Leading the way on purpose-led work
Welcome to Purpose Plus, a space where we bring together our commitments to and activities on purposeful work.
As one of the first genuine purpose-led agencies, we don’t greenwash or ‘purpose’-wash and we never will. We have been supporting clients on ‘communication that matters’ since Barley was founded and we remain committed to this: in 2022, we became an employee-owned business and in 2023, a Certified B Corp.
Through Purpose Plus, we will continue to uphold these values in three core themes; people; work and our clients; the environment and wider world.
Find out what we mean below.
People
Our 2024 survey showed that team members rate their experience of working with Barley at 4.61 out of 5 (up from 4.54 in 2023).
- We are employee-owned, meaning that Barley is run for the benefit of its people.
- We have flexible working practices designed to retain and attract talented people who have otherwise been driven away from the industry. This is particularly beneficial to working parents and those with other caring responsibilities.
- Our business model and low overheads enable us to provide competitive salaries and we offer unlimited holiday days to our employees.
- In 2022, we ran Equity, Diversity and Inclusion training with Social Justice Collective and have built a roadmap to a more equitable, diverse and inclusive company.
- We have zero gender and ethnicity pay gap and equal gender representation at director level.
Work and our clients
Our 2024 client survey showed that our clients rated the Barley team 4.67 out of 5.
- All our work supports our mission of delivering communication that matters: we only accept briefs that are aligned to our values.
- We run the Barley Comms Clinic, a free consultation service for those needing to unpick their communications challenges.
- The impact of our client work has been recognised at industry awards such as UK Green Business Awards, Global Good Awards, Third Sector Awards, Purpose Awards, Better Society Awards and The Drum Awards for Social Purpose.
- To celebrate and raise awareness of organisations making a positive difference, in 2023 we were headline sponsors of the Global Good Awards.
The environment and the wider world
We are a Certified B Corp with a score of 114.1. Visit our public profile here.
- We have implemented a three-year partnership with Greenly to measure and reduce our environmental impact.
- We were one of the first agencies to be a signatory of Creatives for Climate Movement.
- Our graphic design work is developed to AA Accessibility standards.
- We have launched yearly team volunteering, the first of which took place in September 2023.
Find out more
We are on a journey with Purpose Plus and know that there will always be more for us to do. If you have any ideas or feedback for Barley, please contact us.
Get in touch