Earlier this year, we announced that Arum, alongside sister company Just, had certified as a B Corporation, joining a community of 7,000 companies globally reinventing business by pursuing purpose as well as profit.
As one of the first organisations in our sector to certify, this got us thinking about what it means to us and others working in the credit and collections space. We sat down with our Business Operations Manager, Ella, to discuss.
What is a B Corp?
Certified B Corporations (‘B Corps’) are companies dedicated to using business as a force for good.
We meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. We are legally required to consider the impact of our decisions on all customers, employees, communities, and the environment.
Why did Arum want to become a B Corp?
The B Corp ethos of making a positive difference in people’s lives fits completely with our mission as a business, so this felt like a natural next step.
We also wanted to hold ourselves accountable and challenge ourselves to be better when it comes to our social and environmental impact.
What is the process?
Arum applied alongside our sister company, Just, and the process began a couple of years ago. It was a huge undertaking for our team, involving people in every part of the business.
You’re assessed across five areas (governance, environment, workers, customers, and community), so there’s lots of data to gather and questions you have to answer. We worked closely with the team at B Corp to ensure they had all the relevant information.
B Corps have to be recertified every three years, and we’re aiming to have improved across all five by the time that comes around!
Is it common in this sector?
We believe we are one of the first in this industry to certify, which makes us immensely proud. We’re hoping to see many more organisations join the B Corp community.
How will it help our industry?
B Corps are held to high standards when it comes to social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
Our certification proves that companies working in our sector can be a force for good and we do benefit society. We hope that this helps to drive greater accountability and transparency in our industry.
What does it mean in practice?
For the team at Arum, it’s giving us a focus to think about our impact on our employees, society and the environment, and about how we can improve our policies and processes.
We’ve formed a ‘B Team’ to lead the way with these initiatives. Its members are from across the business so that it’s not simply a top down process – everyone’s ideas are welcome!
And of course, we’re delighted to be part of the B Corp community and to connect with thousands of other businesses with a similar ethos.
Why should our clients and customers care?
At Arum, we’ve always been conscious that the work we do has an impact not only on clients and their customers, but society as a whole. We will continue to offer the same high levels of service, and champion accountability and transparency within our industry.
What does it mean to you personally?
I’ve enjoyed being part of this certification process as it’s a significant achievement for us as a company. Getting to celebrate at our end of year party last year with everyone was a great moment.
It’s been great to engage with people across the business and now we have the opportunity to make real improvements which I am excited about!
You can find out more about how to become a B Corp on their website
About the author
Ella Grice
Business Operations Manager
Arum and Just
Ella has been working for the Arum Group since 2019 and heads up our Business Operations team. Her team supports the day-to-day operations of the business, and she works closely with our Executive team. Ella is also involved in the implementation and maintenance of the group’s accreditations, including ISO and B Corp.