep research is relatively young, and is challenging as it relies on large amounts of data on human sleep. Powered by our huge sleep database, we can make an important contribution to sleep research globally. Sleep Cycle collaborates with a number of research institutions and universities around the world in order to increase understanding of sleep and drive research forward in this field through access to anonymised and aggregated sleep data.
Our research collaborations support the UN's global goal number 17 that all countries in the world must achieve a partnership in order to jointly strengthen the work for sustainable development.
5. Sustainable product range with global availability
Sleep Cycle strives to democratize the availability of sleep aids. Our contribution is to ensure that our sleep service can be used on smart phones and other smart devices worldwide. In addition, the service is useful in the long-term as its available and updated even for older versions of mobiles and operating systems.
This position supports the UN's global goal number ten of reducing inequalities within societies and between countries.
Code of Conduct
It is also our responsibility to minimize the business's risks through proactive sustainability work, robust processes, compliance with regulations and high business ethics.
Sleep Cycle's code of conduct sets the framework for how we act as a company as well as for how our employees act in relation to customers, suppliers and the rest of society. The Code of Conduct covers all employees and all companies owned or controlled by Sleep Cycle.
Sleep Cycle has a whistleblowing system that is accessible on Sleep Cycle’s website. If needed, it can be used anonymously.
Conscious choices to reduce the environmental footprint
The direct negative environmental impact that our operations create is mainly in connection with business trips and the electricity consumption of the office premises. The energy consumption in the data centers operated by third-party suppliers is in turn responsible for indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heating and cooling.
With a focus on what we can influence directly, we take small, but important steps towards a reduced environmental impact. It is above all a matter of reducing our own footprint by using trains and public transport for business trips whenever possible.
In 2022, parts of the business will also move to new office premises in a BREEAM-certified property.