We are very proud to announce that Core3 have received our official B Corp certification. It’s been a long time coming but now we are over the moon. For us, it’s so much more than just a stamp of approval, it solidifies our purpose, and that’s why we are delighted. Achieving B Corp certification has been a serious pursuit and it’s a recognition of our mission to change the face of finance recruitment, one placement at a time.
The back story from our Founder, Leo Hewett
If you rewind a few years to when Core3 was in its infancy, for me, it was about building a finance recruitment company that aligned with my values as a human being. Something that reimagined what recruitment should look like and truly puts people before profits. Looking back, my values were engrained in me by my Mum (Louise Hewett), who is a true inspiration to me. She too had her own recruitment business for 40 years and always gave back to local good causes. A seasoned business owner who has used her position to become involved in a lot of charity and community work, she now holds the position of High Sheriff of Worcester with a continued focus in helping her local community.
Over the years, watching my Mum’s sense of corporate responsibility has affected me deeply and she taught me about integrity, doing the right thing and the importance of “giving back”. It all resulted in my desire to do business in a way that benefits everyone, not just myself, which is why I launched Core3.
When exploring what good business should look like, I discovered the concept of ‘conscious capitalism’ (a socially responsible economic and political philosophy created by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia), whose underlying premise is that businesses should operate ethically while they pursue profits. This means they should consider serving all stakeholders, including their employees, humanity at large and the environment—not just their management teams and shareholders. Conscious capitalism’s four guiding principles are having a higher purpose, stakeholder orientation, conscious leadership and a conscious culture.
I spent a lot of time thinking how I could adapt this philosophy for a finance recruitment company and that’s how our “conscious recruitment” mindset was born. It was only after having launched Core 3 along these lines that I discovered B Corp and realised that becoming a B Corp would further solidify our purpose. The B Corp expectations hold us accountable for everything that we do on a day-to-day basis. The B Corp structure would help us stick to what we were setting out to do. We had to view everything that we did through a B Corp lens, from articles of association through to governance, policies, social and environmental responsibility, everything had to go through the B Corp assessment – and we had to ensure we had the evidence to back it up. It certainly was not easy applying the B Corp framework to our business (it took over 18 months and a personal investment of around 200 hours of my time) but it has made our offering authentic, and it’s woven our purpose into the fabric of our business. We can say with confidence that we practice what we preach and we are held accountable on a daily basis.
So what does becoming a B Corp involve?
Well, there are five pillars within a business that must all meet the B Corp standard in order for that business to achieve certification. These pillars are governance, workers, customers, environment and community.
Governance: B Corps have an overall mission, ethics, accountability, transparency and builds their vision and values into their bylaws. They work hard to engage employees, board members and the community to achieve their mission, as well as improving employee access to financial information, customers’ opportunities to provide feedback, and the diversity of their governing bodies.
Workers: B Corps create positive impacts for their workforce around employee compensation, benefits, training and ownership opportunities, working communication, job flexibility and worker health, safety practices and overall work conditions.
Customers: B Corps serve their customers, offering products or services that support the greater good, adding value to customers lives by providing critical services like education, employment, healthcare, and finance management, as well as engaging in ethical marketing, data privacy and security, and feedback channels.
Environment: B Corps work towards a more sustainable and regenerative planet by reducing their footprint and putting their impact on the climate, water, land, and biodiversity first in their business practices. They assess the impact of their facilities, materials, emissions, and resource and energy use, as well as transportation/distribution channels and the environmental impact of their supply chain.
Community: B Corps contribute to the economic and social well-being of the communities in which they operate, exploring initiatives and policies directed at community impact, including embracing local supplier relations, social engagement, charitable giving, and strong, diverse communities.
Once you have collated your evidence to meet these requirements, then a rigorous Audit process takes place. A score of 80 and above will achieve the B Corp certification, and we are proud to have scored 101.4 on our first attempt… but our journey has only just begun. The Audit process takes place every 3 years with the goal to continuously improve our impact.
B Corp Certification speaks for itself that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency. And considering all of the this, for us, although achieving B Corp status for our own finance recruitment company has been quite an undertaking, it has been thoroughly worthwhile. I would recommend this journey to anyone who wants to use their business not only to make a profit but also to contribute to the greater good along the way.
