At Naturally Social, we’ve always been committed to making a positive impact on the world and receiving our B Corp Certification demonstrates our commitment to sustainability and social responsibility. While we join a growing community of like-minded companies, there isn’t much talk about how to become B Corp certified… it’s not for the faint hearted, so if you’re ready to find out more… keep reading!
In case you’re not 100% sure what the B Corp Movement is, here’s a quick overview:
There’s no cost to get started with your B Corp certification – that comes later (when you’re ready to submit).
The B Impact assessment is available to everyone and is a great first step, even if you’re just curious and have no intention of moving forward just yet. The assessment has around 200 questions so make sure to set aside the time to get it completed as accurately as you can.
Our first score was 55.57 and to submit your application with B Lab you need at least 80. It was pretty daunting but as we worked through the assessment it was encouraging to see how aligned we are with B Labs vision.
We knew we had a number of things in place which would help us increase our score on the assessment. We’ve been focused on being purpose-driven before it became the new buzzword!
Our focus was initially on the areas we could 100% score in. These were areas where things needed formalising before we could score. We then looked at areas that prompted us to introduce new policies or new ways of working.
After initial submission, it was time to break down the assessment, and we’d recommend you do this too – especially if you’re keen to submit.
By breaking it down we were able to walk through the assessment step by step and review each question and highlight the following:
Implement (or finalise) anything ‘simple’. These could be things you’re already doing or that are straightforward to introduce. For us, we already had a lot of the policies and employee-focused elements in place. So, formalising stakeholder engagement and ways of working like financial transparency were relatively easy wins.
Getting those easy wins at the start does help you move through the assessment with more confidence!
One of the many lessons we learned as we worked through the assessment, is to do the following:
Remember what we mentioned at the beginning… the assessment has around 200 questions. By working in sections and then updating the assessment online, it meant we could keep track of where we were and get an accurate and to date score.
For us, we printed the full assessment and worked through that document – writing notes and recording any additional points scored (just in case there was an issue with the online assessment, there wasn’t… but sometimes you never know!)
With our assessment being regularly updated, we were able to focus on any areas that were new to Naturally Social. And while these weren’t difficult, they did require some additional thought and have meant we’re far more mindful about suppliers and freelancers that we may work with.
You may find that there are some areas are more difficult to score on than others. For us, being in a serviced office space meant we struggled to pick up points in the Environment section. Some things are out of our hands, but the timing of our assessment worked out well as the local council are moving forward with plans to be more sustainable.
As you’re working through the assessment we’d recommend that you upload the required evidence at the time. This is going to save you a lot of time and makes sense if you are tackling it section by section.
On that note, when we talk ‘evidence’ we mean copies of the policies you have or are introducing. B Lab aren’t looking for organisations to say they’re doing this or doing that. They want organisations to show it!
Once we’d finished reviewing our assessment and uploading the evidence it was time to pay the submission fee. Then you wait.
There’s no set time frame that B Lab will come back to you in, and as more and more organisations submit applications the time frame will only get longer.
Make sure you have your notification emails set up correctly, the team will be in touch via the online assessment portal to ask for any additional information or evidence to support your application.
When you get those notifications, be sure to act promptly! We made sure to get back to the team within 24 hours of getting the notification.
After submitting, the next step involved the verification process, where another person reviewed our application. This person is different to the team who will have been communicating with you via the assessment web page. At this point, they’re making sure that those applying meet the rigorous standards that B Lab has.
It’s worth noting that there are some questions where you might be unsure on what evidence to upload. This is where your primary analyst steps in to provide help and guidance.
Like with the notifications from the B Lab team after you’ve submitted, we’d recommend uploading any requested evidence as soon as possible to ensure you can continue to move forward.
B Corp certification is more than just a badge of honour. It’s recognition of our commitment to sustainability and social responsibility and that’s something that we take very seriously.
Being a certified B Corp means we’re held to a higher standard when it comes to our impact on the world. It means that we’re committed to transparency and accountability and that we’re always looking for ways to improve our impact.
Most importantly, being a certified B Corp means that we’re part of a community of businesses that are working to make a positive impact on the world. We’re proud to be a part of this movement, and we’re excited to see where it takes us in the future.
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