Our B Corp journey
B Corp is a global community of businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental impact. We're sharing our story to help other businesses understand what it takes to become a B Corp.
It's official — we're a B Corp!
Since our inception, the principles of the B CorpTM movement were in our DNA, and now, it's official. We're a B Corp! B Corp is a movement of companies working to be the change we all want to see in the world. But what was Superscript's motivation to become a B Corp and what was the process like?
We speak to both the driving force behind our successful application, our Head of Claims, Laura — and to Harry from Seismic, the company that supported us on our journey to help other businesses understand what it takes to become a B Corp.
What motivated Superscript to become a B Corp?
Laura: "B Corp is about building better businesses, and doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do — not because it leads to massive profits.
I saw this as a great opportunity to shout more about the amazing things we were already doing as a business. Not just in terms of our company culture, the way we work for better outcomes for our customers, or our environmental efforts, but also the charity work we do.
We take becoming a B Corp very seriously, it's not just a checkbox exercise for us. Instead it shows we’re living and breathing these values and that they are at the heart of everything we do."
What were the key steps and milestones in Superscript achieving B Corp status?
Harry: "We started supporting Superscript by measuring their B Corp baseline. This involved talking to stakeholders from teams across the business and reviewing documentation to understand their impact and determine their B Corp score.
Measuring the baseline score with a high level of accuracy is where a lot of companies fall down, so it was really important for us to make sure the initial run-through of the framework was robust.
We then developed a tailored action plan, in line with company strategy and values, to help Superscript implement improvements that would ensure they reach above the 80-point B Corp certification threshold."
What surprised you most about the B Corp application process?
Larua: "Just how in-depth it is.
The application has over 200 questions in total which look at every aspect of the business from how your employees feel and how they’re treated, how you support your local community and local businesses, your ethics and governance structures and even your impact on the environment.
For each response, you’re expected to be able to provide documentary evidence to support your answers — so it’s no small task."
What was the biggest challenge in the process of becoming a B Corp?
Laura: "As a business, we were already doing a lot of amazing things which align with the B Corp values. Our biggest issue was that not everything was formalised in a policy or stored in one central location.
It has been something of a marathon collating and documenting everything to be able to demonstrate everything we do. And while this has been challenging, it has helped us to focus on those areas which need a little more attention and to ensure we can talk about other positive changes as part of future Impact Reports."
What do you think other businesses could learn by going through the B Corp application?
Laura: "I think other businesses may be surprised by how much they’re already doing which aligns with B Corp. Once you take the time to document and write down all the work you’re already doing to support your employees, the environment and your local community, you may be surprised!
Going through the Impact Assessment is a really good way to gauge where you are versus where you’d like to be. It gives you a clear indication of where you need to be focusing your time and attention.
The Impact Assessment is free to complete and to access so I’d encourage businesses thinking about starting their B Corp journey to take a look."
What's a common factor Seismic Change sees when supporting companies in achieving B Corp status?
Harry: "52% of businesses fail on their first attempt to certify as a B Corp. This is because many businesses underestimate the transformational change that is required to become a B Corp.
Understanding the framework can be overwhelming as it covers so many topics, and translating it into an easy-to-implement action plan can be complicated."
Why did Superscript decide to engage an agency in the application process?
Laura: "We wanted to ensure that we were going about the process of becoming a B Corp correctly, that’s why we felt it was best to engage experts who were familiar with the process to help us.
The application itself is no small task and having the support of Seismic has meant that the process of calculating our baseline and potential final score could run smoothly."
What’s the best thing about the work you do at Seismic Change?
Harry: "100% of the clients we’ve helped through the framework have certified on their first attempt. Our approach allows your teams to minimise their time input, staying close to the whole process for maximum learning.
We excel in B Corp because we bring together sustainability strategists, communication consultants and carbon experts to extract the most value in the least amount of time, enabling your business to succeed through commercial and environmental activation."
What's next for Superscript as a B Corp?
Laura: "Achieving B Corp status is not the end of the journey for Superscript. It’s not just a one-time thing and we’ll be looking to re-certify in a few years, as per the B Lab rules.
As part of this, we’ll be producing Impact Reports which document where we want to be, the improvements we’re making and the work we’re doing to support others.
One of our other environmental commitments is to be net zero by 2030 and this will likely be the next large project we’ll be focusing on."
Meet Laura, Head of Claims at Superscript
A dual-qualified lawyer in the UK and Australia, our Head of Claims Laura has over twelve years' experience in the insurance industry. She leads Superscript’s in-house claims team, which is committed to providing support and guidance to our clients, ensuring every claims experience is a positive one.
Laura lead our B Corp project. She's a diversity and inclusion advocate and has worked with ISC Group — a not-for-profit championing equal representation for women in insurance, and with iDAWN — the Insurance Disability, Ability and Wellbeing Network.
Meet Harry, Principal Consultant at Seismic Change
Seismic works with a range of companies embarking on their sustainability journey. It supports companies that are right at the beginning of their journey and need help in understanding how to measure and improve their impact, and it also supports more advanced companies, like Patagonia and Innocent Drinks.
The Seismic team provides sustainability advisory focusing on: sustainability strategy, ESG reporting and disclosure, B Corp, carbon and net zero, capacity building and communications.
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