Our Code of Ethics

The governing principles below guide our company's policies and practices.

To honor this commitment, Mightybytes will:

1. Use our skills to benefit society and human well-being: we acknowledge that all people are stakeholders in technology
2. Pursue returns for all stakeholders, not just shareholders: we will create multiple forms of value and share this value with our networks
3. Support open source, peer-to-peer knowledge commons in our work
4. Support regenerative and distributive design in our operations and in our work
5. Avoid harm and negative consequences in our work, including unjust physical or mental injury, destruction or disclosure of information, or damage to property, reputation, and the environment
6. Be honest, trustworthy, and transparent as well as fair and actionable
7. Respect the work required to produce new ideas and give credit where it is due
8. Respect privacy and honor confidentiality for all stakeholders
9. Strive for the highest quality in everything we do
10. Maintain high standards of professional competence, conduct, and ethical practice
11. Prioritize collaboration: utilize peer and stakeholder review in our work, processes, and internal practices
12. Embrace principles of continuous learning, organizational agility, and systems thinking
13. Evaluate systems and their impacts for potential risks
14. Articulate, encourage acceptance of, and evaluate fulfillment of environmental and social responsibilities by all team members

We make good on our legal commitment to benefit society in the following ways:

• Ensure the public good remains at the heart of all professional work through B Corp certification, philanthropy practices, and other means
• Produce an annual impact report outlining the benefit we create for society

To honor our ecological commitment, Mightybytes will:

• Apply sustainability principles to our work using framework’s like W3C’s Web Sustainability Guidelines
• Strive for net-zero emissions in our company operations and Scope 3 value chain emissions
• Power our products and services with renewable energy whenever possible
• Consider the systems-level implications of our work and, when possible, design ecologically-friendly solutions that include the planet as a stakeholder
• Promote positive systems change when possible
• Grow at an intentional pace: life creates conditions conducive to life
• When possible, apply regenerative and circular economy principles to our work: restore ecosystems rather than simply “do less harm”

We greatly value our customer relationships. Our clients are, after all, the reason we exist.

• We commit to working with clients who share our values as a Certified B Corp and mission-driven organization.
• We nurture clients relationships based on trust, mutual respect, and creating shared value that benefits everyone.
• The company seeks out projects that improve social and environmental standards, enhance quality of life, and actively contribute to a better future.
• We screen prospects on a case-by-case basis and regularly turn down projects that aren’t aligned with our values, including those in controversial industries like tobacco, firearms, fossil fuels, any project that promotes discrimination in any form, and so on.

Here is how we incorporate clear ethics into our customer relationships:

Accessibility

Mightybytes will prioritize open access to information on all projects and in all stakeholder interactions.

• As a member of the World Wide Web Consortium, Mightybytes commits to delivering projects that adhere to open web standards. This enables access to information across browsers, devices, and platforms, including for people using mobile and/or older devices and those in low bandwidth areas.
• Similarly, we target Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.x level ‘AA’ for all website launches. This is in line with our accessibility impact business model.
• We provide custom accessibility training to help clients maintain accessibility over time.

Privacy & Security

To honor stakeholder privacy and the security of systems we design and build, Mightybytes will:

• Respect the privacy of client and user data by adhering to guidelines set forth by GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act, and others
• Maintain a baseline hardening against security attacks by identifying potential risks, keeping software up-to-date, and alerting clients whenever we discover a known threat
• Access private computing and communication resources only when authorized or compelled by the public good

Collaboration & Transparency

To maintain great customer relationships that are mutually beneficial and based on trust and transparency, Mightybytes will:

• Prioritize honesty and transparency in all communications
• Value collaboration and co-creation to more efficiently execute projects
• Include customers and end users in our research, design, and testing processes
• Measure success and value: quantifiable solutions are easy to understand. We strive to create value across the spectrum 

Systems Design & Risk

As a small company, we understand that some systems are outside our control. For those where we have agency, we commit to several important systems design practices to maintain adaptability:

• Continually assess risk and evaluate resilience in the face of ongoing disruption
• Support bottom-up, open source, peer-to-peer knowledge commons
• Include diverse stakeholders in our process to be certain we are designing the most inclusive and accessible systems, products, and services possible
• Release early and often, prototyping with real users whenever possible
• Use care when modifying or retiring systems; better yet, plan for end-of-life from the beginning

Team Ethics

Our small team is Mightybytes’ most valuable asset. Without them, we would cease to exist. As an LGBT-certified business enterprise, we foster an inclusive environment where people can bring their whole selves to work. To prioritize team needs, we commit to the following practices:

JEDI Principles

Justice, equity, diversity, inclusion. We commit to incorporating these principles into all our work.

• We are an anti-racist organization. We also acknowledge that there is much work to do in this area.
• We will not tolerate discrimination in any form.
• We strive to improve the diversity of our workforce with every hiring decision.
• We will support civil rights and JEDI-forward legislation and, when company resources allow, actively campaign against violations of these rights.
• Our shared values guide decision-making in these areas—stakeholder goals supersede individual interests and agendas.

Quality of Life

Quality-of-life is paramount to maintaining a productive, healthy environment and delivering high-quality work. We commit to:

• Create ongoing opportunities for learning and professional growth
• Pay everyone on our team a living wage and minimize the difference between lowest-to-highest paid employees
• Offer schedule flexibility and other practices to nurture wellbeing
• Support team interests outside of the workplace inasmuch as company resources will allow

Community

Mightybytes was born from the city of big shoulders. Pixels are our currency, an equitable, regenerative, and inclusive future our motivation. We’re proud to hail from a city known for its grit and resilience. We also know that much work is needed for Chicago to live up to its potential. We’re not afraid to roll up our sleeves and do the work.

We must also acknowledge that—in the age of the internet and COVID-19—we are part of a global community which offers unique opportunities beyond the geographical constraints of the city we call home. Mightybytes commits to ethical stakeholder community-building in the following ways:

• Foster education and public awareness of technology, design, digital marketing, sustainable business practices, and their potential consequences (unintended or otherwise)
• Provide equitable educational benefits through events, content, and public speaking
• Respect the privacy and confidentiality of community members
• Center marginalized voices in our work and communications

Ethical Marketing & Advertising

Honesty is our guide in all sales, marketing, and advertising. We will make only complete, factual, and truthful statements about our company and its services. We will also work with our clients to ensure information integrity in the communications and technology which we create on their behalf.

All advertising and marketing claims must be substantiated and must include all information and disclosures necessary to make them accurate and complete.

• We must take care to ensure all disclosures are written in a manner that is easily understood by the intended audience. 
• We must never make disparaging remarks about our competitors or make unfair comparisons between a competitor’s services and our own. 
• With new laws and regulations, as well as increased political and media focus, it is critical to know the latest requirements on disclosures, privacy, and other legal constraints in this area. 

Emerging Technologies

We will always assess the potential ethical, social, environmental, and legal challenges of all emerging technologies as they relate to our industry, our work with clients, and our business overall. This includes generative AI, blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), and any other technologies or practices that could potentially affect customers, communities, workers, or the environment in an adverse manner.

We will only recommend these tools and create practices for how best to use them when it is the interest of all organizational stakeholders. While we can’t predict the future, we can ground our emerging technology work with a strong ethical foundation.

Grounding everything we do in strong ethical principles helps us navigate uncertainty and chart a clear course through disruption. Our B Corp certification and this Code of Ethics are the driving forces for how we accomplish this.

We welcome feedback or suggestions to improve this Code of Ethics. We also encourage others to pull from it what might be useful for your organization. Please share your thoughts via our contact form.

• W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative and Web Sustainability Guidelines
• Association for Computing Machinery’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
• The Sustainable Web Manifesto
• The Open Source Way
• Design Justice Network Principles
• UN Global Compact’s Ten Principles and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, which serve as a framework to ground our work and our agency overall