The A to Z of B Corp, celebrating our recertification

Hi, I’m Polina. For the past year I’ve owned Krystal’s B Corp recertification under B Lab’s brand new standards, and I’m delighted to say we did it. (This blog would be a sad sad entry in my personal journal if we’d failed).

We’re officially re-certified and we’re one of the FIRST 100 COMPANIES to do it.

It’s been a year of ups and downs. I learned a lot and picked up a whole new vocabulary along the way. So here’s my A to Z of B Corp. It’s for anyone thinking about certifying, for fellow B Corps, for anyone curious about what this movement is all about and what we’re all about at Krystal.

A to Z

A is for Audit. Probably the most nerve-wracking part of the whole thing. The word “audit” alone sends shivers down my spine. After a year of hard work, it all came down to one five-hour call. An independent auditor went through everything in detail. They didn’t just check that our policies existed. They checked that each one connects to how Krystal actually runs day to day, with evidence to back it up.

B is for B Lab. B Lab is the non-profit behind the B Corp movement. It sets the standards companies have to meet, certifies the ones that do and campaigns for businesses to be run for the benefit of people and planet, not just profit.

It all started 20 years ago with 81 companies. Today there are more than 11,000 B Corps in 106 countries across 163 industries, employing over a million people between them.

C is for Climate Action Plan. Every B Corp now has to publish a Climate Action Plan, with clear targets and sign-off from the board. We don’t have an office, so there’s no boiler to blame. It’s mostly our infrastructure and hardware, plus everyone’s kettles at home. You can read our plan here.

D is for Data centre. Data centres are where all our infrastructure lives. They’re the foundation of everything we do, so it matters how they’re powered. Krystal runs on power matched 100% with renewable energy. Choose Krystal, and your website’s home is one you can feel good about.

E is for Evidence. Good intentions and big dreams are a great start. What B Corp does is help you build them into how your business actually runs. So much of this was already second nature at Krystal. This year we wrote it all down and now we have the evidence to prove it.

F is for Fair Work. Fair work is one of the seven impact topics, and it’s all about the employees and how they are treated. That means how we pay them, how we support them and how we make sure their voices are heard.

G is for Governance. This word comes up a lot in the B Corp process. It sounds dull, but stick with me, because it’s one of the most important letters on this list.

Governance is how decisions get made in a business. For B Corps, it means purpose is built in from the boardroom down. Every B Corp has to write a commitment to people and the planet into its legal documents, so it has to consider everyone it affects, not just its shareholders.

H is for Human Rights. Human rights is another of the seven impact topics, and it asks a big question: who is affected by your business, all the way along the chain?

As a B Corp, you have to look beyond your own four walls at your whole value chain. For us that means the people who make the hardware, the teams who run the data centres, the suppliers we rely on and the customers we serve. And you have to look at this chain and understand where there might be human rights risks.

I is for Independent. Krystal is independently owned, so we have no outside shareholders to answer to. Instead, we answer to our community: our team, our customers and the planet. That means we can make decisions fast, without ever compromising on our values and beliefs.

J is for JEDI. And no, not the Star Wars kind. JEDI stands for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, and it’s one of the seven impact topics. We looked at our data across hiring, pay, promotion and training, and used it to set a plan. You can read our JEDI commitment here.

A lot of companies don’t know where to start with embedding these practices into their businesses, and that includes us. Having a clear framework made it so much easier to get going.

K is for Krystal. That’s us. I’m really proud to work somewhere that puts in the time and effort to be a B Corp. It’s not the easy route, but it’s the important one.

L is for Lobbying. Lobbying is when a business tries to influence government decisions. That could be meeting politicians, funding campaigns or joining industry groups that push for certain policies. It’s not always a bad thing, but it often happens behind closed doors.

Under the new standards, B Corps have to be open about how they engage with politics. So we’ve published a responsible lobbying statement that sets out exactly where we stand. Transparency matters. If a business says it cares about people and the planet, it should be happy to show you where it puts its voice and its money.

M is for Milestones. The new standards come with built-in milestones, so progress doesn’t stop the day you certify. They’re designed around continuous improvement. To certify, you meet the year zero requirements. At year three and year five, extra requirements kick in and you have to show measurable progress against the targets you set.

Year zero is where we are now. It’s all about laying the foundations. We documented the processes behind a lot of what we already do. We created plans around climate action and on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, each with clear targets and timelines. At year three and year five, we’ll be assessed again. The bar goes up, and we’ll need to show the progress we’ve made against those plans.

N is for No points. This is the big one. The old system worked on scores, so if you hit 80, you were in. Now there’s no score at all, just clear requirements across seven impact topics, and you have to meet every one.

O is for Overthinking. Is this policy too long? Too short? Does “stakeholder” need a capital S? Have I read this requirement wrong? Have I read every requirement wrong?

Here’s what I wish I’d known on day one. The standards aren’t there to catch you out. They give you a clear framework to build good practice into your business, with guidance at every step.

P is for Progress. The whole point. Nobody in the B Corp community has it all figured out, and nobody’s pretending to. What we share is a commitment to keep getting better. That means asking the awkward questions, learning from each other and changing course when the world does. And right now, the world is changing fast.

Q is for “Quick question”. There is no such thing. Thank you to everyone who answered my massive walls of Slack text. Especially Grace, our HR Manager.

R is for Responsible hosting. We say it a lot, so here’s what we actually mean. Being responsible means taking everyone our business affects into account: our team, our customers, our suppliers, our community and the planet. That’s the idea at the heart of the new standards. The usual business model puts shareholders first. B Corp widens the circle, so every decision has to consider everyone it touches. For us, responsible hosting means fast, reliable hosting, run with all of those people (and the planet) in mind.

S is for Scope 3. Under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, emissions are split into three scopes. Scope 1 is direct emissions from what you own. Scope 2 is the energy you buy. Scope 3 is everything else across your value chain, from the hardware you buy to the team working from home.

It’s usually the biggest part of a footprint and the hardest to measure, and it’s where most of ours sits. As part of our Climate Action Plan (remember C?), we’re setting our full 2025 baseline, so we can set reduction targets and cut our emissions from there.

T is Transparency. The new standards ask for a lot of our commitments and plans to be public. That includes our Climate Action Plan, JEDI commitment, our lobbying statement and our purpose, so anyone can read exactly what we’ve promised and hold us to it. You can find it all on our green page.

Transparency has always been part of how Krystal works, so this one felt natural. It’s another example of the B Corp framework lining up with how the business is already run.

U is for Upload. Every single requirement needs evidence, often several pieces of it. All of it gets uploaded to the B Corp portal. That means policies, meeting notes, screenshots of messages and anything else that proves something actually happens. The auditor then pieces it all together, looking for proof that each thing is embedded, repeated and followed up on, not just done once.

V is for Values. Ours have been part of Krystal from the start. The new standards helped us write them down, show our working and stick to them with every decision we make.

W is for the Wellbeing. Happy team, happy business. That’s why the Fair Work impact requirement includes running an engagement survey every year, to see how everyone’s really doing. Off the back of the team’s feedback, Krystal introduced some great new benefits.

Thanks to our personal development days, I learned to drive and passed my test without using any annual leave. And my gym membership gets reimbursed, so there’s really no excuse.

X is for the boXes we didn’t tick. Because there aren’t any. The new standards aren’t a form you fill in once and forget about. They’re about building good practices into how your business runs, every day.

Y is for Year zero. That’s this year and it’s only the beginning. The plans are written, the policies are live and the targets are set. Now comes the fun part, which is actually doing it all. See you at year three.

Z is for zzz. And that’s me off for some well-earned sleep. Wake me up in three years.

What’s next?

I’ll be honest, I’ve loved working on this. It’s been a long process, but getting all of it checked and certified feels like a proper achievement. Seeing what we already do written down and recognised is pretty special.

What I like most is that we now have measurable goals to work towards. Things are busy, and there’s always a lot to do, so it’s nice to have something that keeps us grounded. We know which direction we’re heading and where to focus our time.

B Corp isn’t the only piece of the better business puzzle, but it’s an important one. And being part of a movement full of businesses working towards the same goal makes it feel like we’re part of something bigger. And there’s something reassuring about knowing whoever’s leading the charge at other B Corps is staring at the same requirements and asking the same questions.

We’ll continue to share our progress. If you have any questions, please get in touch. Whether you’re a business thinking about certifying or a customer who wants to know more about our plans, we’re only an email away (impact@krystal.io).

I’ve had so much support with my many “quick questions” this year. Now it’s your turn.