It is the most important aspect of our business to pay the artisans that we collaborate with in our team living wages – both because we want them to be able to live comfortably and because we want to honour their amazing skill. 

Our wage setting relies upon time motion studies conducted in accordance with the methodology developed by Nest, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization supporting the responsible growth and creative engagement of the artisan & maker economy. In this, we have calculated the piece rates needed to provide our team with a living wage in accordance with the benchmark set by the Global Living Wage Coalition. This translates to paying at least 3-4 times the local market standard.

IMPACT REPORT

This report and the included time motion study calculations has been conducted in order to ensure that the artisans who enrich Pura Utz with their incredible talent and skills are paid in accordance herewith

The study was conducted and finalized in October 2022 in collaboration with Continual, an independent consultancy led by Tanja Gotthardsen, who specialises in social and environmental strategy development and policy for fashion businesses. In addition to the time motion study, we have furthermore conducted a qualitative interview with eleven members of our artisanal team, of which four are now the primary breadwinners of their families, four are partial breadwinners, and the remaining three have obtained the financial security to sustain themselves. The average household size is between four and ten family members. We hope you will enjoy hearing from them as well, as we have included some of their statements in this report.

“En Pura Utz me ha ido mejor a comparación en otros trabajos, con el ingreso que gano aquí me queda suficiente para comprar mis propios gustos y puedo administrar mi tiempo a mi manera. Antes de entrar a Pura Utz yo estaba desgastada físicamente porque mi trabajo anterior era muy pesado (Rebeca, 25)” 

You can read more about our impact in our impact report here.

We pay our team 4 times the market standard in Guatemala. While the salaries we pay are far from Scandinavian standards, they are beyond satisfactory in a local context and match the salaries of educated nurses and teachers. We are proud of this.

We pay Christmas bonuses to the entire team twice a year. We offer a high degree of flexibility and let the individual woman decide how much work she will take and go on/off work in periods. Some women carry the household responsibility, and everybody is allowed to work from home. We don’t exclude anyone from working with us.

A standard day of work starts at 9 AM and ends around 5 PM. We work Monday to Friday and enjoy each other’s company over coffee breaks and lunch during the day.

Working in Pura Utz can be busy but we are in it together and work as a team. We want everyone to go to work with pleasure and do everything we can to create a working environment so happy that the love and joy live on in our products.

FAIRTRADE?

We want to go beyond the principles of fairtrade. Our vision for the women is to feel proud and grow their self-worth by being able to provide for themselves and invest in their futures. To us, ‘Fairtrade’ is the lowest common denominator for fairness. This whole discussion is super difficult and tainted by years of colonisation and being part of a market that is largely dominated by capitalism.

At Pura Utz, we focus on what’s in front of us - and that’s the women in our team. We don’t claim to save the world, but we are on a mission to make a beautiful business that benefits all women in our team. It’s not just about a salary. It’s about being acknowledged, respected and treated as an equal human.

Our journey is constantly evolving - we have learned a lot about our own behavior and the large political discussion we are part of as a social project and brand. We are never certain that we are doing it right and constantly evaluate our model and values and what we contribute with in the world. A few questions we ask ourselves:

Is it possible to have a fair business in a capitalistic market? Is it possible to create a business that actually serves the producing end of the value chain? Will the system we are trying to defy always be reproduced?