Jessica Albright

5 main challenges to fulfill the B Corp mission: establishing documentation processes, connecting with other Certified B Corporations, encouraging engagement among employees, supporting social and political initiatives, & providing a pathway to other Missouri-based Benefit Corps.

Becoming a Certified B Corporation™ comes with many benefits, most of them extending beyond the walls of the company and into the hands of employees, community members, and industry partners. The designation makes the meticulous and rigorous process to certification well worth the endeavor. In 2021, Brewer Science announced that it’s the first company in the semiconductor industry to become a Certified B Corporation. Our journey to become a Certified B Corporation inspired us to share our top five reasons for meeting the high standards the designation sets for both environmental and social responsibility. 1. Pave a pathway for continuous improvement B Lab™, the certifying organization for B Corps, believes in continuous improvement, and B Corps must create an improvement plan to demonstrate the areas of social and environmental performance they focus on in the coming years. Brewer Science will hold B Corp certification for three years before submitting to a renewal process. In order to be recertified, a company must score higher on recertification than on the previous certification. The assessment evaluates all facets of the company, and it’s a learning process to help the company target and identify ways to improve business practices. Brewer Science has already identified improvement areas for the recertification. We’ve implemented several human resource initiatives that are not written into policy yet, such as flexible and expanded work options. Additionally, we have expanded our use of a cloud-based learning platform to provide employees with more training options and performance conversations held quarterly instead of annually. Brewer Science scored many points for community involvement and charitable giving. However, we are still expanding community engagement by supporting or donating to a new local organization each month. Brewer Science became Certified Employee-Owned in 2020, but since it was the first year of the ESOP and shares were not yet dispersed, B Lab didn’t fully recognize the program. 2. Share the values of your stakeholders In 2006, Brewer Science started externally reporting environmental, safety, and health performance every year through its annual Corporate Sustainability Report in order to be transparent with customers, suppliers, and employees. The impact of this report on all of our stakeholders motivated us to pursue other ways to promote sustainability and inclusion as a shared asset for our customers and suppliers. In 2016, Brewer Science became GreenCircle Certified Zero Waste to Landfill, an annual certification that we have achieved every year since then. Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. The standard is highly respected standard, in part because of B Lab’s rigor with the questionnaire and certification process. Not only does becoming a B Corp show your stakeholders that you care, and that you are walking the walk, but it also allows you to show how much your company cares through your B Corp Impact Area. Brewer Science pursued the impact area of environmentally innovative manufacturing, a category that required detailed evidence of how Brewer Science manages the manufacturing waste and minimizes its carbon footprint. The B Impact Area Scores reflect the five areas where the business excels. 3. Be competitive in an industry that demands sustainability and social responsibility Sustainability is of growing importance in the semiconductor industry. A company can convey its commitment to sustainability by becoming a Certified B Corp. The B Impact Assessment requires benchmarking to other companies in the industry in areas of social concern, such as sustainability, inclusion, and diversity. While benchmarking was nearly impossible for Brewer Science since we rank high as an innovator in these areas, we were able to not only set the benchmark for ourselves, but other industry partners who pursue B Corp certification in the future through our collaboration with B Lab. 4. Connect with a community that cares Becoming a Certified B Corporation instantly opens companies up to a network of other B Corps across the world. The more than 4,000 B Corps in 150 industries and 74 countries enables makes it easy to network in the areas such as environmental initiatives, attracting top talent, and even just using business as a force for good in the semiconductor industry. Knowing that a business is actively trying to make a positive social change will help attract top talent looking to find meaning in their careers. B Corp certification validates a company’s employee-centric culture, which can help beef up employee retention. What’s more, an exclusive job posting board called B Work, sponsored in part by B Lab, helps connect job seekers with companies that share their values. Employees are connected through an exclusive B Corporation community platform, B Hive, enabling them to collaborate and share ideas with other B Corp employees. There is also a section within the B Hive where other B Corps can share benefits with other B Corp member employees. With such a diverse range of companies that are Certified B Corps, shared benefits can include anything from discounted clothing to travel deals or even free consultations. Additionally, employees of B Corporations can collaborate on local recycling events and community engagement. 5. The bottom line Companies don’t pursue the Certified B Corp designation to drive improvements to their bottom line. Yet by sharpening their focus on environmentally sustainable initiatives and diversity and inclusion, most companies could indirectly see significant return on investment. For example, having a pathway for continuous improvement, sharing the values of your stakeholders, being competitive in the industry, and connecting to clientele and employees that value social responsibility all enable your business to grow. In the long run, becoming certified as a B Corp can save a company money by giving companies access to community data that provides insights into cost-effective ways to be more sustainable. Plus, the certification process helps companies identify wasteful spending. For more information about Certified B Corporations, and to get started on your company's application, visit the Certified B Corporation website. Jessica Albright is a content marketer at Brewer Science, Inc.

Understanding the significance of a B Corp™ comes down to measuring the success of a company in more than profits and ROI. Can global impact, sustainability, and social justice deliver value to stakeholders too? At Brewer Science, we boldly answered, “yes!” and launched our journey to becoming a Certified B Corporation™. A B Corp is a for-profit, corporate entity that seeks to positively impact society, the community, and the environment, in addition to generating profit. The concept is catching on. Today, there’s a worldwide network of almost 4,000 Certified B Corporations across 150 different industries and 74 countries. In May 2021, Brewer Science announced that we are the first company in the semiconductor industry to become a Certified B Corporation. As a chip industry trailblazer for this certification, Brewer Science wanted to share a little about its journey and answer questions often posed by its suppliers, customers, and competitors: Why would a company go through the exhaustive auditing process, how does it work, who does it involve, and what comes next? Why did Brewer Science seek to become a Certified B Corporation? Certified B Corporations are the forefront of a growing global movement of people using business as a force for good™. Certification demonstrates a spirited commitment to high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. “Certified B Corporation standards align with our mission of being a company of the people, by the technology, for the customer, to achieve fulfillment,” said Dr. Terry Brewer, Founder and CEO of Brewer Science. “Becoming a Certified B Corporation exemplifies our commitment to our mission to continuously evolve our global footprint to the benefit of our employees, community, and customers, adding unexpected value throughout the world.” Certified B Corporations are held accountable for environmentally friendly business practices, being inclusive, and promoting local businesses. Besides providing a social benefit to our suppliers, customers, and employees, the certification also gives Brewer Science extensive opportunities to grow the business in collaboration with other mission-driven companies and people. For example, as Certified B Corporations, companies can attend the B Climate Collective and work synergistically with other B Corp companies to advocate for social change. How did we become a B Corp? Brewer Science completed a meticulous assessment process conducted by B Lab™, which examined over 170 factors in reviewing Brewer Science’s customers and vendors, record of inclusion, community involvement, corporate governance, and environmental impact. B Lab also analyzed average employee tenure, charitable giving, energy savings plan, recycling policies, employee volunteer service, and employee upward mobility. The process of becoming a B Corp begins with a self-assessment that the company’s Board of Directors must certify and ends with a 90-minute review call during which B Lab reviews the company’s responses and the company presents supporting evidence. The entire process is rigorous, with the company winning and losing points based on various criteria. These points are factored into weighing its strength as a candidate, and also in identifying opportunities where the company can improve. B Corp status is granted when the company earns at least 80 out of 200 points. But, this is just the starting point of an ongoing process of growth and improvement to uphold the values of the B Corp into the future. The assessment is more than a scorecard. It’s a thorough inspection of every facet of the company and helps guide it in making changes, since every question in the B Impact Assessment must be supported by an explanation and real-life example. A key part of the certification requires choosing a Business Impact Area, which requires the company to prevent evidence of processes it has implemented to influence that area. This component counts for 29 of the 80 points required to achieve Certified B Corporation status. Brewer Science pursued the impact area of environmentally innovative manufacturing, requiring us to provide detailed evidence of how we manage waste in manufacturing and minimize our carbon footprint. We earned an Overall B Impact Score of 88.7. Brewer Science also addressed other areas in the B Impact Assessment such as our human resource initiatives, community involvement, commitment to helping underserved communities, and seeking minority-owned businesses–just to name a few. The assessment incudes the five B Impact areas where Brewer Science scored the highest. Who was involved in the B Corp process? Brewer Science assembled an internal B Corp task force team of directors from departments across the company to provide a cohesive and complete view of the company – a step that was necessary for us to meet the requirements of B Lab’s extensive auditing of the company. B Lab encourages the use of an outside consultant that serves as a liaison between the company and B Lab. Brewer Science’s internal B Corp task force team held bi-monthly meetings with its consultant for nearly a year to answer the hundreds of questions in the questionnaire and gather evidence to corroborate each claim. “It’s a very extensive, but very rewarding process,” said Karen Brown, Project Manager at Brewer Science, also known as the B Keeper by B Lab since she led the certification process within the company. "B Lab is very thorough with the process. It is detailed with what it means and what the questions stand for. It is firm with its requests to ensure that the certification is taken seriously.” What’s next on Brewer Science’s B Corp Journey? Brewer Science’s B Corp certification is valid for three years, at which we point we will apply for renewal – a process that will require us to score even higher than on the previous certification. B Lab stresses continuous improvement, and B Corps must create an improvement plan that spells out areas they will enhance in the coming years. Brewer Science has already identified improvement areas for the recertification. Several of our new human resources initiatives – such as flexible and expanded work options – have not yet been committed to policy. Additionally, we have expanded our use of a cloud-based learning platform to increase training options for employees and hold performance conversations quarterly instead of annually. As part of the assessment, Brewer Science won points for community involvement and charitable giving. However, we are expanding our community engagement by providing employees with a monthly charity or cause to support. Brewer Science became a Certified Employee-Owned company last year. Since 2020 marked the launch of our employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and shares had not yet been dispersed, B Lab didn’t fully recognize the program. These are just a few examples of how we plan to earn more points during the recertification. At Brewer Science, we hope we can inspire other industry leaders to apply for certification. For more information about Certified B Corporations, and to get started on your company's application, visit the Certified B Corporation website. Jessica Albright is a content marketer at Brewer Science, Inc.