We work with many like-minded companies who want to do business better. After being the first branded merchandise company to become B Corp certified in Australia and NZ, we’d love to share our top tips to encourage other friends-of-the-earth to join us on the B-side.
1. Do it for the right reasons.
If your main motive for becoming a B Corp business is to hang with the cool kids, don’t. This is a serious social justice commitment, and the businesses who are part of this movement mean, well, business. Be prepared to put every bit of your business under a microscope and know there is a fair bit of work involved to achieving and maintaining B Corp – they certainly don’t hand it out willy-nilly. But if you’re serious about sustainability and making positive social impact, this is the best community to be part of and the most iron-tight metrics you can have behind you.
2. There’s no “I” in Team.
We can’t stress this one enough. B Corp is a marathon, not a sprint, and it’s important to have buy-in from all your team to keep the passion and commitment strong along the way. Many hands make light work, and the enormous amount of information a business needs to collect along the way can’t be done alone. Our accreditation journey required a dedicated project team of 10 people, and our Directors were a very active part of that team.
3. Block out the calendar.
Submissions, assessments, reviews and the growing demand for B Corp certification means this process takes TIME (and patience!). Take a leaf from the tortoise’s book and settle in for a steady and consistent amble to the finish line. Our project team met monthly with B Corp advisors to complete the required projects and each time we inched that little bit closer. While B Corp certification is definitely a long-term commitment – anywhere from six months to two years, including pre-work – we urge you not to be put off by this. It’s OK to set longer goals and know you don’t have to blitz all five areas immediately.
4. Bring in an independent B Corp Advisor.
We repeat – bring in an independent B Corp Advisor! This is especially important for being guided through the impact assessment.
5. Expect the unexpected.
We achieved a carbon negative status in 2021 after independent audits from Carbon Neutral. So when we started the B Corp process in March 2022, we were feeling pretty darn confident we would breeze through it (we were wrong!).
Our target score for the initial B Corp impact assessment was 100. Most companies score around 50. To give you some context, Patagonia achieved 107 on their first attempt, so we knew this was a big endeavour for a company of our size. But we wound up hitting 83.7 first go, which gave us a solid base of knowing what we’re doing well and where we still need to improve. These insights mean we can direct our energies into our focus areas to improve our scores each time.
Keen to know what else we’re getting up to in Sustainability and Social Impact? Check out here.
