B Corp certification good for business, staff, community

Opinion

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This article was published 05/06/2024 (491 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are fewer than 10 Manitoba firms whose ethical business practices have allowed them to achieve certified B Corp status.

Credit the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce that, despite such a tiny constituency, the billing for its June luncheon panel asked: “Are ethics good for business?”

Representatives of three of those Manitoba B Corps were on hand Wednesday to answer very much in the affirmative.

Assiniboine Credit Union, Frontiers North Adventures and UpHouse Inc. are all in completely different lines of work, with different human resource needs, customer bases and supply chains.

They even had slightly different motivations for taking the time and effort to index and subject themselves to the third-party audit required for B Corp certification — a global organization that produces a numerical scoring of a company’s ethical business practices.

Early on in the process, John Gunter of Frontiers North worried some of the claims it was making about its Churchill tourism enterprise might be perceived as ‘green-washing’ and wanted to dispel any such notions.

Kiirsten May of UpHouse said she was partially motivated by staff at her advertising, marketing and public relations firm who wanted to hold the company accountable to items like its claims of support for diverse voices and perspectives.

Brendan Reimer, head of ACU’s values-based banking, said ACU had been conscientious about social and environment responsibility for some time. He said going through the rigorous B Corp process allowed the Manitoba financial institution to assess how it was doing, where it was strong and what elements of its business still needed work.

It turns out ACU was doing quite well, all in all.

Out of more than 8,000 certified B Corp companies around the world, it scored in the top 20 in its latest audit and it has the highest score out of the 500 Canadian B Corps.

Many people wonder what the return on investment is for such certification.

As is the case in any kind of marketing assessment. it’s hard to attribute business successes to any one factor. But all three organizations were unequivocal about the positive effects as a result of the process.

In particular, they all agreed it has greatly enhanced their respective abilities to recruit high-quality staff.

There’s been much written and said about the Gen Z cohort’s desire to work at establishments whose values align with their own. They want to do good and they want to get paid.

“It used to be said that you had to try to do well so you can do good. Now, it is doing well by doing good,” Reimer said.

When it comes to the impact on the bottom line, there was no doubt all three were convinced it is a differentiator.

“Our customers and employees all have choices about where to do business or where to work. Other things being equal, a company with purpose is a reason for them to bring their money or talent to your business,” May said.

Gunter hears it from his guests, who let him know they want to make sure they leave northern Manitoba in better shape than they found it.

“For us, it’s about holding up our end of the bargain,” he said.

However, Reimer added, you still need to have price, product, convenience and good customer service.

“That’s uncompromisable in business, those are the table stakes,” he said. “When more and more job seekers and consumers start to look for options … it starts to become clear that (managing the business as a force for good in the community) is not only the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do.”

UpHouse has long had a special relationship with the LGBTTQ+ community (it sometime refers to itself as “Winnipeg’s gayest agency.”)

May said, over time, staff became frustrated trying to source images from stock photo agencies that properly reflected the diversity of the community, so they went out and built their own image library, effectively creating a new revenue opportunity for the firm.

All three businesses were successful enterprises before they became certified B Corps. And there are plenty of hard-working operators who desire to make their business a force for good in the community, but do not have the time or the resources to become a B Corp.

“You can start from where you are and think about how and where you can make a positive difference,” Reimer said.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca