Driving diversity and dismantling bias through holistic, long-term commitments to create more inclusive, equitable, and just organizations.
Brewers, professional associations and guilds, distributors, and members of allied trade are invited to make a meaningful commitment to create a better industry by building more inclusive, equitable, and just organizations.
Why should we care who makes or drinks craft beverages?
In business, inclusion, equity, justice, and diversity matter.
According to the Brewers Association, the number of breweries in the U.S. more than quadrupled from 2008 to 2019. There are now more than 8,000 breweries operating in the U.S., over 98 percent of which are craft breweries. The industry is larger and more vibrant than ever. However, in recent years, as brewery additions have significantly outpaced growth in sales volume, the craft brewing industry finds itself in a unique situation. The size of the proverbial pie is stabilizing, but more and more organizations are hoping to claim a slice. In order to ensure the future health of the industry, we need to cultivate new markets. We need to make a bigger pie.
The removal of occupational barriers for women and people of color was a major contributor to tremendous economic growth in the U.S. during the second half of the 20th century–bolstering the labor market (and its purchasing power). The U.S. labor force continues to change in the 21st century. As such, the success of the craft brewing industry additionally rests in developing a well-prepared, healthy, and diverse workforce.
In communities, inclusion, equity, justice, and diversity matter.
Craft brewers possess a truly inspiring amount of energy and capacity to act. Some have been instrumental in changing laws in their states, unlocking the enormously positive economic impact that craft beer has on state and local economies. Some tell truly remarkable stories of community-built breweries and greater access to the kind of entrepreneurship that galvanizes neighborhoods from the inside out. Some operate with a level of critical reflexivity, transparency, and awareness of industry dynamics that empowers consumers. Brewers raise countless dollars for social change, make statements they do not have to make, and invite the community into their taprooms and onto their brewery floors where we authentically connect–often without giving a second thought to how natural these connections really are–with people we would otherwise never have the opportunity or inclination to speak to.
For individuals, inclusion, equity, justice, and diversity matter.
Craft brewing opens doors, pushes boundaries, forges collaborations, and asks questions that others have not dared to ask. It has in no way been a perfect industry, but it has been willing–willing to self-critique, willing to dream daringly, and willing to try. So, if any industry can rise to the challenge of committing to be the change we want to see in the world,” craft beer can. As an industry that has cultivated a “rebel” ethos by navigating the status quo in thoughtful, challenging, and sometimes outright resistant ways, craft beer is special. The craft beer community continues to do what conventional wisdom says it cannot (remember how that bubble was supposed to burst about 6,000 breweries ago?).
We should care who makes and drinks craft beer, because we can. We should be leaders in spreading inclusion, equity, and justice because we are able.
What am I committing to?
The Crafted For All commitment is a pledge to drive inclusive, equitable, and just behaviors in your organization. These behaviors cultivate diversity and, in doing so, breed success. Twenty two action items, across seven areas of organizational practice, form a holistic baseline from which organizations of all sizes can build and grow. Sustainable change takes purposeful thought, careful planning, and time and space for trial and error. When you make the commitment, you are not committing to implement the entire framework immediately. Rather, you are 1) articulating a genuine intention to make meaningful progress on each action item, 2) demonstrating your commitment to take action to help the craft brewing industry thrive for years to come, and 3) ensuring that your team and your community know that your organization and its products and services are Crafted For All.
Crafted For All Action Items
Pipeline Development & Recruitment Action Items
- Remove biasing criteria from job descriptions and employment announcements.
- Place job announcements where they will reach a more complete representation of the community’s labor force.
- Strive to build a staff that reflects the diversity of the surrounding community.
Organizational Culture Action Items
- Establish safe channels for employee contributions and feedback and ensure that all voices can be heard.
- Provide transparency and a meaningful mechanism for gathering and utilizing input from all segments of your workforce in organizational decision-making processes.
- Regularly “take the temperature” of the organization’s culture with a cultural climate audit or another tool for assessing employee experience and use the results to drive future policy.
Equitable Pay & Advancement Opportunities
- Ensure that all employees are being compensated with equal pay for equal work.
- Ensure that multiple avenues for employee development are provided that meet a variety of needs, interests, and circumstances.
- Allow a range of hard and soft skills to contribute to employees’ cases for advancement and promotion, including demonstrated commitment to inclusive, equitable, and just practices.
Training & Employee Development Actions Items
- Make equity and inclusion training a key component of new employee onboarding.
- Make the design, implementation, and assessment of more inclusive, equitable, and just practices across all of the organization’s functions a regular, on-going component of professional development and skill-building.
- Implement a responsibility structure to hold leadership accountable for achieving equity and inclusion goals and objectives.
Nondiscrimination & Anti-harassment Policy Action Items
- Create a formal and comprehensive nondiscrimination and anti-harassment policy.
- Create a safe, multi-channel process for reporting workplace issues related to discrimination and harassment.
- Provide regular training to support nondiscrimination and anti-harassment policies and complaint procedures.
Community Relations & Social Responsibility Action Items
- Proactively work to forge authentic relationships with neglected populations in the community through active listening, sponsorship, partnership, philanthropy, and business relationships.
- Include values-based factors in the criteria for selecting vendors and partners.
- Ensure that marketing, advertising, packaging, and all customer contact methods do not perpetuate stereotypes, appropriate cultures, or dehumanize any population or group.
Communicating Your Commitment Action Items
- Ensure that the organization’s everyday communication functions – employee communications, public relations, and marketing communications – reflect its commitment to equitable, inclusive, and just organizational practices.
- Encourage leadership to share information about ongoing equity and inclusion efforts with employees and stakeholders, including successes, failures, planning, research, and benchmarking efforts.
- Provide information about the organization’s equity and inclusion vision, strategy, and goals in internal and/or public facing statements.
- Publicly acknowledge the organization’s commitment by formally making the commitment and displaying the Crafted For All logo.
Twenty-Two Items in Seven Areas For A more Inclusive, Equitable and Just Craft Beverage Community
Start your journey today.