In February 2022 I remember sitting round the kitchen table with a small group of Swoopers and asking for their advice. Swoop had finally arrived at a watershed moment when it was clear that we were going to survive the challenges that Covid had thrown at us. The hard work and difficult choices had paid off, and now it was time to think again about Swoop’s purpose, our relationship with our destinations, and indeed our relationship with our fellow employees and the wider community. When I asked what the most meaningful next step forward might be, I heard a resounding call for Swoop to do what it takes to become a ‘B Corp’.
This would require us to meet B Corp’s guidelines across our employment policies, our environmental stewardship, our contribution to communities and our service to our customers. It would also require us to establish governance protocols that were new to a founder-owned travel company. Importantly, it required a level of transparency, commitment and accountability that, whilst initially daunting, now seems to be something we should expect of any company we do business with.
The 22 month journey since then has been challenging, but it has also been inspiring, as the B Lab questions and standards have led to the introduction of policies and practices that we would not have considered had we remained introspective. Becoming B Corp certified was a collaborative effort and I’m so thankful for all of those people that have been on this journey with us both people within Swoop and external to us. This was no small task and certainly one we would not have been able to achieve alone.
Now that we proudly host the B Corp logo on our website, I’m committed to holding up those standards, even when other pressures might previously have inclined us to protect our profitability over our responsibilities to people or planet.
I hope that the sharing of that logo will encourage other companies to consider following the same path.
I hope that our customers will feel proud to have booked their trip to Patagonia, Antarctica and the Arctic with a company whose articulated purpose is to serve the environment and people, not just shareholders.
I hope those who work at Swoop feel proud to be part of the global B Corp community and I encourage them to seek out opportunities for us to continually raise our standards of environmental stewardship, community involvement and customer service from one season to the next.
This is just the beginning of our B Corp journey and the best is yet to come.
Luke Errington
