Why Baileys flocks to the idealistic B Corp standard?
Baileys has become the latest Irish brand to secure B Corp certification, a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.
Jennifer English, global brand director for Baileys, said: “As the largest global spirits brand to join the B Corp movement, we are looking forward to working with the B Corp communities across global markets and ensuring that we are using the scale of our business to deliver positive impact.
“While this is an important milestone for Baileys, we know that there is more we can do. We are already looking forward to the delivery of more initiatives as we journey towards our 2030 commitments.”
The cream liqueur brand scored highest on impact areas ‘workers’ and ‘environment’. As of 2022, 75% of the Baileys leadership team are female, and all Baileys’ employees have access to benefits such as six months of paid annual leave for parents.
Baileys would prefer to stress its high B Corp cert marks in relation to its workforce, as all aspects of the employee experience were taken into consideration, including equality and diversity.
Baileys also secured high B Corp marks in the Environment assessment, reflecting “the company’s dedication towards delivering a more positive impact across its supply chain, from grass to glass”.
The B Corp cert has become highly sought after and goes to show that idealists really can have an impact on how corporates operate.
The B Corp certification process is run by B Labs, which was established in the Philadelphia suburb of Berwyn in 2006.
The founding ideals were that business could lead the way toward a stakeholder-driven economic model.
Certifying B Corporations became the means to that end, and certification is the B Labs’ imprimatur that the enterprise meets high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
“For more than half a century, the private sector has been driven to pursue profit above all else, resulting in an economic system that directly contributes to wealth inequality, systemic racism, gender discrimination, environmental degradation, and a deepening climate catastrophe,” said co-founders of B Corp Andrew Kassoy and Bart Houlahan.
“Amid global conflict driven by fossil fuel dependence, ongoing racial justice reckoning, and the still-unfolding impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic – from public health inequities to a transforming workforce – economic systems change is no longer a buzzword. It is an urgent call to action for the business community.”
Sources:
- https://youtu.be/KvtjpWDJaMI
- https://businessplus.ie/news/b-corp-baileys/
- https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2022/10/baileys-becomes-b-corp-business/
- https://readloud.net/
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