OUR PROCESS OF APPLYING FOR B CORP CERTIFICATION

Over the last few months, our team have been going through the process of applying for B Corp certification and we’ve just sent in our application. While we wait to hear back, I thought that it would be a good time to talk about some of our insights and what the process has meant to us.

Recently, we have been moving everything we do to focus on the idea that a business can be a force for good. Proving this commitment to a fair and sustainable world was one of the main motivations for starting the B Corp process.

Doing it has informed and strengthened the conversations we have in house about the relationship between business performance, people and the planet. It has also given us a powerful framework to both formalise and strengthen our vision of ‘helping the good guys win’.

What is B Corp certification?

B Corp certification is an internationally recognised assessment process. It evaluates how a company is performing socially, ethically and environmentally. There are now over 2,500 B-Corp certified companies globally, making the B Corp logo arguably the world’s most trusted green/ethical business symbol.

B Corp certification requires companies to consider the impact of what they do on all stakeholders, to be transparent in reporting how they act, and to demonstrate high social, ethical and environmental performance.

We’ve had to answer hundred of questions about all aspects of what we do to apply for certification, including governance, environment, workers, community and customers.

What benefits has this brought?

The process of completing these questions has been incredibly thought provoking and has helped us to focus on the things we hold important as an organisation. In particular, the questions have made us think more deeply about issues of fairness and equity and have made us look in detail at the reality of our energy and resource use.

The questions, and the supporting information and guidance provided by B Lab, has also prompted us to act in a wide variety of ways. We’ve strengthened our existing policies, enhanced the ethical, social and environmental aspects of our individual job responsibilities and made sure that our documentation is as coherent and comprehensive as possible.

Overall, it’s been a pretty transformative process for us in a few different ways. We hope to hear very soon about the results of our application. Needless to say, we'll report back as soon as we learn how we’ve done. Watch this space!