Taking the leap forward
Premier Inc., a leading technology-driven healthcare improvement and publicly traded company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, came to Baker to develop a strategy, narrative, and communications for their inaugural environmental, social, and governance, ESG/sustainability report. Although many ESG factors are inherent and embedded in Premier’s business practices and the company implemented many enterprise-wide ESG-related initiatives, some stakeholders were not giving the company much, if any, credit for them. Premier was also behind their peers in reporting and communicating their approach to sustainability and ESG practices to their stakeholders.
Creating a lasting foundation
Our multi-disciplinary team was comprised of corporate brand, ESG, design and investor relations specialists. We began by completing a benchmarking analysis to identify the appropriate and relevant ESG factors that some of Premier’s peers were already disclosing in their sustainability reports and other public disclosures. This analysis included a review of Premier’s ratings reports, including the ratings methodologies, by three prominent ESG ratings firms. Through a highly collaborative and informed process, our team helped Premier prepare its sustainability report in accordance with the accounting standards published by the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and identify the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) that the company believes best align with their business activities and key priority areas. For the first phase of Premier’s ESG program, the company’s goals included establishing a formal ESG governance structure and sustainability reporting approach and capturing the “low-hanging fruit” that could be communicated to stakeholders. Our team provided recommendations for areas of focus and content topics for the inaugural report which was finalized with Premier’s ESG Steering Committee.
We interviewed members of Premier’s senior leadership team and subject matter experts within the company to determine what Premier could disclose under each relevant topic within the SASB framework. We discovered that Premier has long understood the importance and value of ESG practices and has incorporated many of them into how they conduct themselves and their business to achieve longer-term goals and deliver on their mission “to improve the health of communities”.
Telling a story of impact and performance
Our job was to give a voice to Premier’s ESG story and reveal the appropriate practices and data to support it. We also conveyed a story of change, highlighted results, and detailed goals, commitments, and milestones — all while aligning to Premier’s core values, staying true to the organization’s purpose, and navigating the diverse interests of multiple stakeholders.
“The Baker team was instrumental in Premier successfully taking the leap forward in creating our inaugural sustainability report. They worked alongside us — from the beginning of our process to publication. Importantly, the Baker team provided valuable insight and recommendations on how we should tell our story — tying who we are to what we do and why we do it from an ESG perspective that all our stakeholders can appreciate.”