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February 10, 2021 ย  ย ย ย 4 Minute Read


Our Best Coffee is Our People / El Mejor Cafรฉ es Nuestra Gente

catalina gomez

Catalina Gomez

Global HR Director

TAGS

If there is one thing that we know at Caravela, it is that we have arrived where we are thanks to the work and effort of each of our team members, the impact that their work has on the business, on their families, and on the different stakeholders that are part of the Caravela community. We understand that what makes us different is not only the quality of our coffee and our processes, but also the caliber of our people. Over 200 team members make it possible for our motto to become a reality: Together, weโ€™re making coffee better.

ย Our desire for excellence and constant improvement is a huge part of what drives us, and one of the main reasons why we love belonging to the B-Corp community. The B Impact Assessment that we complete each year has revealed areas for improvement in terms of the effect we have on our suppliers, employees, the communities we have daily interactions with, as well as our clients and shareholders. In our 2019 Impact Assessment, which was a new and improved version, our score was almost 30 points lower than the previous year, due to several areas for improvement that were identified. Being the first time that our score had dropped by more than 10% since we joined the B-Corp movement, in 2020 we set the goal of reducing the gap in almost all the areas of improvement highlighted, focusing a large part of our efforts on advancing the quality of life of our co-workers, our people.

ย The biggest opportunity revealed by the assessment concerned salaries paid to our co-workers. Although as an organization we complied with local laws by paying the legal minimum wage in each country, this was not enough. We needed to ensure that all our co-workers received at least a living wage, a truly decent wage in accordance with the living conditions of each country, thereby improving their quality of life along with that of their families.

ย Unlike the legal minimum wage, which is a wage imposed by the government according to past inflation, a living wage is calculated by considering all the factors that allow a family in a country or region to have a decent life. To arrive at the living wage in each country, we used the platform created by the Global Living Wage Coalition (GLWC), an alliance of organizations such as Fairtrade International and the Rainforest Alliance, with the collaboration of ISEAL and international experts in living wage. The GLWC commissions studies with local experts to calculate the living wage in several countries around the world; these studies then enable companies such as Caravela to move towards paying this amount to their employees.

ย But just as we were beginning the analysis, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, perhaps one of the greatest challenges for humanity in recent times. The resulting restrictions and uncertainty that the virus generated for people and organizations caused a substantial decrease in sales between March and May 2020, disrupting our plans to implement the living wage as the minimum wage paid from 2020 to our team members.

ย Facing the stark prospect of being forced to reduce salaries or lay off personnel, we decided the most important thing was to take care of our people. We scoured our operations for savings and untapped efficiencies in other, less critical areas. With the help of all our co-workers across our warehouses and offices, we were able to achieve over 1 million dollars in savings compared to our initial budget, all without affecting any of our co-workers.

ย As the crisis progressed, however, we continued to analyze the wage issue. Using the studies that have been published by the GLWC with information from the seven Latin American countries where we operate, we found that in four origins (Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia and Ecuador) we were not ensuring a living wage to 55 of our co-workers. Not surprisingly, most of the team members needing a wage increase were precisely the people who, due to the nature of their role, could not work from home, and indeed faced the greatest health risks. This confirmed to us that it was an effort we had to make as an organization, regardless of the difficulties we were facing. Before the profitability of the company lay the obligation and commitment to these 55 team members who had to leave their homes to go to work, risking their lives and those of their families. For that reason, and despite the continued uncertainty, in mid-2020 we made the decision to increase the salary of all these collaborators by 10% starting in July.

ย Having endured the worst of the storm, and fortunately rallied to a strong finish to the year, in December we decided that as of January 1, 2021 we would increase the salary of all these team members to the living wage of their country. Today, I can say with pride that all our team members receive a decent salary that will allow them and their families to continue progressing. One month into this achievement, I can see the happiness and commitment of our employees. They know that Caravela is an organization that supports them in difficult times, and that we as a company will always believe that our greatest resource is not our coffee: itโ€™s our people.

Si hay algo de lo que somos conscientes en Caravela es que hemos llegado a donde estamos gracias al trabajo y esfuerzo de cada uno de nuestros colaboradores,ย al impacto que tieneย suย labor en el negocio,ย en sus propias familias yย enย los diferentes interesados que hacen parte de la comunidadย Caravela.ย Entendemosย queย lo que nos hace diferente no esย solo laย calidadย de nuestro cafรฉ y de nuestros procesos, sino tambiรฉn la calidad de nuestra gente. Esos mรกs de 200 colaboradores hacen posible que nuestro lemaย sea unaย realidad: Juntos hacemos mejor el cafรฉ.

ย La bรบsqueda de la excelencia y el mejoramiento continuo es parte de nuestro norte. Por eso nos encanta pertenecer a la comunidad de Empresas B. La Evaluaciรณn de Impacto B que completamos cada aรฑo nos ha ayudado a ver los aspectos por mejorar en tรฉrminos del impacto que tenemos sobre nuestros proveedores, empleados, las comunidades con las que interactuamos en el dรญa a dรญa, y nuestros clientes y accionistas. En nuestra Evaluaciรณn de Impacto B del 2019, que era una nueva y mejorada versiรณn, por primera vez bajamos nuestro puntaje en casi 30 puntos con respecto al aรฑo anterior debido a varias oportunidades de mejora que surgieron. Siendo la primera vez que nuestro puntaje bajaba mas del 10% desde que pertenecemos a las Empresas B, para el 2020 nos pusimos la meta de mejorar en casi todas las รกreas de mejora identificadas, y en particular en enfocar gran parte de nuestros esfuerzos en mejorarle la calidad de vida a nuestros colaboradores, a nuestra gente.

ย La oportunidad principal identificada eraย el salario pagado a nuestros colaboradores. Si bien como organizaciรณn cumplรญamos con las leyes locales pagando el salario mรญnimo legal de cada paรญs,ย esto no era suficiente. Necesitรกbamosย tomar accionesย que nos permitieranย asegurarย queย todosย nuestros colaboradores percibieran como mรญnimo un salario mรญnimo vital (living wage): un salario realmente digno de acuerdo con las condiciones de cada paรญs y de esta manera mejorar la calidad de vida de ellos y de sus familias.

ย A diferencia del salario mรญnimo legal, que es un salario impuesto por el estado teniendo en cuenta la inflaciรณn pasada, el salario mรญnimo vital es calculado teniendo en cuenta todos los factores que permitan que una familia en un paรญs o regiรณn pueda contar con una vida digna. Para calcular el salario mรญnimo vital hicimos uso de la plataforma creada por la Global Living Wage Coallition (GLWC), una alianza entre diferentes actores tales como Fairtrade International y Rainforest Alliance, con la colaboraciรณn de ISEAL y de expertos internacionales en Living Wage. La GLWC comisiona con expertos locales estudios de salario mรญnimo vital en varios paรญses del mundo que pueden ser consultados por compaรฑรญas como Caravela para facilitar moverse hacia pagar un salario digno a todos sus colaboradores.

ย Pero justo en el momento que estรกbamos comenzando el anรกlisis, al mundo llegรณ esta pandemia del COVID-19,ย quizรกsย uno de losย mรกsย grandesย desafรญosย para la humanidad en los รบltimos tiempos. ย Los confinamientos y la incertidumbre que genero este horrible virus en las personas y organizaciones causo una gran caรญda en nuestras ventas entre marzo y mayo del 2020, lo que hizo trastocar nuestros planes de implementar a partir del 2020 el salario mรญnimo vital como el salario mรญnimo pagado a nuestros colaboradores.

ย A pesar de que lo mรกs fรกcil hubiera sido reducir salarios o despedir personal, en dicho momento tomamos la decisiรณn que lo mรกs importante era velar por nuestra gente, por lo cual descartamos de plano acudir a esta vรญa para sortear la tormenta. Mas bien buscamos ahorros y maximizaciรณn de recursos en otras รกreas menos crรญticas, y con la ayuda de todos nuestros colaboradores entre todas nuestras operaciones logramos ahorros de mรกs de 1 millรณn de dรณlares frente a nuestro presupuesto inicial, sin afectar a ninguno de nuestros colaboradores.

ย En la mitad de la pandemia continuamos analizando el tema. Usando los estudios que han sido publicados por la GLWC con informaciรณn de los 7 paรญses de Latinoamรฉrica en los cuales operamos, encontramos que enย cuatro orรญgenes (Mรฉxico, Nicaragua, Colombia y Ecuador)ย no estรกbamos asegurandoย este ingreso mensual a 55 de nuestros colaboradores.ย Y tampoco fue sorpresa encontrar que laย mayorรญaย deย los roles a los cualesย debรญamosย ajustar sus ingresos eran precisamente las personas queย por la naturaleza de su rolย no podรญanย trabajar desde sus casas – como muchos en el mundo si pudimos – sino en sus puestos de trabajo, con los mayores riesgos de contagiarse con el virus. ย Esto nosย confirmรณย que,ย si bien era un esfuerzo queย tenรญamosย que hacerย comoย organizaciรณn en momentos complejos. Por encima de la rentabilidad de la empresa debรญa primar la obligaciรณn y el compromiso con estos 55 colaboradores que a diarioย salรญanย de sus casas a su lugar de trabajoย sin importar tener de por medio unaย situaciรณnย tan difรญcil comoย el COVID 19. Por eso, y a pesar de la incertidumbre que aun reinaba, a mediados del 2020 tomamos la decisiรณn de incrementarles el salario de todos esos colaboradores un en 10% a partir de julio.

ย Habiendo pasado lo peor de la tormenta, y por fortuna habiendo podido tener unos resultados aceptables gracias a la recuperaciรณn observada en los รบltimos meses del aรฑo, a finales del 2020 tomamos la decisiรณn que a partir del primero de enero de 2021 รญbamos a incrementar el salario a todos estos colaboradores al salario mรญnimo vital de cada paรญs. Con orgullo hoy podemos decir que todos nuestrosย empleados reciben un salario digno que les permitirรก a ellos y sus familias seguir progresando. Un mes despuรฉs de este hito, puedo ver como nuestros colaboradores trabajan mรกs felices y comprometidos porque saben queย Caravelaย es una organizaciรณn que los respalda en tiemposย difรญcilesย y nosotrosย comoย compaรฑรญa seguiremos creyendo que nuestro principal recurso no es el cafรฉ; es nuestra gente.

1 Comment
  1. Luis Baron

    Amazing! Very inspiring

    Reply

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