People, Purpose, Planet
2024
Welcome…
Milk & Honey has published its People, Purpose, Planet reports since 2020 — this is our fifth. Looking back over the years, I can see how quickly the times, they are a-changin’.
The climate is beyond weird and getting weirder. World peace is having a bad year, decade, century, millennia epoch. Politics seems unable to respond. So, time to stock up the cellar with a survival guide, tinned foods and a wind-up radio?
There’s a lot that’s bad happening on planet earth right now, but there’s also a lot that’s good. B Corp is a case in point. Over 8,000 businesses globally — and 2,000 in the UK alone. We’ve not just committed to make business a force for good — it holds us all to account — across our whole group with bases in Germany, Singapore, the UK and the US.
It challenges us to be better across Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers. It’s also addictive: we’ve progressed our verified 154.2 score — already the highest in the world for a PR agency — to 168.5.
You can see this addictive behaviour as Milk & Honey engages politicians on better business, supports charities pro bono and works with purpose driven clients to further their aims. If you’re going to have an addiction, B Corp is the one to have.
So, put away the survival guide, soup cans and transistor radio for now. If we drive B Corp today, we can all play our part and ensure that those times are a-changin’ for the better.
Kirsty Leighton
Founder & Group CEO, Milk & Honey PR
Our commitments
Our commitments
Pledges and action
In 2020 we made five specific pledges around shared ownership, plastic neutrality, carbon clients, carbon neutrality and volunteering – making significant progress through to 2024.
2020 pledge
2021 progress
2022 progress
2023 progress
Now and next
1. Increase team ownership to a third by 2021
Significant financial and time investment to create a legal structure allowing staff co-ownership.
As of May 2022, 50% of our people now co-own 55% of the business – exceeding our 2020 pledge.
As of May 2023, 58% of our people now co-own 55% of the business, exceeding our 2020 pledge.
2024: 74% co-ownership. To increase to 80% by 2025.
2. Report percentage of turnover from high carbon clients
Reported 0% revenue from high carbon clients.
High carbon client revenue remains at 0%. Our approach is not a ban – we may work with clients seeking a sustainable transition.
High carbon client revenue remains at 0%. Our approach is not a ban – we may work with clients seeking a sustainable transition.
0% revenue from high carbon clients. Work in 2024/25 to explore detailed reporting.
3. Two days per team member for volunteering and fundraising
In 2021/22 we registered over 270 hours of volunteer and fundraising time.
Our people significantly exceeded last year’s total to register over 453 hours.
In the past year, we have exceeded last year’s total registering over 541 volunteer hours across our global team.
In 2023/24, 621 volunteer hours. Aim to increase this by 20%.
4. Plastic neutrality
Plastic neutral certification gained from rePurpose Global in October 2020.
We have maintained our neutrality and are now re-certifying to ensure continued compliance.
Following plastic neutrality certification in 2021 and 2022, in 2023 we are working with a new partner, ‘Plastic Collective’. It will advise on minimising our plastic usage, while offsetting currently unavoidable consumption, to ensure neutrality.
In the next year, Milk & Honey supports removal of 3 tonnes of ocean plastic.
5. Carbon neutrality
Achieved and maintained carbon neutrality – planting 2,600 trees to eliminate 195 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.
Maintained carbon neutrality – growing our forest to over 7,900 trees to eliminate over 649 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.
Maintained carbon neutrality – growing our forest to over 11,670 trees to avoid putting close to 850 tonnes of CO2e into the atmosphere.
Certified carbon neutral — a forest of over 14,500 trees to avoid over 1,000 tonnes of CO2e.
People
"Empowerment begins with ownership. As a member of the Employee Ownership Trust at Milk & Honey, I've gained a share in the business and a deeper commitment to realising its aspirations. It's not just about holding a stake; it's about embracing the vision and driving change. Together, our people are not just building a company; we're shaping a legacy and transforming industries.”
Sianna Peal
Digital Client Director, Head of Digital USA
People, reward and co-ownership
People 1.
Our people make us what and who we are. In 2023/24 our global headcount stands at 35:
- Milk & Honey Group: four
- UK: 18
- US: six
- Germany: six
- Singapore: one
- Four consultants provide support to our global team
Our people continue to grow — earning 10 promotions in the past year, alongside 17 pay rises. Pay is calculated using industry benchmarks to ensure competitive salaries — and we have made changes this year to remain aligned.
- Client assistant bands start at £26,000 (in line with Living Wage Foundation rates – higher than government rates)
- Client executive level bands start at £27,000
- Profit share when targets are met
- Flexible working offer — with 9% working part time and 18% working mainly from home
Milk & Honey ensures that our people own the business they help to build — becoming an Employee Ownership Trust in 2021.
As of May 2024:
- 74% of our people now co-own 55% of the business
- One year of service brings automatic EOT membership
- Dividends of up to £3,600 can be paid annually, tax free, for the UK team
- EOT members are invited to an annual agency conference
People 2.
Diversity, equality, inclusion and belonging
In the past year, Milk & Honey’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEI&B) team has been working to strengthen our processes and practices, ensuring that we prioritise both our internal team and our external network.
A diverse workforce
As of May 2024, Milk & Honey PR employs and enjoys a diverse workforce — to reflect the communities we serve:
250 diverse candidates to 2025
Since 2020, our 250 to 2025 initiative has worked to support 250 diverse candidates to find a career in PR. As of May 2024, we have already engaged 600 diverse candidates and we are exploring ways to provide more opportunities. Outreach, collaborations and a completed mentorship partnership with the Brixton Finishing School have seen engagement at events that include:
- Speaking to students in London from Abilene Christian University in the US
- Speaking to MBA students in London from Santa Clara University in the US
- Speaking to students from the Brixton Finishing School on topics including ‘Breaking into Brands’
Inclusive Employers and our DEI&B strategy
Untick the Box
Our Untick The Box podcast gives a platform and voice to people from diverse backgrounds who have overcome barriers to get to where they are today — and work to make their industry more inclusive. It’s a chance to celebrate wins and explore how people have achieved their goals. It’s a great way to share advice and insights for those looking to kick-start their careers. Two series and 17 episodes in, Untick the Box has welcomed guests including leading figures from the worlds of business, charity, faith and politics.
US engagement
The Hive is truly global and our US team is engaging to diversify access to PR. In March 2024 we talked to students from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Coming into our NYC offices, students got to see PR in action, with discussions centred on live case studies and exploring our approaches. The aim is to ensure that students from all backgrounds understand the rewards open to them in a PR career — and they are equipped to excel.
People 3.
Health, mental health and wellbeing
Every new starter at Milk & Honey receives an onboarding session with our wellbeing lead. In 2023, we ran a series of all-staff mental health, wellbeing and benefit sessions. We held training for six new Mental Health First Aiders and refreshers for our existing team. Supporting this, we run global team sessions on Mental Health Digital Resilience — and have introduced ‘meeting-free Fridays’ to give our people time to focus.
We provide:
- Comprehensive health cover
- Employee Assistance Programme
- 12 mental health first aiders
- ‘Bee Good to Yourself’ wellbeing grants
- Flexible maternity, paternity and carer programmes
- Supported social events
- Death in service insurance
A supportive workplace
Milk & Honey understands that a supportive workplace is essential to the health of its people. Carrying this forward in 2023/24, we have maintained or re-committed to support health issues that include:
The Menopause Charter, committing to: recognise that women need specific support; talk openly, positively and respectfully about the menopause; and actively support women affected by the menopause.
The Working with Cancer Pledge — to eliminate stigma and insecurity for people with cancer — and to build a supportive workplace for those who are living with cancer.
The Pregnancy Loss Pledge — to show empathy and understanding towards people and their partners experiencing pregnancy loss.
People 4.
Nurturing careers, training and coaching
Nurturing careers
The Hive is a place to learn and a place to grow, offering:
- Personalised training plans
- £1,000 training budget
- An industry qualification
- Mentors
- 360-degree feedback
- Structured and paid training plans for all interns
Training spotlight
Mentoring and coaching
Claire Soutar
Augmenting our global training programme, we have an in-house Executive Leadership Coach who works with us to provide strategic advice and support across the leadership team. Claire Soutar MCIPD joined us in 2023/24 as an independent organisational development consultant, with experience in leadership and management development, including executive level coaching and resilience and self-awareness training.
Training spotlight
SCA bootcamp
Emma Weeks
Reflecting our commitment to professional and personal growth, team members took part in training at the School of Communication Arts (SCA) Creative Bootcamp — an in-person three month creative crash course. The Bootcamp offers insights and techniques that empower participants to identify creative opportunities, enhance strategies, craft briefs and refine evaluation techniques. The team came out of the training with new practical skills and fresh perspectives to enhance their creative work.
Purpose
"Regulation is growing — in scope and scale — to embed Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at the heart of global businesses. This increased scrutiny is a good first step — but Milk & Honey believes we can and must go further. We share understanding that, today and in the future, profitability depends on purpose. We encourage ambition to bring positive impacts to people and planet. We inspire desire to change the world.”
Kirsty Howe
Partner and Head of ESG
Purpose 1.
Purposeful communications
imPACT
Launched in 2023, imPACT is our global specialist division focused on providing ESG, sustainability and purpose communications to clients across different industries. It’s a key part of our B Corp commitment to build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
In 2023/24, we have brought imPACT to existing and new clients, including:
- Purposeful water brand — One Water
- B Corp’s certification arm — B Lab
- Ocean positive sails, equipment and apparel brand — North Sails
- Men’s health charity — Movember
- Water purification brand — Bluewater
- One of the world’s largest humanitarian networks
- Responsible global leadership organisation — the BMW Foundation
- Healthy, plastic-free lifestyle brand — waterdrop
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
To help clients keep pace with a rapidly changing ESG landscape, Milk & Honey appointed a new Partner level head of ESG, Kirsty Howe, in 2023. Her brief is to support our clients’ communication challenges. The appointment has seen Milk & Honey partner with ESGVolution and Osapiens and we are exploring new opportunities here. We know that ESG is evolving fast and are committed to taking part in the global dialogue — hosting a webinar in 2024 that brought together comms leads globally to discuss how to communicate with impact.
Purpose 2.
Ethical AI
AI peer group and ethical playbook
We recognise that AI is a truly transformative technology that will change the world forever. Like all tools, it has the capacity to be used for good or ill and we are committed to explore its potential impact on Milk & Honey, our clients, the PR industry and wider society. In 2023, we set up our AI Peer Group to focus agency discussions and evaluate AI technologies. This led to the creation of Milk & Honey’s AI Ethical Playbook in December 2023 — aimed at using the best AI technologies, while staying true to agency and B Corp values.
Purpose 3.
A spotlight on purpose
Spotlight on Movember
Milk & Honey is a proud supporter of the Movember Foundation in its mission to change the face of men’s health by taking on testicular cancer, prostate cancer and mental health. We help to bring the Foundation front and centre. We highlight understanding of these and other conditions — through, for example, promoting November as the month of the moustache (the ‘mo’) — as men across the world grow their mo to raise awareness and funds for men’s health.
Spotlight on North Sails
Milk & Honey works with North Sails, a global sail, equipment and apparel brand committed to both protect and regenerate the oceans. In June 2023, we supported the brand as it was handpicked by the United Nations Fashion Lifestyle Network (UNFLN) to display its apparel at World Oceans Day in New York’s iconic UN building. In October 2023, North Sails was again recognised — with Chief Sustainability Officer, Mădălina Preda, invited by the UNFLN to take part in a webinar entitled ‘Crafting a Sustainable Future Through Fashion and Lifestyle’.
Spotlight on waterdrop
Milk & Honey supports Austria-based waterdrop as it encourages people to drink more water — and fewer sugary beverages — to live healthier, longer and more sustainable lives. The company works to stop the unnecessary transportation of beverages, and fights the industry’s addiction to plastic bottles. Working with waterdrop, we raise awareness and position the company — to ensure it’s best placed to deliver on its life and planet enhancing aims.
Purpose 4.
B Corp partnership
In 2023/24 we have worked with B Corp to help share the message that business can — and must — be a force for good.
B Corp month
During B Corp month in March 2024, we:
- Supported the launch of the UK’s first B Corp Bar. It offered a specially curated cocktail menu from 15 B Corp drinks brands — with guests learning about their B Corp journeys.
- Hosted a B Corp webinar to help businesses with purpose better communicate their people and planet positive activities. Contributions from Milk & Honey, Reuters and B Lab UK explored effective storytelling, the power of data, transparency, the importance of clear objectives and collaboration.
- Worked with B Lab UK to encourage the B Corp community to express their progress through art. Examples included Atomic Smash’s skateboards at Purposefest, Organix’s window mural and Windsor and Newton’s ‘letter B’ competition. In Manchester, the B Corp mural featured local B Corp businesses to highlight those that celebrate people, purpose and planet.
Milk & Honey purpose in Singapore
As a proud contributor to local B Corp initiatives, Milk & Honey Singapore has already participated in a B Lab event bringing together like-minded businesses to explore ways to embed purpose at the heart of operations.
In 2024, we also took part in a podcast with Clean Creatives — a global movement of creatives cutting ties with fossil fuels — to explore the future of purposeful PR.
B Corp leadership
We believe in championing B Corp’s better business ethos, embedding it across the agency and sharing it with other like-minded organisations.
Milk & Honey’s Founder and Group CEO, Kirsty Leighton, is a long-standing and committed B Leader.
In 2024/25, other senior members of Milk & Honey will also embark on the B Leader programme.
Purpose 5.
Wider Purpose
Purpose Academy
“Milk & Honey’s Purpose Academy opened up our minds in so many ways! Their team took us right back to the foundations of storytelling then propelled us forwards to dream campaigns.”
Monkey Sox for MS
Better Business Act
Politics + PR = purpose
We continue to partner with our local MP for Wandsworth, Marsha de Cordova, across a variety of projects: including the Community Champion Awards and her Battersea Jobs Fair. We have also spoken in Parliament to train the next generation of politicians in the purposeful use of PR. Our CEO and Founder, Kirsty Leighton, has supported Marsha at business-focused events, giving a speech at the Palace of Westminster in November 2023 on the implications of Brexit and how businesses should adapt.
Queue for climate and nature
Purpose 6.
Volunteering and fundraising
Plan International UK
Milk & Honey volunteering in the US
- Supported City Harvest. Since 1982 it has saved and distributed over 450,000 tonnes of food to people in need — and we helped by sorting and packing pears to distribute across the city.
- Volunteered at the Food Bank For New York City community kitchen & pantry — helping to pack bags of essential groceries for those in need.
- Teamed up with Rescuing Leftover Cuisine to deliver delicious leftovers from the Levain Bakery to a local school in the West Village.
Milk & Honey volunteering in Germany
Milk & Honey volunteering in the UK
Lisa Hüttl — vaulting ambition
Vaulting is a sport that involves gymnastic and acrobatic exercises on horseback. Combining a range of skills, it’s also useful to help children suffering from a range of conditions. When an equine disease outbreak threatened a Vaulting stable close to Milk & Honey Germany team member, Lisa Hüttl, she decided to act. With no horses fit to take part, fundraisers sourced a machine that simulates horse movement to allow children to perform vault exercises as realistically as possible. Working with her community, Lisa helped to organise an event that raised over €2,600.
Planet
"Business should — and must — play its part in protecting the planet. Every company can help to shift the balance — to reduce carbon footprint, adopt policies and create goods and services that are inherently sustainable. We only partner with businesses that do good — to build the reputations of companies with purpose and give voice to growing calls for positive business change.”
Alexandra Fielker
Senior Client Executive, Milk & Honey DACH
Planet 1.
Carbon and plastic
Carbon neutrality
Working with Ecologi — a global organisation that provides practical responses to climate change — we are now certified as carbon neutral and have:
14,500+
Planted over 14,500 trees
1,000+
Avoided over 1,000 tonnes of CO2e going into the atmosphere — equivalent to a petrol-powered passenger car driving for over 2.5 million miles
50+
Contributed to over 50 clean energy projects in countries such Brazil, Taiwan and Uganda
Carbon disclosure
We will never work with organisations that harm people or the planet. Our Board monitors high-carbon clients. While we maintain a 0% high-carbon client portfolio, we would be willing to work with organisations genuinely committed to sustainable transition.
Revenue by sector
Clients by sector
Plastic neutrality
Terra Carta
Terra Carta is a voluntary roadmap of ambitious but practical action — a recovery plan for nature, people, and planet. We continue to adopt our own Terra Carta commitments and support clients to adopt these within their own business models.
Purpose 2.
The global goals
We work to further the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals — designed to support people across the planet. We have a specific focus on:
GOAL 3
Good health and wellbeing
Action:
Six team members trained as Mental Health First Aiders backed by a library of useful resources, including comprehensive, free healthcare provision.
GOAL 5
Gender equality
Action:
Our work with Plan International UK supports the rights and opportunities of girls and women across the globe. In the UK we have a 100% female board, with an average female salary of over £64,930 and an average male salary of over £48,500.
GOAL 8
Decent work and economic growth
Action:
Milk & Honey has continued to thrive. Despite a challenging 2023/24 we provide opportunities for our global teams. We came in at No29 in the Fast Growth 50 list of rapidly expanding companies in London.
GOAL 10
Reduced inequalities
Action:
Our DEI&B initiatives work to eliminate inequality. We have committed to support 250 diverse individuals’ entry into the PR industry by 2025. To date we have actively reached over 600 people, engaging with the PR industry, education institutions and specialist partners.
GOAL 12 & 13
Responsible consumption and production and climate action
Action:
Our work with Plastic Collective and Ecologi ensures plastic and carbon neutrality. In 2024/25 we will explore more detailed emissions understanding, including Scope 3.
