Submitting Our B Impact Assessment | Plank

For those of you who have been following along the past couple of months, you know that our team has taken on the challenge of becoming a Certified B Corporation and joining thousands of leaders in the global movement of people using business as a force for good. 

Well… we have some exciting news to share!

After a busy 9 months of brainstorming, writing, documenting, and a lot of teamwork, we have officially submitted our B Impact Assessment (BIA) for review — with a score of 100.9!

Our next steps

With so many companies taking the leap to become a Certified B Corporation, the estimated wait times are lengthy — which, ultimately, is a good thing! This also means that it will take a few months to be assigned a B Lab reviewer, and then a few more months of waiting once all of our final documentation is submitted.

However, we aren’t just going to wait around until the review process begins! We have taken it upon ourselves to implement new changes to Plank that we will be rolling out over the next few months. These changes will not only make Plank stronger but also a more responsible company.

Helpful Tip: If your company is going through the BIA completion now, we highly recommend documenting everything as you go! Not only will it confirm that your answers are fully accurate, but it will also help speed up the review process when you get there!

This is only the beginning!

The submission process was by no means easy. But it was rewarding. We are so excited to be on this journey and to be joining such an important movement. 

I am beyond grateful to have been given the opportunity to lead this process and work alongside a team that was passionate about making Plank a more responsible company. 

Having the support of Plank’s leadership to dedicate hundreds of the team’s hours to completing this assessment is one thing — witnessing their complete engagement and enthusiasm to make significant changes to some of the company’s practices is even more incredible. Steve & Warren have been all-in from the very beginning, and they have fully immersed themselves into this endeavour. Part of the reason is that Plank has been on this path for a long time, and it aligns with a lot of the things that they have done for the company over many years. The other part being that they are progressive, trusting, egoless leaders that want the absolute best for Plank, its people, and beyond. 

This is not just a certification, our pursuit of B Corp status offers us a framework for continuous learning, growth, improvement, and a way to demonstrate that commitment. It allows us to keep progressing towards better business practices, and to contribute to a global economy that uses business as a force for good.

Sustainable change

Over the next little while, we will be sharing some of Plank’s new and existing company practices that we are proud of and that align with B Corp — across all sections of the BIA: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers. We hope that we can inspire other companies to read through some of these initiatives and maybe even adopt a few!

We also look to this entire experience as an opportunity to learn from others, in order to keep making Plank a better place for our team, our clients, our partners, and everyone who helps make this company the wonderful place it is today. We know that we are just at the beginning of this journey and are committed to continuously improving Plank to better balance people, profit, and the planet. 

We don’t have all the answers, but luckily there’s a whole world of companies out there that inspire us every day to make Plank better. If you or your company does something that provides additional value to your stakeholders, we would love to hear about it!

Stay tuned to learn more about what we’ve been up to throughout this process. We’re happy to have you along for the journey!