Innocent Drinks or Googleplex?

When our professor told us Innocent Drinks was a quirky company, we didn't realize how quirky until we were greeted by a bus covered in Astroturf and this sign...

In 2012, Innocent Drinks became the official beverage for the London Olympics, and shortly after was bought out by Coco Cola. You’d think after such a large company took over, there would be major changes, but as we saw and learned from the employee that showed us around, Katie, they have changed very little. Innocent Drinks was doing great before Coca Cola stepped in, so they must have let them keep their reigns.

Innocent Drinks has a VERY unique organizational culture. You walk in a see the famous banana phone (which still works!) and other banana features like a bench and even wet floor signs.

Near the entrance, there is a massive bin filled with mail and packages which we later learned were tiny knitted hats for the bottles caps of their juice. This started as a small, fun thing people would do that later turned into the Big Knit charity. For each product sold, they donate a certain amount to Age UK and have raised over 2.5 million. Who knew knitting would be so profitable!

Looking at the product, their juice is the “healthy” alternative as most juices are slammed with sugar, but not Innocent Drinks. Their ingredients are only fruit and boy do they taste amazing. They let us pick a drink as soon as we walked in and when we left, and they leave Tropicana in the dust in my opinion…

Innocent Drinks puts massive emphasis on environmentally friendly materials and sustainability. They even have graphics painted on their wall to remind employees of their yearly goals. Most of their bottles are plastic-based, so we asked why they didn’t use glass because we thought plastic was much worse for the environment. According to Katie, glass leaves a larger carbon footprint than

plastic…this still confuses me, but I don’t know enough about recyclables. This Telegraph article quotes Coca Cola stating that since the Plastic Act implemented in the UK, glass bottle sales have increased. They also stated that glass is much heavier than plastic hence the larger carbon footprint, but no matter what, both materials can be recycled.

Katie mentioned that one of their top priorities is figuring out the best way to include straws as a lot of their products made for kids include plastic straws to make them easier to drink. The obstacle they’re facing is that plastic straws will be completely banned in the UK in 2020. We asked what was wrong with the paper straws everyone else in London was using, to which she explained they fall apart too fast for kids. Children usually take a while to drink the juice, and they’ve tried it in the past, and people complained about bits of paper dissolved in the drink. Innocent Drinks is trying to find that balance between living for the present and for the future which Russell, a philosopher from the Work and Life reading says is the meaning of life.

Let’s talk work environment. Innocent Drinks does it a little different than others, fitting into the category of quirky and eclectic more than anything. It reminded me of a miniature Googleplex! They have a Lego wall in the middle of one of their work floors…I mean come on. You won’t see that at an engineering firm.

As far as structure goes, the first floor is an open area with a big kitchen for employees to make and eat their meals. There’s multiple long picnic tables for both eating and business meetings. The banana bench can be found over to the side near the ping pong table (casual), but don’t worry there’s foosball too! You can also find the words “make natural, delicious food and drink that helps people live well and die old” painted on the wall. Katie said they don’t have an official mission statement, but if they did, that would probably be it. Next to that are the words, “natural, entrepreneurial, responsible, commercial, and generous” displayed proudly as these are their values. The other floors are also open with no cubicles. Although they try to incorporate all different work styles, so they have small, silent rooms for those who can’t work with noise or distractions. They have formal conference rooms, but Katie said anywhere can be used for meetings. They have a terrace garden outside with seating for those who want to work surrounded by nature, and they have all times of seating from booths to couches to swinging chairs.

Their organization's beliefs center around the best ways to achieve goals of increasing productivity and job motivation. They accomplish this with their open spaced work area while also accommodating all employee needs by providing all the different work spaces. They allow their staff to dress as they please to encourage comfort and expression over the straight and narrow business professional style in hopes of increasing overall productivity and happiness among the company. Innocent Drinks believes they should respect everyone in the company, even those who leave them by providing them an Innocent Drinks’ label with their name on it and facts about themselves to reflect their time there.

Innocent Drinks has so many aspects I’ve never seen in an organization. They have a timeline going up the entire staircase showcasing their growth and accomplishments throughout the years from 1998 to present day. They also add details of their culture with snarky comments filled with humor to add some personality to their timeline.

Innocent Drinks have interesting norms when comparing them to other organizations, especially Liberty. Bright and colorful is the first two words that I think of when describing Innocent Drinks’ work environment. You walk in and immediately feel at ease and cheerful. They respect those that work for them currently and accommodate them as well as they can while also honoring the employees that have moved on from the company with personalized labels or even a place on the honorary shelf named “life after innocent." They believe humor is necessary which is most recognized with their captions on the timeline walls that include snarky comments or simply funny descriptions. Innocent Drinks is seen more as a lighthearted company. Everything isn’t so straight and narrow and by the book. They embrace the quirks in employees and also the company with banana phones, little hats for their bottles, and (of course) the Lego wall.

They have display shelves for products that are not made and sold anymore. Each little bottle/flavor is given wings and a halo as they’re in drink heaven now. They have another display called “Life After Innocent” to commemorate former employees’ accomplishments and success after their work at Innocent. A company that supports the success of past employees is a proud organization with the right intentions. It says a lot about how this company is run and how they understand that people come and go, and the best thing to do is support them in their career paths.

In one of our readings for this course, Work and Life, chapter 12 explores "meaningful work" and "meaning life." One of the quotes reminded me of this concept of "life after innocent." "Organizations don't have a moral obligation to provide meaningful work; however, they do have an obligation to provide work and compensation that leaves employees with the energy, autonomy, will and income to pursue meaning at work and a meaningful life outside of work." Whether an employee thought their work at Innocent was meaningful, this organization appeared to do all things stated above. They encourage their employees to branch out and make their own statement in the world. They help them with their career even if that next step is leaving Innocent as long as it benefits that individual in pursuit of a meaningful life. From what I observed, they exude energetic, autonomous, willful employees and only wants what is best for their current and past workers.

Adding on to the support and admiration this company exudes, there is an entire wall devoted to every employee that has worked and then left Innocent Drinks. They each get a product label with their name, time of work at Innocent, and over to the side are some of that person’s characteristics. This was a really interesting concept to me. It made it seem that leaving the company was sad, but every employee was given credit for their time at Innocent. It exuded a sense of community.

I admire Innocent Drinks for sustaining such a unique culture while also being successful in their company. You really don't see many organizations like Innocent, probably because they follow a much different system to run things, despite being run by such a large corporation like Coca Cola. The atmosphere there makes people get excited to go to work because you work the way you want to for the most part. You can wear whatever you want, choose your work environment, cook your own food, and even work outside. The more freedom people think they have at work, the more they will enjoy it and do better work.

10/10 experience at Innocent Drinks!

If you're interested in trying these delicious drinks, I recommend going to London...just kidding! But unfortunately, they're not sold in the USA yet. However, Innocent published a recipe book, so anyone can make their juices! Here's a link to buy it from Amazon.