Celebrating B Corp Month: How Becoming a B Corp Can Enhance Your Business

Every year in March, Rubicon® proudly celebrates B Corp Month along with the rest of the United States and Canada. We have held our status as a Certified B Corporation for a decade which, among other things, demonstrates our commitment to a culture that rewards and values employee engagement.

In 2012, Rubicon achieved Certified B Corp status for the first time, and since then we have increased our assessment score every year, which is a testament to the dedication of all of our employees, from the executive level to our outstanding Customer Care team that works hard to provide the highest level of service possible.

What Does it Mean to be a B Corp?

The B Lab Global website states that a B Corp Certification shows that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on various factors such as employee benefits, charitable giving, and supply chain practices. Certification is based on three main criteria:

• Demonstrating high social and environmental performance by achieving a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or above
• Making a commitment to changing their corporate governance structure to be legally accountable to all stakeholders
• Maintaining transparency by allowing information about their performance to be measured against B Lab’s standards and made publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab’s website

How B Corp Certification Can Enhance Your Business

As I noted above, a business must improve on its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices in order to achieve B Corp status. While making these improvements is great from a marketing and public relations standpoint, the benefits do not end there. Improving on these aspects of a business is important to consumers and employees, and elevates a company’s bottom line.

The majority of consumers agree that they are more likely to choose a brand that practices environmental and social responsibility over one that does not, and they plan on increasing the amount of environmentally friendly products they purchase in the near future.

From an employee standpoint, companies with strong sustainability practices notice an increase in productivity, loyalty, and overall talent attraction and retention. Many potential employees take this into consideration when looking for jobs, and in many cases it can be a deciding factor for accepting a position.

Making environmentally friendly adjustments such as reducing energy consumption or material usage can also save a company money. Reducing electricity and water usage or encouraging the use of reusable bottles, cups, and utensils over single use products can make a substantial positive impact on a company’s bottom line.

Rubicon is proud to have been B Corp Certified for 10 years, and we will continue working hard to maintain its certification and improve its rating. B Corp Certification is something all companies should consider obtaining, and something employees should seek out in the company for which they choose to work.

Jennifer Thompson is Vice President of Talent and Culture at Rubicon. To stay ahead of Rubicon’s announcements of new partnerships and collaborations around the world, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, or contact us today.