In the first in our new series of Better Business features, we shine the spotlight on OrangeDoor, which has achieved B Corp Certification, confirming the agency’s commitment to purposeful change and creating a more sustainable and positive future.

B Corp is awarded to organisations that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials. The process to achieve and maintain certification is rigorous and requires engaging teams and departments across the business.

OrangeDoor undertook a significant review of its people’s personal values and drivers and expanded its existing employee focused approach to implement an extensive list of fresh ways of working and new practices. The agency now measures 195 KPIs within 26 impact topics in six impact areas:  governance, workers, community, customers, disclosures, environment.

Lynn Mackeonis​, the agency’s head of talent & HR, is passionate about sustainability and has championed the B Corp certification process internally.

“It’s not just about environmental sustainability, it’s very much about the people side of things, which has been a core focus for us. We restructured the business and formulated a new pattern of working, which took some months to bed in. B Corp has changed everything about the way we work, how we look after our people and how we look at our environmental impact,” she explained.

OrangeDoor’s MD Dina Green added: “We changed our governance and Articles of Association and signed an official legal document to say we are committed to balancing people, planet and profit, which is a requirement of the B Corp process. You must assess and review all the policies within your business and your Code of Ethics, but it’s not just about changing them on a piece of paper, we must live those principles day-to-day.”

New policies and activities have included: a new menopause policy and a breastfeeding policy; full wellbeing programme and all staff activity programme including family events; an Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion recruitment policy; a Responsible Sourcing policy; and an improved Environmental policy.

Green says that it has also changed the way the agency works with both clients and suppliers. “We are much more proactive in talking to clients about sustainability. We never send out a proposal to a client without options for them to be able to make their event more environmentally friendly.

“We have overhauled our preferred supplier list, and every supplier on our list must answer questions about what they are doing about sustainability and meet certain standards. Where possible, we try to help suppliers with what they need to change to be better and make it onto our preferred list. ED&I is also an important part of our supplier selection process, supporting ethnic minority and female-owned businesses, as well as our own internal recruitment process.”

The agency has hired from the Government’s KICKSTART scheme and supported initiatives such as The Collaborative Future and the Creative Mentor Network, run the UK Creative Festival, whose purpose is to improve diversity in the UK’s creative sector, at cost, and advised the Creative Foundation, DWEN and WEConnect International pro bono.

Elizabeth Heron, OrangeDoor CEO and Founder, said: “We are unbelievably proud to have achieved B Corp Certification. We believe it is one of the most important initiatives of our lifetime and is built on the simple fact that business impacts on, and serves, more than just shareholders – it has an equal responsibility to the community and to the planet.

“We will use it as a framework to power our business behaviours and as a force for good. It will enable us to connect our values to real action. But more importantly it will help us create a kinder approach to our people and partners.”