Zen is now B Corp accredited

We’re delighted to now be part of the B Corp community. We’ve joined a growing number of companies who are dedicated to a better way of doing business. It’s a commitment to pursue purpose as well as profit – in a nutshell, a formal declaration that our ultimate purpose is not to provide a return to shareholders but to make a positive contribution to our people, our customers, our community and the environment.

And in joining this growing community we’re making sure that those commitments are more central to Zen than ever before.

In fact, part of the process of becoming a B Corp means that these objectives have been written into our articles of association. That means they’re now part of our business regulations – we’re that serious about this.

What is B Corp?

Let’s take a step back for a moment. B Lab – the nonprofit behind B Corp certification – was established in 2006, with the first B Corps certified in 2007. Just 13 years later, there are now more than 3,500 certified B Corp businesses worldwide, and more than 330 in the UK.

As a certified B Corporation, we’re legally required to consider the impact of our decisions not only on profit but also on people and the planet.

And although becoming a B Corp is voluntary, the entry requirements are demanding. We’re not only holding ourselves to a higher standard, but we’re also part of a community that will do the same.

Why are we doing this?

At Zen, we see this as a natural extension to what we’ve already been doing. From the day we started 25 years ago our most important goal has always been ‘happy people, happy customers, happy suppliers’.

These ‘happiness’ objectives have shaped much of what we’ve done ever since. Putting people first and leaving a lasting legacy has always been important to us, but now we’re making a formal commitment to the same.

When we used the B Corp Business Impact Assessment (BIA) tool however, we realised that we could do a better job at formalising and documenting some of these practices. Using the BIA has helped us to do this better, to understand the impact of the things we do and to learn and improve.

What makes Zen a B Corp?

Those long term ‘happiness’ objectives have always shaped the way we do business. We think that while profit is obviously important, it shouldn’t define a business and it certainly isn’t the only important thing.

We’re committed to our people; to providing outstanding benefits and maintaining an ongoing programme of health and wellbeing initiatives.

We’re committed to our local community – from fundraising to practical work and making our area a great place to live and work.

And we’re committed to the wider environment – from our energy supplies to reducing waste and most recently achieving Carbon Neutral Plus status.

We also recognise that truly making a difference means never standing still. We’re always looking for better ways to do business, and this will never change.

Like what?

We’ve recently turned our attention to the importance of Diversity and Inclusion. Of course, this is something we’ve always believed in, but we’ve made it our mission this year to increase and improve representation of marginalised groups. This includes having a newly formed Diversity & Inclusion Steering Group within the business.

We remain committed to providing financial support for local charities – and are proud to say that our chosen charity for 2020, Rochdale Mind, will remain our chosen charity for the next 12 months as well.

And of course, we remain committed to improving and doing better in all the other areas too. We believe that business should be a force for good, and we believe that being a B Corp can help us achieve that vision.

Read our story here