What B Corp certification means for The Grove, our people and clients

By Suzana Lay, Planning Director, The Grove Media

At the beginning of the year, The Grove Media achieved B Corp certification. Verified by B Lab as meeting the high standards of social and environmental performance and accountability, we’re now among those forward-thinking businesses that are leading a movement for an inclusive, equitable and regenerative economy.

It took us six months to achieve certification and it was very much part of our active commitment to our culture and values as the real world media agency. We all felt it was the right thing to do for the business, our clients and partners, the industry, and the future of the planet.

We achieved an overall B Impact score of 114.7, making us the highest-scoring media agency in the UK. To put this in context, 80 points qualifies a business for B Corp Certification. Ordinary businesses who complete the assessment is currently 50.9. We are proud to have set the bar high.

Achieving certification was only the start of our journey towards continuous improvement and collective action. So as part of this, we wanted to share what we’ve done so far and how we’re now living B Corp status.

The best way we can do this is to look at how we behave and what we do as a business according to the five impact areas that B Corp assesses.

Governance 

A company’s overall mission, engagement around its social/environmental impact, ethics, and transparency.

We scored 16.5 out of 25. One of the beauties of being an agile, independent business is that we were able to easily amend our articles of association to require consideration of all stakeholders in decision-making – a key aspect of this area of B Corp impact. The Grove is owner/manager governed, so we were able to score particularly well in the Ethics & Transparency section. We are audited, have a Code of Ethics that we adhere to, and make our financial performance transparent to employees. This approach to governance is central to who we are at The Grove.

Workers 

A company’s contributions to its employees’ financial security, health & safety, wellness, career development, and engagement & satisfaction.

As we have high standards of financial security, health, wellness and safety in the UK, this was another section that was relatively straightforward for us. We scored 68.8 out of 80 in this area. Our score was lifted above the benchmarks by our worker/owner impact business model. The Grove is employee-owned through an Employee Ownership Trust, a vehicle that allows everyone to have their say on the decisions that make a real difference in the running of their company.

Community 

A company’s engagement with and impact on the communities in which it operates, hires from, and sources from.

Our score here was a very respectable 22.2 out of 50. We scored particularly well in the DEI section as we have a very diverse workforce. More than 30% (the highest band) are from a racial or ethnic minority, more 50% (the highest band) are female, and 20-29% of us are under 24 and over 50 (the second highest band). We scored well in civic engagement through our community service and volunteer days, and our people get to choose the charities they want to support (with The Grove matching all donations).

Environment 

A company’s overall environmental management practices as well as its impact on the air, climate, water, land, and biodiversity.

We scored 5.7 out of 20, which while lower than our other areas of impact, is still above benchmarks in terms of country, sector and our size of business. We are doing all we can in terms of energy saving and recycling, within the parameters of what’s possible in our current lease office space. But, at present, we simply have less control over air, climate and water.

Customers 

A company’s stewardship of its customers through the quality of its products and services, ethical marketing, data privacy and security, and feedback channels.

Here we scored 1.5/5 and were very much governed by GDPR policies and third party quality certifications and accreditations. Not all the questions in this section were relevant for us as we don’t have products or services that directly address a social or economic problem for customers.

We are so proud to be one the highest scoring of all the media agencies in the UK that have achieved certification. But we’re clear that B Corp is not an award, it’s about how we operate as a business for the good of people and planet. Everybody at The Grove is committed to this.

As we move forward with ongoing continuous improvement, we are actively involved in many new activities: B Corp new business outreach, networking with other B Corp businesses, carbon-offsetting the printing for letterbox media  (through a B Corp supplier), introducing a wellbeing and mental health initiative for all staff, and we are planning to move to a new more central location next year to cut journey times for our people.

This is living and breathing the B Corp values and we will continuously look to improve on what we do to support our B Corp status.