BCorp
Our BCorp journey has been a long and eventful one, starting in 2016 and culminating in our BCorp certification in 2019. It’s a great way for any company to baseline their impact and operations against others within their sector, and put in place a framework for improving their sustainability activities.
The journey
The first thing to know is that certifying as a BCorp isn’t a quick or box ticking exercise. It takes commitment, time and buy in from your whole team. Thankfully, we had supporting from Alice and the team at BCorp UK were incredibly supportive throughout our journey.
We did our first B Impact Assessment in 2017 scoring a paltry 50ish and it took another 18 months to put in place what we needed to certify from changing our articles of association to formalising our parental leave, employee ownership and plenty more.
We did our first B Impact Assessment in 2017 scoring a paltry 50ish and it took another 18 months to put in place what we needed to certify from changing our articles of association to formalising our parental leave, employee ownership and plenty more.
How we score
Every business will score differently and the type of business you is a big factor. It’s worth noting that, unless at the core of your business is for environmental or societal benefit, that you’ll need to work hard to pass the threshold and won’t score as high as those who purpose that way led.
We do particularly well in Workers and Governance but currently don’t score as well in the Environmental section. This, along with the SDG Action Manager, enabled us to put in place clear goals as to what we want to achieve before recertification in 2022.
We do particularly well in Workers and Governance but currently don’t score as well in the Environmental section. This, along with the SDG Action Manager, enabled us to put in place clear goals as to what we want to achieve before recertification in 2022.
Impact Report
Words are easy but action is hard. The proof that any business is acting in a responsible way should be in frequent and transparent reporting of their activities.
After certifying as a BCorp in 2019, 2020 was our first full year as a BCorp when we started putting more focus into setting targets and monitoring how we performend against them. This culminated in the release of our first impact report in March 2020 covering where we hit and where we missed.
After certifying as a BCorp in 2019, 2020 was our first full year as a BCorp when we started putting more focus into setting targets and monitoring how we performend against them. This culminated in the release of our first impact report in March 2020 covering where we hit and where we missed.
What’s next?
It’s also worth noting certifying as a BCorp isn’t the end point, it’s just the start. It should represent a way of structuring your business, continually setting goals, monitoring your impacts and adjusting.
We now have a 5-strong sustainability team who meet bi-weekly with actions passed out across the whole team from finance to engineering. Sustainability is a set agenda point at board meetings.
Dave became a BCorp CEO ambassador in 2021 to help spread the word about BCorp and support other businesses in certifying.
Check out our 2021 Impact Report in 2022 to see how we did!
We now have a 5-strong sustainability team who meet bi-weekly with actions passed out across the whole team from finance to engineering. Sustainability is a set agenda point at board meetings.
Dave became a BCorp CEO ambassador in 2021 to help spread the word about BCorp and support other businesses in certifying.
Check out our 2021 Impact Report in 2022 to see how we did!
