“We’re a B Corp!”
Those three words (or four if you count the B as a separate word) profoundly impacted me and all of us at PaperCut when our Legal Counsel, Jeremy Davey, spoke them at a staff BBQ.
PaperCut has a 250-ish headcount, three central workplaces (in the UK, US, and Australia), and a presence in various other countries. We’re possibly a little bigger and more complex than many aspiring B Corp workplaces, which gave us some interesting insights into the certification process.
So here are our five tips to get your B Corp application humming based on our recent experience:
1. Understand the temporary pause in certification
In October 2023, B Lab Global temporarily paused support for prospective new B Corp certification in a list of countries. While this list may seem long, B Lab continues to certify new B Corps in every other country. This change happened for a good reason – B Lab Global’s vision is to make business a force for good globally. With limited resources, they’ve focused on regions with a locally incorporated Global Partner, like Melbourne’s B Lab Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, Japan’s B Market Builder, or Chile’s Sistema B.
If your company is in one of the ‘paused’ countries, continue to explore and push toward B Corp certification. It’s a temporary setback, but you can still do a lot of good even without formal certification.
2. Your company may already be acting like a B Corp
There are many companies working hard to work more sustainably. Maybe yours is one, or maybe it’s on the way to being one. It could be that the only thing you really need to do is better measure your impact, improve your transparency, and make the legal commitment.
Even if you’re not sure your company will ever become a B Corp, there are incredible free tools on the B Lab website that you can use to track and improve your impact. The B Impact Assessment and the SDG Action Manager are great starting points. Also, consider becoming a ‘Pending B Corp,’ a formal (but non-independently assessed) status that a company can adopt before going in for a proper assessment.
3. Embrace the legal requirement
Arguably the scariest and most fundamental step to becoming a B Corp may be the easiest to achieve for your company. It’s the legal requirement. In PaperCut’s case, it was a change to our company constitution, binding our directors to consider all stakeholders, not just shareholders or company profits, in their decisions about how PaperCut is run. If your company already acts with the bigger picture in mind, this might be as easy as a chat with your directors and a two-page document presented and accepted at the next AGM or board meeting. It’s a manageable step in the journey.
4. Embrace imperfection and apply anyway
The B Corp process takes imperfection as a given. You can’t build a community focused on improvement if you expect all the members to be already perfect. The threshold Impact Assessment score for formally becoming a B Corp is 80, but don’t let that scare you. Embrace your flaws and apply anyway. The process is about continuous improvement, not perfection.
5. Leverage your team’s passion
You’ll almost certainly find staff willing to do the initial B Corp assessment legwork alongside their usual daily roles. As the B Corp way of doing things gains more visibility, it attracts customers and potential employees. Being B Corp certified is a point of pride for existing staff. Pick between one and four staff members, give them time to browse the introductory materials on the B Lab website, get their honest opinions on what needs to be done to get the process started, and watch them go!
BONUS TIP: Tap into the B Corp community
The B Corp community is an endless source of information and encouragement. Beyond the materials available from B Lab itself, the community of existing and prospective B Corps is incredibly supportive. Engage with them, share your journey, and learn from others. The path to B Corp certification is challenging but immensely rewarding, and you don’t have to walk it alone.
Becoming a B Corp is more than a certification; it’s a commitment to making a positive impact. The benefits of becoming a B Corp are numerous. It can enhance your brand reputation, attract and retain top talent, and differentiate your business in a competitive market. Whether you’re just starting or well on your way, these tips can help you navigate the journey. Good luck!
About the Author
Stuart Brookes is EMEA Head of Sales & Channel at PaperCut. PaperCut was founded on a single question: How can we put an end to piles of wasted paper sitting in printer trays? Now, we’re joined by more than 125 million users – across all 195 countries and 85,000+ organizations – all crafting better environments one print job at a time. In a nutshell, our print management software inspires earth- and dollar-saving behavior by giving you powerful visibility and control over who prints what (and how much). It’s led to the wider PaperCut team saving over 750 million sheets of paper to date – that’s like 80,000 trees! It also makes your day-to-day a lot easier. After all, what really sets our solutions apart is how simple they are to install and use – no matter your size, your printers, or the devices and operating systems your users bring to the table. Everything just works.
