Optimising IT
A Certified B Corporation™
Optimising IT started the journey to becoming a certified B Corporation in early 2021 as we wanted to ensure we were balancing people, community and the planet with profit. Having the B Corp certification is an important indicator of where we are now and shows us a clear path for how we can develop, grow and improve for the future.
Becoming a B Corp isn’t an easy process, we have embarked on rigorous assessments, answered many questions, and have done plenty of research into ways we can improve. Once certified you are given a score – which covers everything from gender pay gaps, to where materials are sourced and how offices are powered.
As well as providing the support and consultancy that our clients trust us with, we also offset our workforce’s carbon emissions through carbon credits and tree planting.
WHAT IS A B CORP?
B Corps represent a global movement of businesses committed to using their operations as a force for good, balancing profit with making a positive impact on both people and the planet.
Certified B Corporations, or B Corps, are businesses in the UK certified by B Lab, a global non-profit organisation, for meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.
To become a B Corp, businesses must complete a rigorous assessment covering governance, workers, community, environment and customers, achieving a minimum score of 80 out of 200. They also need to amend their legal documents to align profit with purpose, ensuring that social and environmental factors are considered in decision-making.
WHY DID we WANT TO Become a B Corp?
Becoming B Corp certified gave Optimising IT the opportunity to understand how to do business in the most ethical and sustainable ways and showcase to customers, employees and partners that we value social responsibility and look to implement best practice in all our operations.
Our team consists of many like minded individuals who look to balance business profit with a planet-first focus, meaning we can do more for our fellow man and leave behind a legacy that is not just numbers on a balance sheet.
Find out what we have achieved so far by visiting our transparency dashboard.
HOW ARE WE DOING BUSINESS DIFFERENTLY?
Going through the certification process has encouraged everyone across the business to think about sustainability and being a force for good in all sorts of everyday decisions, from who to buy packing labels from, to how we recruit.
As an IT-focused company we are always looking for ways to improve our ethical technology use and sustainable business practices, and B Corp certification has shown us to consider the best practices of our partners as well as ourselves. This way, we can move towards always using suppliers who value social responsibility and sustainability as much as we do.
Working through the B impact assessment (BIA) was a chance to look at the business in ways we hadn’t really done before. There were some things we thought we were already doing well but it wasn’t until completing the BIA that we had quantifiable evidence to show that we were. There were also areas where looking at the possible answers presented showed we had work to do to improve – which is something we’re continually looking to do.
If you want to work with a company that cares about the world we inhabit, then reach out to a member of our expert team and let’s make the world a better place together.
