ALL TOGETHER FOR A BETTER FUTURE
BENEFIT CORPORATION
Social responsibility and giving back are the values we believe in and we firmly pursue since the very beginning. For this reason, we desired to reinforce the meaning of our engagement towards a sustainable business model changing the articles of association and adding the statement Benefit Corporation to our business purpose.
“Adding Benefit Corporation to the articles of association is the natural consequence of a path that we started years ago and perfectly embraces our way of doing business. It is the confirmation of our tangible engagement for a more sustainable, ethical, fair and responsible development where business is not based only on profit but on a strategy oriented to the common good that I can sum up in just one word: GIVING BACK” – states William Griffini, CEO of Carter & Benson.
Time rediscovered for affections and passions, individual wellbeing and development, work-life balance, shared growth, positive impact on territory and respect for eco-system are the drivers that move our business strategy. A strategy that includes in the business process a social and environmental dimension as well with the objective to generate value in a long-term perspective.
What is a Benefit Corporation?
“A Benefit Corporation is a company which, in the exercise of an economic activity, in addition to the purpose of dividing its profits, pursues one or more purposes of common benefit and operates in a responsible, sustainable and transparent way towards people, communities, territories and environment, cultural and social goods and activities, cultural entities and associations and other stakeholders.
Introduced in Italy with the Law no. 208 of December 28, 2015 (sub-paragraphs 376-383 and attachments 4-5) and entered into force in January 2016, on inspiration of the US Benefit Corporations, that recognized them as an exceptional tool to implement the stakeholder governance and ready to face the challenges of the new millennium”. www.societabenefit.net
OUR VISION? PEOPLE FIRST
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
RESPONSIBILITY, SHARING, AUTONOMY, TRUST. In January 2020 the short-week project started in Carter & Benson with the reduction of 4 working hours a week at the same salary; the working hours became 8 in January 2021. Today we work 32 hours a week!
The choice of the short week, in addition to the possibility of smart working, doesn’t affect benefits and MBO and allows to manage one’s own working day in a free and flexible way during the week. The objective is reducing stress, encouraging wider responsibility, sharing and autonomy and improving psyco-physical health, happiness and motivation of all the team.
OUR ENGAGEMENT FOR PEOPLE WELLBEING AND THE ECOSYSTEM
With the firm belief, that sport and a healthy life are necessary for the individual well-being, in Carter & Benson we can benefit from two hours’ paid leave a week to practice sport a part from disposing of healthy and natural drinks and food for free in any moment of the day.
Our offices have been whitewashed with a special paint that changes walls into a completely natural air purifier. This painting is able to purify the air by 88,8% and eliminate 99,9% of bacteria and virus. Moreover, the drinking water is auto-generated by a special system that absorbs humidity present in the air and changes it into water, purifying, mineralizing and testing it in a mini-lab inside the system itself, before supplying it. Doing this, we contribute to the reduction of the strong environmental impact created by transports and the consumption of drinkable water and we drastically decrease the use of plastic.
“Great things are done when men and mountains meet”. (William Blake)
GENDER EQUALITY, A SHARED VALUE
Inclusion, equity and merit are shared values for us, thanks to which we obtained the Gender Equality Certification of Winning Women Institute in 2020 (an association engaged in spreading equal opportunities culture, fill the gender gap and boost all the unexpressed potential within companies). This acknowledgement, of which we are very proud, awarded our way of doing business and the choice of a more equal and socially sustainable corporate development that puts persons’ wellbeing and needs at the center. For us, equal pay became an effective reality a long time ago, people grow for merit regardless of their gender, many women cover apical managerial roles, diversity enriches all of us and maternity is a value to be safeguarded.
WE LOVE MILAN
Milan is our city. We love it because it is a welcoming and multicultural place, full of opportunities. Because Milanese people know how to be generous. In order to support our territory we have been partner of Centro Studi Grande Milano Association for years, through which together with other companies and institutions, we promote and spread ideas and values aiming to support the city of Milan in its affirmation as an ethical and economical excellence in Italy and all over the world.
Besides this, we are also committed with the initiative we have been promoting together with the no profit Association Yourban2030. A requalification project of the external walls of some schools in Milan that consists of the realization of green murals painted by important street artists. These murals will have the size of 100 sqm for each building and will be decorated with a special paint able to decrease air pollution with the same efficacy of a forest of 100 sqm. The objective is to improve the quality of the air reducing the risks for health and offering at the same time new decoration elements to Milan.
Our role is active, not only because we sponsor the realization of 5 murals, but also because we are committed to raise awareness of other companies to take this project to heart and help us to expand it.
MANY LITTLE ACTS OF SOLIDARITY CAN IMPROVE THE WORLD
In the wake of GIVING BACK, our support is addressed to different Onlus: Fondazione Nazionale per la Tutela della Fanciullezza e dell’Adolescenza, that we have been supporting steadily and actively for years through fundraising and gathering presents for children, boys and girls in addition to a regular contribution to their weekly shopping; S.O.S. Il Telefono Azzurro Onlus with the participation to different projects and events; United4OurFuture, a charitable initiative in favor of Banco Alimentare, in which more than 20 realities – private companies and institutions – have joined to guarantee a concrete help to all those fragile families who have been hardly affected by the indirect effects of pandemic. Our concrete support goes also to Save the Children, Vidas, San Patrignano, RunForEmma & Friends, Sport Senza Frontiere. Moreover, we actively participated to initiatives born in favor of Abruzzo after the earthquake that struck the region in 2009 and some years later in 2012, in occasion of the earthquake occurred in the Emilia Romagna region.