{"id":32515,"date":"2014-08-29T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uncommongoods.pro\/?p=32515"},"modified":"2018-01-04T14:36:32","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T19:36:32","slug":"uncommongoods-b-corp-recertification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/2014\/uncommongoods-b-corp-recertification\/","title":{"rendered":"How is UncommonGoods Becoming a Better Business?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a company, we\u2019ve always been passionate about sustainability. To us, sustainability is about more than how we impact the environment. It\u2019s also about how what we do as a company affects individuals and our community. In 2007 we took an important step and turned our commitment to being a better business from a passion to a pledge when we became a founding B Corporation<\/a>. This year, we made another stride toward becoming a better business by earning our B Corp recertification, and coming out with our best score yet<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u2019re proud to be a Certified B Corporation because the B Corp Community is changing the way people think about business. According to the official B Corporation website<\/a>, \u201cCertified B Corporations are leading a global movement to redefine success in business. By voluntarily meeting higher standards of transparency, accountability, and performance, Certified B Corps are distinguishing themselves in a cluttered marketplace by offering a positive vision of a better way to do business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those \u201chigher standards of transparency, accountability, and performance\u201d are evaluated on several levels, so becoming a B Corp does take time and effort. Companies must receive at least 80 out of 200 points on the B Corp assessment form<\/a>, and they have to have the documentation to back up that score.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the cool things about B Corp certification is that we get to back up [sustainability] claims with actual research. We can look at our numbers to see what we\u2019re really doing,\u201d said Rachel Foley, UncommonGoods Project Manager and a member of our sustainability committee. \u201cYou see so many products and companies out there that say they are \u2018green,\u2019 but by becoming a B Corp, you\u2019re doing more than just talking.\u201d<\/p>\n

B Lab<\/a>, the non-profit behind B Corp, provides an overall score and they break those numbers down into a scorecard so companies and their customers can get a quick look at the result of the assessment.<\/p>\n

\"UncommonGoods<\/a><\/p>\n

We earned 111.4 points this time around. That\u2019s a 13% increase over our 2012 score of 99 points. While some of the extra points were thanks to improvements to our work environment and green initiatives, we saw the greatest improvement in our \u201cCommunity\u201d score.<\/p>\n

The Community section<\/a> of the impact assessment evaluates how a company influences its community, from relationships with vendors, to diversity among employees, to charitable giving and involvement with the local community.<\/p>\n

By hiring employees from chronically underemployed populations and communities, paying seasonal workers 50% more than minimum wage, putting in employee volunteer hours, and making donations to our Better to Give<\/a> partners, our Community score is now 47% above the median B Corp score.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe received points not only because of the things we do year-round, but also because our seasonal team is so large and diverse,\u201d said Area Operations Manager and sustainability committee member Jason Gomer.<\/p>\n

Jason also explained that small changes can make a big difference, and small changes are achieved when a company keeps the \u201ctriple bottom line<\/a>\u201d in mind. He explained that the triple bottom lines, or \u201c3 Ps,\u201d are the three facets of sustainability in business: people, planet, and profit. Our goal is to not only do good for people and for the planet, but to succeed as a business so we can continue to do good for years to come.<\/p>\n