Business as a force for good
In the blink of an eye, 12 months have passed and it’s a year since we achieved B Corp status.
We’ll be releasing an Impact Report in early 2024 to reflect on our first full year as a B Corp and until then you can get the down low on how and why we undertook the journey here.
But this isn’t a pat on the back blog for us… what’s great about becoming a B Corp is that it keeps you accountable and always improving.
The stark challenges the world faces are there for all to see and we’re more determined than ever to leave people and places better than we found them.
So to mark our one-year anniversary we wanted to share a few ways you can make your business a force for good.
The truth is that B Corp accreditation is a rigorous process and won’t be right for every business, right now. But there are lots of things we all can – and should – be doing.
For people
- Your team – invest in the people that make your great things happen. Put the training in place that will support each member of your team to develop their autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
- Clients – do you really know what they need and whether you’re helping them to get there? Monitor satisfaction and get feedback with regular surveys. We use Typeform but there are lots of others like SurveyMonkey and Canny.
- Equality, diversity, and inclusion – take responsibility and actively promote and encourage an inclusive working environment.
- Community – support your community by thinking local wherever possible. Work with local suppliers and support local social enterprises and talent in your sector.
For the planet
- Ecologi – not sure where to start with your carbon footprint? An initiative like Ecologi could help. We’ve invested in it to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that enter the atmosphere and we’re on track to become lifetime carbon neutral by the end of 2025.
- Sourceful – if you want to take responsible sourcing seriously services like Sourceful are great. They don’t just enable you to create climate-conscious packaging but they offset your emissions by removing carbon from the atmosphere using frontier technologies and storing it for 800+ years.
- B Corp supplier list – this list on the B Corp website is a great place to find ethical suppliers.
- Eco IT – enterprise tech emits a huge amount of carbon dioxide. If you want to make your IT greener consider switching to a large cloud provider as they are more energy efficient than enterprise data centres. If you’re using on-site servers think about moving to the cloud and deleting old data.
- Insulate your premises – non-domestic buildings create 9% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. Insulate windows, walls, doors, roof, and pipes and you’ll cut your emissions and your energy bill.
Becoming a ‘force for good’ can sound daunting. But by taking a few small steps and making gradual changes you and your business can play an important contribution to people and the planet.
We’re looking forward to sharing some more of our insight in our Impact Report early next year – watch this space!