Oliver Russell Named as Best For the World for Workers

It’s a good day when you get recognized for your work. It’s a great day when it’s for being named to a “Best In World” list, as Oliver Russell was honored today for its social corporate responsibility as being among the companies creating the most positive overall employee impact by the nonprofit B Lab.

The fourth annual ‘B Corp Best for Workers’ list acknowledges businesses that earned a worker score in the top 10% of more than 1,200 Certified B Corporations from over 121 industries on the B Impact Assessment, a rigorous and comprehensive assessment of a company's impact on its workers, community, and the environment. Honorees were recognized among micro, small, and mid-sized businesses around the globe. We were honored in the micro category—small, but mighty

The Global Gold Standard

The B Corp “Best for Worker” list sets the gold standard for high-impact, purpose-driven companies and demonstrates anyone can use business as a force for good. In this category, Oliver Russell is one of 98 companies from 13 countries and 31 industries to be honored. Additional 2015 Best For Workers Honorees include Cooperative Home Care Associates, a worker-owned cooperative based in the Bronx, Venezuelan biotechnology firmETAVENCA, America’s oldest flour brand King Arthur Flour, and Kansas-based MAX Insurance. Thirty-five percent of honorees are based outside the US, with companies operating in emerging markets such as Brazil, Ghana, and Venezuela. You can review a full list of this year’s honorees on the B Corp website here.

Each honored company is a Certified B Corporation. These companies use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems and have met exacting standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Certified B Corporations are unified by one common goal: to redefine success in business.

“Today's honorees inspire all companies to compete not only to be best in the world, but best for the world.  We hope many will take the first step by using the B Impact Assessment to measure and manage their impact with as much rigor as their profit,” said Jay Coen Gilbert, co-founder of B Lab, the nonprofit organization that certifies B Corporations and governs the independent third party standard used to generate the comparable assessment of corporate impact.

Measure What Matters

Here’s a quick sound bite exercise from a litany of corporate talking heads.

What leaders say: “People are our most valuable asset.”

What people hear: “Blah, blah, blah.”

What people—most importantly, employees—think: “Bullshit.”

Haven’t we all heard that parroted countless times? And of course, if leaders truly believed this, companies would spend a whole lot more time measuring their performance improving this asset, because companies typically measure what matters.

B Corporations measure this aspect of their business using a number of metrics, including compensation, benefits, training, worker ownership, and workplace environment measures, among others. That’s what’s so gratifying about this recognition. It’s valid, and as we’ve decided to make this a competitive advantage at Oliver Russell—having a talented, productive workforce propelled by meaningful work—the accolade shows that we’re on the right track.

The Benefit of Benefits at Oliver Russell

What it means for our employees: having a healthy work-life balance, a transparent workplace, and attractive compensation, including pay, benefits, and work that is engaging and genuinely fulfilling.

Raylene Brent, our business manager, has worked at Oliver Russell for 17 years. She has a couple of favorite benefits. “I like the as-needed sick leave and 100% paid medical insurance for employees,” she said.

Adie Bartron, one of our producers, favors our quarterly health and wellness credit. Each employee is reimbursed for $150 worth of expenses they used for a product, service, or event they feel improves their health and well-being. Adie is using the credit towards her Race to Robie Creek entry and training needs. “Some of us are using the funds to run a half-marathon here in Boise,” she said. “Beyond the obvious health benefits, all of the time we’ve spent training together outside the office has strengthened our working relationship. It’s been valuable for us as individuals and as a company.”

Jay Saenz, our new business director, singles out the flexible work schedule. “The flexible work schedule Oliver Russell provides its employees means that we don’t have to miss important moments in our community,” he said. “It means I can take a moment to walk to the statehouse during work hours and be a part of a civil rights discussion or my co-worker can take an hour to speak to legislators about the merits of Benefit Corporations. Because in the end, we recognize that the health of our community is directly related to the success of our company.”

Mitch Kuhn, designer, and Shawna Samuelson, producer, echo Jay’s comments about flexible work situations. Mitch appreciates the flexible work hours, often using his lunch hour to get in a quick run, “Running at lunch makes the day so much better for me. It helps make ‘working’ a part of my overall day—rather than something I have to get through before I can start using my day to do the things I like,” he says. Shawna appreciates the fact that she can work remotely, saying, “I have been able to save money on childcare expenses by working a portion of my work week at home, with my toddler, on a schedule that works for my family.”

Here’s what it translates to for our business: more productivity, increased employee loyalty and retention, an easier time recruiting new talent, and I believe a generally happier atmosphere with less stress in the workplace.

For the number crunchers out there, that reduces our costs, both financial and emotional.

Wait. There’s More.

If you’re interested in seeing how you might stack up, any company is able to measure and manage social and environmental impact performance for free at bimpactassessment.net. There are two, abbreviated versions of the full assessment that can give you insights into the evaluation process—one takes just 20 minutes to complete the introductory review, and the other, more detailed version, 90 minutes.

You can also check out the other “Best” lists that B Lab compiles, such as ‘Best for the World’ (overall impact), ‘Best for Community’ (community impact), and ‘Best for the Environment’ (environmental impact). These are published here, Among this year’s honored “Best Companies” are Natura, d.light designs, Roshan, New Belgium Brewery, Method Products, and Seventh Generation.