Prior to exhibiting at Utilityweek Live in May 2022 we carried out market research to determine which companies were actively looking at their sustainability via their website, i.e actively demonstrating either through a sustainability statement or highlighting key initiatives underpinning sustainability.
Out of the 100 exhibitors at Utilityweek 2022 there were 2 companies that were B Corp Certified*. Ground Control a Sustainable Business as a B Corp that we caught up with on the day and after to find out why they felt B Corp was relevant to them and the benefits of being B Corp.
Background to B Corp
B Corp was started in The B Corporation was founded in 2006 by Coen Gilbert, Bart Houlahan, and Andrew Kassoy, B Lab, “a non-profit organisation that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good” as stated by the B lab 2022.
Today there are over 5,000 Certified B Corps (over seven hundred are within the UK) spread over 80 countries and 154 Industries. Being Sustainable Business as a B Corp shows an increase in business models that incorporate stakeholders’ interests and businesses that measure the social and environmental performances of their supply chains. Businesses are utilising impact data to make future procurement decisions which can increase economic opportunity for the most marginalised groups in society.
Find out more on B Corp – here
Background to Ground Control
Create. Maintain. Sustain.
It’s our vision to leave the world in a better place than we found it
Ground Control provides various services from grounds maintenance, construction, winter maintenance, arboriculture, and consultancy for over 700 clients and growing.
https://www.ground-control.co.uk/
Our conversation with Ground Control as a B Corp certified company
Conversation with Chloe Muirhead, written by Bryony Roberts and reviewed by Claire Shead.
When did you decide to do B Corp?
We started our journey into B Corp in 2019, it had been discussed previously but a decision had not been made to commit to this until it was taken in late 2019 at the board level. From July 2020 to September 2020, we focused on the quick wins and identified those areas which would need a bigger project to achieve the requirements of the B Corp Assessment.
We submitted our B Corp Assessment in September 2020 and joined the queue to be assessed by B Lab. This is the only way you can be formally assessed and certified, there were some delays and so its recommended to keep in touch once you have submitted to ensure that all the aspects are correct as we subsequently found we had been allocated into the wrong pathway, and as we were continuing to grow through acquisition and organic growth, by January 2022 we realised that we had outgrown our Tier, and this required us to go back and update our assessment to the level we were now working at.
We were awarded our B Corp Status in March 2022
Why did you decide to be B Corp?
We went for B Corp as we wanted verification for what practices we were already doing within the company, supporting those who need ground maintenance, and we have an impact on the environment. Our director and shared owner Simon Moorish is involved and keen to reduce our impact through the work we do so we had the commitment from the very top.
We wanted the external benchmark to ensure we were doing the right thing, underpinning the long-term initiative.
What was your initial business challenges?
We wanted to ensure the Living wage for all our employees, and these do cover independent contractors who didn’t necessarily see why this is a requirement, we had discussed this need previously, but the B Corp Assessment helped to highlight the important conversations, and this became a must-do in our business and those who were not prepared to support the living wage any longer are a part of Ground Control.
We suffered with loss of key personnel during Covid, and it really highlighted the importance of writing down the projects and initiatives which get adopted by a company, through strong leadership, but can get forgotten or lost as the company continues to grow if it’s not available without key leadership. We now have everything written down and measured so that we can address any areas of concern before it impacts the business.
The B Corp assessment helps you to realise what are the must-do requirements in your business and starts to highlight what is important to you and have those conversations which tend to get pushed back.
What other resources had you used or now use?
We had already taken the decision to be Carbon Neutral by 2025, we have been working with the Carbon Trust to measure the impact of our processes, with 95% of our carbon is created by the machinery we use, but the technology is not there currently – though we are constantly chasing Ford to release electric vans.
Our company cars are all electric with a contract with Tesla and we provide home and business EV chargers for our staff.
How do you monitor your Social Responsibility?
We had adopted the TOMs framework to monitor our Social Responsibility. The National TOMs framework is widely recognised as the best standard for measuring and reporting on social value. It’s used by organisations in central and local governments, education, health, housing, blue light services, industry bodies, businesses and third sector organisations.
More information can be found here
As a company that works with the environment, was B Corp easier for you to achieve?
Our business is to create biodiversity, but it has to be client driven so it’s not necessarily great and this had more of a detriment on the B Corp Assessment as we could be clearing a section to protect telephone wires which means taking out or removing trees, which is not looked on favorably, and 95% of our business is client driven.
We offer services to look to encourage clients to add more biodiversity into their landscapes and business locations or home networks and this work and the community projects we are involved in helped to mitigate some of the negative impact services that we carry out on behalf of clients.
How did the legal aspect of B Corp affect the company?
There are requirements from B Corp that need to be written into your terms and memorandum as a company, to be B Corp certified and these need to be accepted. Its what our board wanted, and we are privately owned, and our governance is by the majority, so this was never an issue for us.
What help did you get going B Corp?
We managed the B Corp Assessment ourselves working with the senior management team across the business. When we got notified that we had been on the wrong pathway, through no fault of our own we were offered consultancy support from B Corp to review our submission as we had been waiting already and this did help validate our assessment around how we had looked at our supply chain in the worker’s section, as some can work up to 40hour per week for us.
What does your supply chain look like?
We have a field team in our supply chain which consists of independent contractors working a variety of hours for us in different capacities and projects and an internal supply chain supporting the company and this raised opportunities that the Head of Procurement had already started to address and was further supported by the assessment requirements through applying a supplier code of conduct and the introduction of quarterly reviews to ensure accountability and integrity to what we were working to achieve.
What other processes got strengthened through the B Corp assessment?
We have a clear hiring process active across the company and we had already engaged with ITC to review our hiring practices, and this approach was further complimented by the B Corp assessment with the diversity in hire, Standard text added to job descriptions, Gender neutrality, and blind interviews, now all managed by our hiring system and controlled centrally, driven by our onboarding policy.
Recommendations for other companies thinking about B Corp?
Write down your processes, making sure they are embedded and clear, we had already started our journey and the B Corp assessment helped to direct that conversation and validate that what we had started was the right direction.
What benefits do you now have as a B Corp certified company?
The benefits are we now have clear policies and procedures, allowing for quicker decisions in line with our objectives and we continue to improve our record-keeping and benchmarking process to achieve better levels.
Our goals are now more established around waste and water which wasn’t being tracked prior to starting out in our B Corp journey but now remains a firm part of our sustainability journey. The projects and focus which we now have around biodiversity, B Corp, Carbon reduction, and working with the Carbon Trust now allow us to have a simple clear plan which captures the essence of what we want to achieve, and with a large client base helps to focus those conversations as to what we are doing rather than a confused awkward plan driven by the clients.
We are committed to sustainability rather than just getting the badge on the wall and that passion is throughout Ground Control in everything we do. Our 5-year plan is now more aggressive with increased revenue and diversification of our services but with regular monitoring, we are able to manage each department’s growth to ensure sustainable practices as well as increased customer satisfaction.
Key takeaways:
Write it down, embed processes and make them clear and train new employees to the processes set.
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