StudioXAG are on the way to becoming a B Corp

Why B Corp?

We’ve been recording our sustainability journey in these Updates posts over the past few years, and have made lots of progress since our first post in 2019. We’ve planted 735 trees, stopped all of our waste going to landfill and we’re on the road to becoming a carbon neutral business.

But we also recognise that there’s much more to running an ethical business than becoming more sustainable, we need to show that we behave ethically and that we’re always choosing to do the right thing, not the thing that will make us the most profit.

StudioXAG have always considered ourselves a ‘good’ company: an inspiring place to work, a trusted partner to our clients and a valuable part of the community – so we were excited to learn that there’s a group of ‘good’ companies who are joining forces to promote bigger change across the globe, they’re called B Corporations.

What is a B Corp?

Here’s how B Lab (that’s the company that certify B Corps) describe it:

“Certified B Corporations are a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit. They are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. This is a community of leaders, driving a global movement of people using business as a force for good.”

In order to maintain B Corporation certification, a company must update their assessment every three years, provide additional documentation to verify their answers, and achieve at least 80 out of 200 available points. This process ensures that companies who become Certified B Corporations continue to engage in a high level of impact with their stakeholders, even as the business grows or changes.

As part of the process, each B Corp needs to change the legal structure of their business to prove that they’re serious about placing purpose and ethics at the heart of their business. Transparency is also at the heart of the B Corp ethos, each company must publish their impact report to show how well they are doing. StudioXAG already publishes our carbon reporting for the year, so we’re excited to share more information into our journey and give you an extra look into the successes (and sometimes failures) of becoming a better business.

The first steps

Once we decided to become a B Corp, the first task was to complete over 180 questions that examine our impact on workers, community, environment, and clients. The assessment also asked questions about our governance structure and accountability. It was a grueling task which took 3 months to complete and forced us to consider improving parts of the business which we had never considered.

Our answers were submitted to the advisory board in November 2020, we’re now waiting in the queue to be verified.

What’s next?

We’re hoping to become certified by late summer or early autumn, so watch this space as we document our journey and offer some insights. We found that the process is shrouded in mystery, the only universal fact being that it’s a lot of work. So we’re hoping to shed some light on the procedures and hopefully help other aspiring businesses become B Corps in the future.

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Explore Sustainability at StudioXAG