Another thing I didn't know - B-Corps Companies

 I've seen several companies listed as B Corps companies. When I asked what that meant, I was given information that included that they were treating employees fairly, cared about the environmental impacts of their production, and a few other things that I quickly forgot. Equitible treatment and diversification of employees sounded good...as well as environmental consciousness.

But I decided today to do the Duck Duck search (NOT google) of B Corps. Here's some of what I found.

"B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials. In order to achieve certification, a company must: 

• Demonstrate high social and environmental performance by achieving a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or above and passing our risk review. Multinational corporations must also meet baseline requirement standards. 

• Make a legal commitment by changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and achieve benefit corporation status if available in their jurisdiction. 

• Exhibit transparency by allowing information about their performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab’s website.  

"As leaders in the movement for economic systems change, B Corps reap remarkable benefits. They build trust with consumers, communities, and suppliers; attract and retain employees; and draw mission-aligned investors. As they are required to undergo the verification process every three years in order to recertify, B Corps are by definition also focused on continuous improvement, leading to their long-term resiliency.   

"B Corp Certification is holistic, not exclusively focused on a single social or environmental issue. And the process to achieve and maintain certification is rigorous and requires engaging teams and departments across your company. Taking company size and profile into account, verification involves documentation of your company’s business model and information about your operations, structure, and various work processes, as well as review of potential public complaints and possible site visits. Recertification confirms these standards continue to be met on an ongoing basis.  

"Our mission to transform the global economy.

Imagine a world where all stakeholders, not just shareholders, are valued and prioritized. At B Lab, we believe this world is possible. The B Global Network’s Theory of Change guides our mission to transform the global economy into a more inclusive, equitable, and regenerative system.

The B-Lab's staff

That's a very rigorous process, and I urge you to look further if you're interested. Here's the page I found most helpful, but there are lots of others at their site. 

 Now I'm retired, so why do I care about companies with certification at this level? Well, I might be more inclined to purchase the same items from them rather than a competeter.

So I'll share tomorrow an updated list of Ethical companies which are trying to limit the use of plastic in their products and shipments.

Today's quote:

Lots of times you have to pretend to join a parade in which you're not really interested in order to get where you're going. -Christopher Morley, writer (1890-1957)