Making a positive impact on the world, being an ethical business; these are the high ideals we should all be striving for. But how can you create a business for good?
As with so many things in life, the answer here is ‘it’s complicated’. There is no one-size-fits-all neat little answer. Instead, the outlook and approach you take to running your business is what’s key.
What Makes A Business For Good?
As a rule, a business for good will be an organisation that doesn’t do any of the following:
damage the environment
exploit its workforce (for example, by paying low wages)
produces products / provides services which are harmful or dangerous
With the above in mind, creating a business for good can simply be a case of asking yourself the following questions:
Is my business damaging the environment?
Is my business exploiting my workforce?
Is my business producing products and / or providing services which are harmful or dangerous?
While there are complexities to the above questions and each business will respond to them differently depending on a variety of circumstances, these are certainly the initial questions you should be asking when running your business on a day to day basis.
Damaging The Environment
Whether your business is damaging the environment or not isn’t always as simple a question to answer as it may at first seem. Your ‘main’ business (for example, selling recycled products) may have the appearance of not damaging the environment, but then questions must be asked about how your business is run on a more detailed level.
How are your products delivered within your supply chain? How is the electricity generated that powers your shop / office? Is your website hosted on a sustainable platform?
The exact questions one must ask will be dependent on the specifics of your business, though a Sustainable Impact Agency can help here (it’s what they do every day!).
Exploiting Your Workforce
As the example above stated, this can be as simple as ensuring no one within your organisation is being paid an unfairly low wage. However, you should also ensure no one within your supply chain is being exploited in any way - not just your direct workforce.
This can involve some research but any supplier you work with who isn’t open about how they treat their workforce might well be viewed with at least some suspicion.
Be open and honest about why you’re asking questions about how they treat their workforce, and where possible, discuss with members of staff that you come into contact with - not just those on a management level.
Harmful Or Dangerous Products / Services
Are you producing weapons, alcohol, or tobacco? Are you a gambling firm?
We hope not! We imagine that anyone who has come to our site to read this post at the very least knows that the above examples, though not an exhaustive list, would be considered to be harmful or dangerous products / services.
Not all harmful or dangerous products / services are as obvious as those listed above though. As such, ask yourself whether the products / services that your business provides can be seen as harmful or dangerous in any way?
It may be that yes, the product you produce could be dangerous but only in certain circumstances (for example, if a child were to swallow a small part from the product you produce). This is still worth noting as your business may be able to address this - for example; changing the manufacture to enable the item to be smaller, warning label additions, etc.
Think about anyone who could come into contact with your product or service and imagine how they could be affected by it in any way. This exercise could even help you realise different positive ways in which your product / service is used!
Asking your entire workforce, plus external voices to help you gather a more diverse opinion here.
Solutions
There are myriad solutions to how you can create a business for good following the above questions.
The Better Business Act
The Better Business Act is a proposal to amend Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 so that companies are legally obligated to operate in a manner that benefits their stakeholders, including workers, customers, communities and the environment, while seeking to deliver profits for shareholders.
Which is a long winded way of saying that it’s a better way of doing business. It’s not all about profit. It’s about helping people and the planet.
If you would like to learn more about the Better Business Act, please read our blog post here.
Sustainable Impact Agency
Here at betternotstop we operate as a Sustainable Impact Agency, helping purpose-driven businesses to implement strategies, policies and frameworks like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, B Corp Certification and more to help increase their revenue, customer base and employee retention.
We work with companies worldwide to implement sustainable strategies and frameworks that give as much consideration to social and environmental impact as they do to financial returns.
We do this because we believe that every business has the ability and responsibility to make the world better.
If you would like to learn more about how betternotstop can help your company to become a business for good then please get in touch via our Contact Page.
B Corp Certification
As mentioned above, becoming a B Corp is a great opportunity for businesses to showcase to their existing and prospective customers / clients that they are committed to being a business for good. The B in B Corps stands for ‘beneficial’.
It indicates that the business voluntarily meets certain standards of transparency, accountability, sustainability and performance. That the business aim to create value for society, not just for traditional stakeholders such as the shareholder
You can read more about how and why businesses become a B Corp in our blog post here.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all; 17 interlinked global goals that form the basis of a plan to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and protect the planet.
It is of vital importance that the UN’s SDGs are met.
To learn more about the UN SGDs, please read our blog post here.
The Better Business Network
Our sister company, The Better Business Network (BBN) is also available to help in the aim of becoming a business for good. It is a community for like-minded businesses that want to create positive action. The BBN connect and support businesses to increase their impact and income.
Businesses within the network support one another and provide helpful tips and solutions to each other - all with the aim of being ethical businesses for good. The network itself provides regularly updated tools and resources for the members to assist here too, alongside workshops and much much more.
To find out more about The Better Business Network, click here.
