With a Global View of Success, More Workers Seek Jobs with Purpose
Certified B Corporations are gaining in popularity among entrepreneurs and companies that want to go about making a tidy profit in an ethical way. B Corps are also becoming quite attractive to both the Millennial generation and Generation Z because of the ethical, sustainable approach to business. While the initial idea of a B Corp is attractive in that it is a corporate entity that actually cares about how it affects the world around it, there are a multitude of other reasons as to why working for a B Corp can be beneficial.
Good For You (and the World)
For those starting their careers, B Corps are not only good for the environment but for their workers as well. Larger companies like Patagonia, Bombas, and Leesa Sleep are all Certified B Corporations, and these companies didn’t reach the peak of their success by working their employees to the bone or underpaying them. By their nature, B Corps take a different approach to business that puts the environment and people, including their employees, above profits.
For many B Corps, finding the balance between benefitting the world at large and enhancing employee well-being is paramount to their success as a business. The idea is that when a company’s workers are satisfied with the work-life ratio and appropriately compensated for the hard work that they do, they then put more into the organization itself. This effectively creates a three-way feedback loop benefitting the workers, company, and the world at large in a (hopefully) cascading manner.
B Corps have a distinct advantage over nearly all other corporate models when it comes to providing satisfying work experiences for employees. Ethical businesses have more productive workers in general due to the inherently engaging process of working for a company that shares the same core values as the employees and has a clear, trackable goal to improve the community. Working for a company that actually goes out of its way to ensure above all else that it is making a positive impact instead of simply talking the talk can be inspiring and lead to increased drive and happiness.
Upward Mobility
Beyond their ability to provide a high level of job satisfaction among employees, B Corps tend to take a vested interest in helping workers improve themselves and achieve goals even outside of work. B Corps are often known to pay for around 50% of their employees’ professional development opportunities, which makes it easier to develop new skills and advance within the company.
Good B Corps will have a dedicated chief learning officer on their staff to help employees find ways to improve themselves. The learning leader exists primarily to not only ensure that new hires are trained appropriately but also to facilitate new learning opportunities for employees, allowing them every chance to gain a deeper breadth of knowledge about the company and its inner workings. B Corps are interested in investing in their employees just as much as they are in the world at large.
This also goes beyond simply fostering employees’ abilities to further gain education and skills. B Corps are known to give their employees the tools that they need to benefit their communities, providing opportunities to reach out and engage in activism and charity work that they hold dear and give them the ability to rise up within the company and use their platforms to further engage in community building.
Attracting Strong Talent
Finally, B Corps simply attract more and better talent than other corporate models. There are many reasons for this, but one of the biggest draws for workers is the fact that B Corps are purpose-driven by design. Working for a B Corp is effectively a guarantee that someone’s labor and time are being used in a way that directly impacts the local and global community in a positive manner.
This is especially true of younger generations of workers who hold the ideals of renewability and sustainability dear to their hearts. When a Millennial or Generation Z worker sees that a company is going out of its way to make sure that its operations invest in and operate off renewable, green energy, it can be the factor that tips their decision whether to pursue a career with that company.
If someone is driven by social, economic, or environmental issues, they’re more likely to find a great, fulfilling job at a B Corp. When an employer is driven by values and goals that resonate with generations of workers, they are likely to attract those very workers for the opportunity to help them achieve what they’re working toward while making a living.
B Corps are popular for all the right reasons. They work for the benefit of not just themselves, but ideally every single person that their business touches in even the most minute way. This includes their workers, which means that the benefits of working for a B Corp are not just intrinsic, but real and tangible.
B the Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
The Benefits of Working for a B Corp was originally published in B The Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
