We also developed staff surveys to get data points to help us develop and grow as a business, however it is hard for small companies to keep surveys anonymous, and we wanted staff to be truthful and honest, which people may not feel able to be if they think they can be identified.
We also had to start producing an annual impact report, and we found the first one to be quite hard as we had to discuss commitments we had made; however, we might not have achieved some of the targets just yet. As we approach our second impact report, this is something we will place a focus on.
A positive response from clients
Since we became B Corp accredited, a lot has happened. We ended up in the B Corp Best for the World list, which means we rank in the top 5 per cent of all B Corps for our size group. This helped dramatically with other awards and accreditations, such as the Sky Net Zero award, of which we were one of the winners.
Lots of prospective clients decided they only want to work with B Corps, so we have acquired clients that we otherwise may not have done as a result of being B Corp accredited. This in turn keeps us compliant with our B Corp accreditation, as our supply chain and behaviours are influenced by the standards we had to achieve to secure B Corp in the first place – if we did something better than before it would improve our B Corp score, so it enforces high standards and encourages improvement.
Being in the B Corp community also gives us a ready-made market and community, where we can participate in social functions and networking events, which helps to meet like-minded potential clients and partners. Culturally, it's something which is often referenced in staff meetings too. It comes up quite frequently as being one of the cultural pillars of the business. Staff are aware of our commitment to being aligned to a certain way of being.
We’re easier to find now, because being a B Corp comes with a visible, searchable badge, so the accreditation makes Path easier to find. We know that clients who gravitate towards us are looking for B Corp businesses, so it’s a search term that sees more business floating to us, which leads to increased turnover and profit.
In terms of current clients, there’s been a positive response as they are pleased to see Path is a B Corp, but given what we do, it is expected of us. It does reinforce client’s faith in Path as a business, as the vast majority of clients find Path because of what they stand for – ongoing validation is important to them, so it reinforces the strength of client relationships.
