Signal’s B Corp Certification: The What, The Why, and The Where Next
In 2023, I approached a conversation with my assistant about what I had in mind for Signal’s future.
One of the goals I had was for Signal Operations to become a B Corp Certified business.
What is a B Corp Certified Business?
A B Corp Certified business is a company that meets high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Certified by B Lab, a nonprofit organization, B Corps are committed to balancing profit with purpose by considering the impact of their decisions on employees, customers, suppliers, communities, and the environment.
Why Did We Make This a Goal?
If you’ve been around Signal for a while, we are a conscious company, always thinking about the world we live in, environmentally and socially. Setting this goal wasn’t about prestige, it was about making a stance about the need for better business.
We’ve all been shown how unchecked corporate greed can create an unbearable, toxic environment, exploiting workers and resources with little care about not just their customers, but anything that they deem “not worth their time or money”.
This is why for us, becoming a B Corp Certified Business was about joining a community taking a stance and committing to changing how business is done, that preserves respect, empathy, and sustainability in all aspects.
The Journey
The B Corp Certification process is not for the faint of heart. It is time-consuming and thorough. It looks at multiple different aspects of your business, internal structure as it relates to your processes, your employees, as well as your client-facing policies, the environmental impact of your business etc.
Over the year (ish) it took to complete the application and verification process, we created new policies, new documents, and new processes. It was exactly what Signal needed to reignite a company-wide commitment.
There were a few things however that made our B Corp certification process smoother, which were:
Have a conversation with someone familiar with the process
The conversation helped us to understand the time the process would take, the way they “score” applications the areas of business examined, and the work we needed to do.
Make it a team effort
You don’t want too many cooks in the kitchen, but an extra hand or two to help you with your application, especially in retrieving and creating the necessary documents for examination, is a good idea for breaking up and conquering information gathering.
Regularly check in about where you are in the B Corp certification process
Dedicating time to connecting with your team who is helping you will help keep everyone on the same page in knowing the progress being made. Asking for updates on documents, question completion, roadblocks experienced etc., will keep everyone engaged and focused. As well, this will ensure your B Corp application stays top of mind so that it doesn’t get put aside.
Post-Certification
Fast forward to today, Signal is a B Corp Certified business and it has been incredible to be connected to an even bigger network of like-minded businesses, as community members but as consumers as well.
Becoming a part of this community has also helped us to trust ourselves more, as this was a big milestone. This long process confronted our strengths and weaknesses, but resilience was at the forefront every day and we certainly persevered.
Now, we’re excited to see where our B Corp journey will take us in 2025!
You can learn more about B Corp Certification here.