B Lab, a leader in movement for economic system change, is aligning to the IDH Living Wage Roadmap.
B Lab has launched new guidance on implementing a living wage that aligned its approach with that of IDH.
Paying a living wage to workers has long been part of B Lab’s standards. Yet one challenge that emerged over time was how to consistently and credibly assess the limited, but growing, living wage benchmarks for inclusion in the B Impact Assessment. The result of this challenge was that fewer companies — and therefore fewer workers — fell under the scope of the living wage questions.
Now, B Lab is aligning with the IDH Living Wage Roadmap and its framework to find living wage benchmarks from quality assessed methodologies. This means it is easier for B Lab to increase the number of benchmarks accepted, which in turn means more companies can have their living wage work reflected in the B Impact Assessment.
“The IDH Living Wage Roadmap is a game changer. IDH is the first organization to methodically tackle the growing world of living wage benchmarks and present a framework to navigate them. At B Lab, we’re constantly seeking ways in which companies can be stronger forces for good. We do this by looking at the latest ideas, tools, and resources that can help us improve the guidance in our B Impact Assessment.”
Living Wage Solutions
The IDH Living Wage Roadmap works to strengthen international alignment and build tangible solutions regarding living wage. IDH strongly believes that establishing a consensus, on accessing and measuring living wage gaps, ensures credibility and sustainability for future living wage efforts. The Roadmap first step allows to identify the living wage in the regions of interest. To support companies in this step, IDH has developed a process to recognize living wage benchmark methodologies to meet nine criteria of quality and developed a tool for companies to find the credible living wage benchmarks.
The B Impact Assessment includes the standards that serve as the foundation for over 5,000 Certified B Corps and more than 200,000 additional companies that use B Lab’s standards as an impact measurement tool outside of certification.
In addition to the newly launched guidance on implementing a living wage, B Lab also updated its guidance to better support companies on their living wage journey. This guidance is free and accessible to all, even those outside the B Corp community.
By aligning with IDH’s work and launching our updated guidance, we hope to send a signal that paying a living wage is not only necessary, but also feasible. We are entering a new era in which companies have the tools and resources to make much-needed progress on wages. We are grateful for IDH’s work that helps companies and organizations like ours to navigate this new era.
Read more about B Lab’s new living wage guidance in this blog by Bernard Gouw: https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/news/blog/guiding-b-corps-new-living-wage-era
About B Lab
B Lab is transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. A leader in economic systems change, our global network creates standards, policies, tools, and programs for business, and we certify companies—known as B Corps—who are leading the way. To date, our community includes 400,000 workers in over 5,000 B Corps across 80 countries and 155 industries, and more than 200,000 companies manage their impact with the B Impact Assessment and the SDG Action Manager. B Lab has created and led efforts to pass over 50 corporate statutes globally that enable stakeholder governance, with over 10,000 companies using the legal framework. To learn more and join the movement, visit www.bcorporation.net.