Case Studies

Ben & Jerry’s – Embedding Social Purpose into the Business

Tags: Wellbeing Business

Ben & Jerry’s is a pioneer in embedding social purpose into their business. The social enterprise operates on a three-part mission that aims to create linked prosperity for everyone that’s connected to the business: suppliers, employees, farmers, franchisees, customers, and neighbours alike.

Ben & Jerry’s has taken a stance on nearly every major social issue of the last three decades, ranging from same-sex marriage to criminal justice reform and from fair trade to campaign finance.

It’s also worked to reflect those values internally by sourcing ethical products throughout its supply chain and paying Vermont employees a liveable hourly wage. (The company starts its entry-level Vermont employees at $18.13 an hour ― $7.17 above the state’s minimum wage ― and allows workers to take home three pints of ice cream at the end of every workday.)

The company also stopped including criminal background checks in the first stage of its application process in 2015, in solidarity with a national campaign to remove the check box that typically appears on job applications asking about applicants’ criminal history.

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