Just R Becomes B Corp Certified
Just R has been certified as a B Corporation!
Our CEO, Rachael Bagshaw, reflects on the importance of becoming B Corp certified, and what it means for the present and future of Just R.
New Year is all about resolutions and goals, and this time last year a spark ignited within me for something which would become a huge goal. This came about through reading The B Corp Handbook. I picked up the book after listening to a number of podcasts featuring people I really admired, such as Mark Constantine the founder of Lush and Sebastian Pole, co-founder of Pukka Herbs. They talked about building mission-led businesses and using business as a force for good.
It was so inspirational for me to hear people talk about business as I see it, and over and over again I began hearing and seeing references to B Corps (short for Benefit Corporation) so decided upon my goal of Just R becoming a certified B Corp. The first one in Cumbria. At the beginning of the journey I wrote a short article on why I wanted to become a B Corp here:
Ultimately it hinges around:
‘Being the change you wish to see in the world’
It might all sound very righteous but I really can’t understand why anyone would want to do things in any other way! Put simply, do good things for good people, with good people, with good reason.
I never set out to build a business, I just saw things I didn’t like happening and wanted to fix them. This manifested itself first in my time as a ‘Marketing Consultant’ (I mainly just told businesses where they shouldn’t spend their advertising budgets) before evolving into Just R as it is today – a Marketing, Brand and Communications business focused on solving NHS Workforce challenges.
Anyway back to B Corp! What I understood was that it would be an opportunity to position Just R amongst like minded businesses, those with a positive purpose, looking to create a positive impact. I also saw it as an opportunity to acquire a form of approval stamp, confirming that although Just R isn’t a public company or a charity, we are more closely aligned to them than a venture backed revenue focused behemoth. My perception of B Corps were that they leaned closer to the not for profit than for profit world, but with the added benefit of reduced red tape, restrictions and administrations. B Corp is more of a framework of common values to agree with and a vision for how things should be as opposed to rules and regulations. I saw that B Corps can really make things happen!
At Just R our mission is to educate the NHS on the power (there is so much power!) of Marketing, Brand and Communications, and the ability that using experts can provide to transform the attraction and retention of healthcare workers.
Secondary to the company’s core mission is my own – the desire to create brilliant jobs, for brilliant people and a culture and working environment within which they can truly thrive. This, I strongly believe, is what will give us the edge needed in order to continuously grow our abilities, develop, define and refine the strategies and solutions required by our NHS to transform recruitment outlooks – which together we can achieve.
Finally I believe that amongst the many benefits gained through achieving B Corp is the ability to help prove that Just R are the team the NHS needs at its side. We are the team whose purpose for being is to solve incredulous NHS workforce challenges and do it in the right way – which is sustainable. We are a team dedicated to operating with Role Model behaviour, who make things happen and truly care. How could you not want that team on your side..?
Just R achieved B Corp status on 22 December 2022, we achieved an incredible score of 95.6 (with the average around 50, and 80 a pass) on our first attempt! We are really excited about joining the community and the other businesses looking to drive positive change within their communities, sectors and the world.
My next goal is to drive awareness of the principles of B Corp and the B Corp Impact Assessment, and how significant positive change could be driven across the NHS through applying B Corp assessment tools to systems, processes and culture.
