What it means to be B Corp certified – a personal reflection
By Phillipa Chikwedze, Consultant
Every March, the global B Corp community comes together to recognise what it means to be a B Corp. Blurred was founded 3 years ago as a purpose-led organisation and last year we became a certified B Corporation (B Corp). In order to gain B Corp certification a company must prove to the non profit B Lab that it can meet rigorous assessment standards across five areas - governance, workers, community, environment and customers. These standards must reflect a company's commitment to people and planet, as well as profit.
Becoming a B Corp
Achieving and maintaining B Corp status is by no means an easy task. The assessment takes time and resource and once you become part of the B Corp group you start an ongoing journey with regular assessments. So, what exactly qualifies us to be a B Corp? It’s our commitment to equally prioritise People, Planet & Profit. Here’s a snapshot of just some of the work we do to ensure we deliver to people and planet:
- We encourage every employee to switch to a 100% renewable electricity tariff and will subsidise any increases in power costs – everyone also received an extra £500 in their pay packet this month to reflect rising energy costs.
- As a response to the climate crisis, we introduced a flight ban, despite being a global business
- We’re proudly diverse in terms of ethnicity neurodiversity, gender, sexual orientation, age, religious belief, national origin and socio-economic background and we’re committed to continuing to foster an inclusive culture. Purposefully.
- We offer public holiday swaps for other religious or identity-relevant days i.e. Diwali / Pride.
- We encourage people to be their true best selves in order to flourish in their role. That might mean working flexibly to accommodate family needs or taking time out during the day for wellbeing activities. It’s also why everyone is offered fortnightly coaching by our accredited coach who also sits on the board as a Non-Exec Director for People & Purpose.
- We offer employees that have been with us for over 12 months interest free fertility treatments loans, we’ll support employees undergoing gender transition procedures through a tailored action plan and we have an exceptional gender-neutral mat/pat/adoption policy.
What it means to me
I joined Blurred during the pandemic while staying with my family. After a few short weeks of starting my role, my father’s health deteriorated quite quickly, and he eventually had to be hospitalised. Being a new member of the team, I was conscious of the fact I wanted to make a good impression so I focused on work. When my team found out about the situation I was encouraged to take time out if needed to support my family during a very turbulent period. I was overwhelmed by the level of support at the time. This is just one example of how Blurred already operated in a ‘people first’ way which is in alignment with B Corp principles.
A few months into my role, we started working with a new client who seemed committed to having a project delivered quickly without taking the steps internally to ensure the work wasn’t superficial in nature. It was refreshing to see our team challenge the client to deepen the company’s commitment to the project we were working on so it would actually have a positive impact and not become another proactive communications opportunity without substance.
What’s clear from the work we do here at Blurred is that you don’t have to sacrifice profit when prioritising people and planet, in many ways operating in a responsible and purpose-led way pays off as it creates value for shareholders over the long term and resonates with employees.
Blurred was already rooted in delivering work with purpose and putting people first well before pursuing B Corp certification. The work we do fundamentally supports the ethos of people, planet and profit. We’re helping one of the world’s largest companies deal with sustainable packaging challenges as well as social and governance issues for example.
Receiving B Corp certification is a great external recognition, however my experience of working at a values and purpose driven organisation has shown me that going beyond a focus on profit - and ensuring employees are valued - breeds a culture where employees feel like they’re working towards a common goal.