SBIA PARTNER PROFILE DIAGEO
Diageo: Raising the Bar on Sustainable Business With a long-term roadmap to grow the business in a sustainable manner, from grain to glass, Diageo also reacted agilely with innovative solutions to pandemic-precipitated problems
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hen the pubs are closed and you commit to taking back 28 million pints of beer, what do you do with it? This was the question Diageo executives posed to themselves over lockdown. While it was technically possible to dispose of the beer via the municipal wastewater treatment system, this would have placed an additional burden on the already challenged Dublin wastewater works. And so, almost 90% of it ended up going towards fertilising some particularly festive Christmas trees, with the remainder going to composting and one of Ireland’s first anaerobic digestion facilities. This innovative route for waste beer disposal has had a positive impact on the environment by replacing fossilfuel based fertilisers, and is just one of the six initiatives that Diageo have nominated in this year’s Sustainable Business Impact Awards. RAISING THE BAR ‘Raising the Bar’ was announced in June 2020 to support pubs and bars. The fund of €14 million has provided publicans with COVID-19 service and upskilling training, essential kits ahead of reopening and set up a mental health and financial advice helpline to support pubs and bar staff throughout months of closure. The Raising the Bar team also implemented the ‘Keep the Lights On’ campaign, run by Diageo and Guinness in partnership with the LVA,
VFI and Hospitality Ulster. As part of the campaign, pubs came together to simultaneously switch on their Christmas lights on Friday, November 20th at 5pm, to highlight the extensive measures that pubs had taken in order to be able to reopen safely. With the Dublin City Volunteer Centre’s ‘Together for Christmas’ campaign, Diageo worked in partnership with the charity and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, making an in-kind donation of 200 Christmas gift boxes containing personal care items to a combined value of €10,000, which were delivered to some of the most vulnerable people in the city. Staff built on Diageo’s initial commitment, staging a virtual festive Variety Show, entertaining one another and raising an additional €5,000 for the campaign.
WORKPLACE AND WELLBEING Initiatives in the workplace included a number of employee-led projects aimed at improving employee engagement and wellbeing in a virtual environment. A flexible working philosophy has been adopted and a project group from the business including line leaders, Health and Safety, Occupational Health, Corporate Relations and HR formulated a ‘safe return to trade’ proposal for employees. Diageo has also developed a new Inclusion & Diversity roadmap, ‘Society 2030: Spirit of Progress’, a ten-year action plan to help create a more inclusive and sustainable world. Launched in November 2020, it is Diageo’s commitment to grow as a business in the right way from grain to glass.
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