B Corps are driven by the desire to create an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy that benefits all.
This purpose informs every aspect of our business, from our daily operations to the highest level of governance.
Like every B Corp journey, our first steps began with the B Impact Assessment, (BIA), an in-depth assessment individually tailored to our sector. The BIA covers five main areas - Governance, Environment, Community, Workers and Customers. We performed well in some areas, and in others, not so well. This is one of the benefits of completing a BIA – it shines a light on any gaps that need to be filled between the way you do things and best practice, and enables you to create an action plan to bridge these gaps.
There are now over 2,000 B Corps in the UK, in 2023 we became part of this movement. It was a time consuming and, at times, arduous journey that made us take a long, hard look at what we were doing and made us stop and think about how we might improve.
To qualify for B Corp certification, you need a score of 80, the median score for ordinary businesses is 50.9 so we are really proud of our score of 90. This is the benchmark against which we will measure our performance each year, looking for ways to improve. Being a B Corp means we have a responsibility to improve our score at every re-certification.
As social conscience and eco-consciousness become key drivers in consumer decision making, the B Corp logo is a simple stamp of approval that lets customers know that our business plays a positive role in shaping the kind of world we want to live in.
The journey to becoming a B Corp can be a weighty challenge, taking around 18-24 months to complete and creating a considerable workload. It is going to force you to improve in areas you didn’t even know you were lacking.
Any business embarking on this journey needs to brace themselves for a bit of a shake up - would we recommend it? 100%.
