Hallam
Hallam is an award-winning digital marketing agency with offices in Nottingham & London, UK. They’re making a fundamental shift from being a profit-led to a purpose-driven business, and joining the huge, global B Corp movement in the process. Green Small Business certification was a key part of their efforts to achieve B Corp status.
Issues addressed in their Green Small Business action plan included: energy use, homeworking, business travel, design & delivery of projects and company administration.
“We believe businesses have a role to play in creating a future that works for everyone. And for us that’s meant shifting from a shareholder approach to business – where profits are prioritised above all else – to a stakeholder approach to business.
We want to have a positive impact on people – our employees, our clients and our communities – as well as on the planet. And if we do those things right, we believe the profit will follow. That’s why we’ve decided to apply for B Corp certification.
Putting in place a robust Environmental Management System (EMS) is a key part of our commitment to minimising our impact on the environment. As a small business with limited time and resources, it didn’t make sense for us to pursue the ISO 14001 certification. But when our B Leader recommended Green Small Business as a way to follow the principles of ISO 14001 but tailor it to our size and where we are on our journey, it made complete sense.
Tim’s audit was comprehensive and our EMS action plan covers everything from running and cleaning our office to providing employee snacks to business and commuting travel to company administration. With our hybrid working model, we even have a section about encouraging staff to consider the environment in their home office set-ups.
Many of the areas covered by the EMS were new to me personally as well as to the company, so working with Tim at Green Small Business gave us a structured framework with clear steps we can follow to better manage our environmental impacts as well as ideas on how to reduce our carbon footprint.
Having a third party certification also signals to the marketplace that we are taking our responsibility to do business better seriously.”