Vicky Bramley:

Welcome, everybody. So, Simplyhealth, I’ll start with who we are and what we do. But just before that then, I just to introduce myself and my colleague Charlotte. So, I am, as Ben said, Chief of Staff & Head of Strategy at Simplyhealth in the UK, and the reason that the strategy element in particular is really important will become clear as we go through this. So, over to you, Charlotte, just a very quick intro.

Charlotte Cook:

Thank you, Vicky. Hi, everyone, I’m Charlotte, I’m ESG Lead at Simplyhealth. Vicky will come on to explain a bit more about the role and that team that we’ve established recently. But really I’m feeling happy to be joining you today and to share a bit more about our B Corp journey.

Vicky Bramley:

Thanks, Charlotte. So, who are Simplyhealth? If you don’t know us, then we are a 150-year-old health insurance solutions company here in the UK. 150 years old this year, in fact, after our big celebration that you might see a little hint of later. We were established long before the NHS in the UK and we have all strived to provide a suite of health solutions in the UK market to help people more affordably spread the cost of everyday healthcare. We are on a journey and we’re on a strategic journey in a significant way to become much more digitally led, or already very customer led and consumer led. We’re on a digital transformation journey that will allow us also not just to become more efficient and easier to do business with, but also to play a much bigger role in UK healthcare.

The most important thing, I think, about Simplyhealth is that we are, at heart, purpose-driven organisation, and I know lots of organisations say that, but it really is very true here at Simplyhealth, and it absolutely infiltrates through everything we do as an organisation. Our purpose it to improve access to healthcare for all in the UK and strive to… Ooh, we’ve got some feedback from somewhere. And we strive to improve good access to healthcare through a whole suite of different solutions. The way that filters through into our business is in every corner and every facet from the people that we choose to do business with to the contracts that we lay out, even to our most recently established venture capital arm where the investments that we make and the organisation that we partner with are very much about driving purpose.

One of the ways, one of the many ways, but one of the most all-encompassing ways that we are striving to drive that purpose is through the establishment of a really clear ESG strategy within the business. And the way in which are doing it is by establishing, for the first time, dedicated resources within the organisation. We have really strong track record of ESG and sustainability achievements within the organisation already. But more recently, we have made the decision to apply these dedicated resources, hence the establishment of the team that Charlotte’s leading. And the reason that we’ve made that decision is because we believe it truly is all encompassing throughout the organisation and it isn’t just something that will sit separately from our core activities, and importantly from our core corporate strategy. And so that’s why the strategy element of my role is really important and why it sits under my remit. It’s because we want ESG to be at very heart of our corporate strategy as we move forward.

So, the achievements that we have beyond the obvious B Corp, our most recent certification, already we are a carbon neutral plus organisation and we’ve been FSC credited for many years. So, we’ve always taken it very seriously. We have a very active charity arm to the business where we donate up to a million pound a year to charitable causes that, by and large, support health access in the UK. So, ESG isn’t new to us, but B Corp is. So, why is B Corp so interesting to us? Why would we not just carried on as we were with the accreditations that we had? Well, B Corp is really interesting to us because, essentially, it’s the most effective way, we believe, to measure… Just move on one more slide, Charlotte. It’s the most effective way to measure the whole activity within the organisation that really demonstrates our responsibility and the duty that we feel to become a responsible organisation. And it really helps to live our purpose and to demonstrate that we really are taking that very seriously.

More importantly, and something else we’ll come onto, is that it really enables us to partner with like-minded organisation and help us to find organisation that think like we think and want to take things as responsibly as we do. And ultimately, it really gives us an opportunity to recognize the purpose nature of our organisation, and we feel it’s the most all-encompassing way to demonstrate that sense of responsibility and to help us measure the progress that we make in all aspects. Charlotte, over to you.

Charlotte Cook:

One of things I wanted to do, just to help really set the theme for the B Corp movement, just provide a few high-level numbers really, that just reflect the very global nature of B Corp, but also on where we are currently in the UK, which is, of course, where Simplyhealth is based. We’ve actually seen, as part of the B Corp UK movement, that we’re tracking as one of the most accelerated regions in terms of B Corp certification. And I think actually, when we look back, given that it’s COP 27 at the moment. COP 26 always acted as a moment in time for many UK organisations, sort of reflect on the journey that they’re on, that’s why there’s sort of their wider purpose and role in society and in the world. And that’s actually instigated quite a few very interesting and progressive conversations within the UK.

So, we are progressing and are very nearly reaching 1,000 B Corps in the UK. But globally, you can see there are over 5,500, which is fantastic. It’s a movement that started over 15 years ago now And as Vicky said, essentially at the heart of it is the fact that organisations aren’t and shouldn’t be just in the business of benefiting shareholders, and that will be, of course, very familiar to all of us. But we’re all stakeholders in mind. And that’s about how we can reposition organisations and the role of organisations in society to balance the needs of the business profit with people and the planet. So, ultimately, if there’s one takeaway in terms of the B Corp movement, it’s about how we use business as a force for good and recognizing that it can play a very holistic and transformational role in society and across the world globally.

Hopefully, this can be seen in terms of the current numbers and the movement globally. But there also probably a few brands that you interact with or are familiar with globally that are leading the charge. And the reason this is important is because, actually, in their industry sector part of the world, they’re doing some really impactful pioneering things, which, of course, goes to the heart of social contentiousness and does exactly that. It talks to something bigger than just themselves. Hopefully, there are a few brands in there that you recognize, and part of the pride that we now have as an organisation is that we can get alongside some of these organisations who are really also challenging us to think about the organisation that we are and how we can continue to stretch ourselves in everything that we’re doing and deliver on.

One of the things I wanted to do as we talk about B Corp, is really bring that to life in terms of the practicality. So, we have to been through, in order to certify as a B Corp organisation, a very rigorous process, as it should be. And I just wanted to talk a bit about framework that’s used and the process that we’ve gone through in order to do that. But firstly, just again, I’m sure it’s very familiar to most of you on the call, B Corp aligns everything that they do and they deliver in terms of the impact assessment around 17 UN Sustainable Development goals in 2030. That provides the overarching structure and guidance for the key impact areas and also what fits underneath all of those.

So, there’s five impact areas in total, which you can see on the screen, which is governance, colleagues, which is workers, community, environments, and customers. And one of the things I pulled out is the one on environment really, because I do think… And certainly, if you bump into this a little bit, there is a bit of misconception that B Crop equals environment impact. And actually, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Across those five categories, there’s the better part of 180 items actually, where they carry different weightings, where we have to provide evidence that we are meeting key impact standards, and we’re continuing to drive forward an action plan in those areas. So, it’s absolutely not just about the environment. But of course, that is part of the key and core area of focus. But the four others are just as and as equally as important as the environment impact.

So, how did we do? We went through the process and we assessed ourselves against the five impact areas. It took 12 to 18 months for that to completion. So, earlier in the summer of July 2020, after completing that process, we were certified. Very proud to be the first UK health insurer to B Corp. We passed with a 91.9 score. There’s a minimum pass score which is required which is 80. And just for absolute transparency and actually this is something that will be on our website shortly, we wanted just to share with you where we fall in relation to those five categories, and you can see what they’re out of.

So, there’s some real areas of strength for us as an organisation, which again we’re really pleased to see and have been able to benchmark again. Having gone through the process of impact assessment, what that’s also done is provided some really clear areas of improvement for us. So, one of the things, as we look to re-certify in three years’ time, which is part of the requirements of B Corp, is we’ll be setting an action plan and we’ll be looking at those things that we know we want to improve on as an organisation and hold ourselves to account on. In the interviews, we’ll also be delivering an impact report which talks about the progress that we’re making towards some of those additional goals that we’ve set up there.

So, just to bring that to life to you, this is the backend, the inside of part of the process maybe many organisations don’t get to see unless they do sort of embark on the impact assessment with B Corp. That there is a wonderful impact assessment tool which helped guided us through this process and assessment. And I guess, again, the big thing here to call out is absolutely aligned to ESG, which you can see on the right-hand side of the screen. And that’s really important because it means we can be really clear about our alignment with global goals, and our role in our part of the world and our industry and how everything that we’re doing is ultimately delivering on health and wellbeing.

Just diving a little bit deeper, as you’re seeing those five impact areas, what the impact assessment tool does is it really does break those down into the categories. So, you have visibility in where you’re performing in each of those. And the progress you’re making as you’re going through the assessment. So, for every one of those, of course you can deep dive. So, I’ve taken an example here of the workers, the colleague impact area of assessment, and just one of the subcategories that exist underneath that, the financial security. And what we’d have to do is demonstrate in evidence, not just say but show, that we are delivering against some of these key areas and few areas that are listed there. But just bring to life the process and how structured and rigorous it is. And actually, how beautiful it is. It’s a tool upon which to reflect on your progress, but also to keep coming back to, to recalibrate where you are and how things might be moving in the organisation and how you might need to adjust things accordingly.

Vicky Bramley:

So, we took the opportunity in our 150th year this year, to host a festival for our staff, for 850 staff. Simply 150 Fest. And at that festival, the big announcement was the perfectly timed accreditation of B Corp for the Simplyhealth. And we announced that to our colleagues during that event and we have been celebrating with them ever since. And yes, that chap at the bottom is our esteemed leader, our CEO, who took the opportunity to absolutely ingratiate himself with the staff and with his festival outfit. But we are super proud, as an organisation, and the employees and our colleagues within the business, super proud of B Corp. We are extremely lucky, and I say this because not everyone will be, and we’re really lucky that we have not only got a CEO but also an expert who really supports the B Corp movement, but also ESG and sustainability and more generally. And that’s really important because it means that we’re not having to force upon the organisation or convince the organisation from a negative standpoint to start with, of the credibility and the benefits and the joy of being part of something like B Corp but also other accreditations also.

So, we start from a position of what can we do, how can we make a bigger impact, how can we measure that impact, and how can we help more people? And so we really have been successful in that because of the support that we have internally. Not only internally though. We have also been, since July and our accreditation, we’ve been really pleasantly surprised at how excited for us our intermediaries are, but also our corporate clients and our end consumers as well. Intermediaries, I don’t know if it’s the same in all of your markets. But in the UK, we kind of typically see them as not necessarily at the forefront of digital innovation, and fairly traditional in nature, some of them. And so actually, it’s been a real pleasant surprise that when we’ve been talking to some of our long-standing brokers who have been absolutely fascinated by the B Corp movement and our role in that. And in fact, some of them will be joining us at some future events and really trying to think about what role they can play and how they can work with us as a business that clearly is taking things really responsibly.

Corporate clients, we know now, where are we? Four months on from July, from our accreditation, we now know that we have one. Specifically, we have one business from corporate clients who have made the choice to work with us over competitors because of our B Corp status. And that’s been a real eyeopener for us because we thought we would have to explain more, we thought we would have to work harder to really share the benefits of being a B Corp organisation. But actually, it’s been really, really pleasantly surprising to be able to just share those conversations with potential clients, and for them to be as excited as we are. And in fact, some of them are hoping to join us on the journey, and we will indeed support them through that. Back to employees, just for one second, is that we know that employees have also made significant choices about the roles that they will accept, based on us being a B Corp business. And in fact, choosing to stay with us for that reason also because we’ve always been purpose driven, but this just signifies our intent for the future also.

What do we plan to do next as we move onto the next one, Charlotte? What do we plan to do with our B Corp status now that we have it, we’ve celebrated it, how are we planning to activate that to really embed it across our organisation? Because that’s the most important thing and I’m sure a question that the organisation’s thinking about trying to go through the process, we’ll be thinking the so what, and what do you do, and how do you make it real? Well, these are some of the examples that B Corp will share, of successful integrations from other organisations. But I just wanted to talk a little bit about what we specifically are doing. So, as Charlotte alluded to, there are a number of tools that you have access to once you become B Corp accredited. And if you’re in ESG roles in any of your organisations, then you’ll know that there are a whole suite of tools available in the market to help you measure the impact that you have.

They typically tend to be narrowly focused. They typically tend to be environmentally focused or charity focused or socially focused or even governors. The thing for the B Corp tools is that they really are all encompassing. And so the framework that you’ve just seen a glimpse of from Charlotte, is one of us being able to use that internally to check our progress annually. As a B Corp accredited company, then once you are accredited, you’re not then re-validated or re-verified for another three years. There is an annual check up, essentially, with your account management team. But actually, we are planning to use that annual check up as something quite rigorous for our own internal purposes to allow us to measure the impact that we’re having on an annual basis. So much so that we have embedded the B Corp measure as our own overarching ESG progress measurement metric within our overall OKR framework for the organisation. And that’s really important to us because that means that, to Charlotte’s point, around the all-encompassing nature of B Corp, that means that we’re going to have to work really hard every year to improve upon that score that you saw from our initial accreditation.

There are gaps. There are areas that we can improve upon, and we’re genuinely using that as decision-making tools to be able to help our business grow and to evolve, and to just make sure that we are keeping pace with expectations and developments in the internal and external world around us. I talked about OKR frameworks, we’re also embedding B Corp. We have plans to embed B Corp into individual objectives throughout the organisation. So, people will be measured upon the contribution they can make to some of the aspects around the B Corp accreditation and that annual measurement that we will undertake.

Charlotte, over to you.

Charlotte Cook:

So, one of the things, again, that we thought might be helpful. And just to build on some of the details that sit behind some of the tools that are available in order to have things like target setting in the future, to make sure that essentially the things that you’re working on are, well, benchmark, set the right stretch in terms of the organisation and everything that you want to achieve as part of your continued assessment and action manning. So, just back to the impact assessment tool. There’s some really useful elements of that that will help you sort of decipher where you want to go and what you might want to do in some of those gaps.

So, as you can see on the screen here, I’ve just popped a screen grab up which just talks about, as you go through the impact assessment, where your company is in relation to your country, in relation to your sector, and your size of organisation. And one of the things that’s really helpful is that this gives you that benchmark which in quite a few other frameworks and assessment processes, you don’t always have access to. So, being able to hold the mirror up not just to ourselves, but also across the country or the sector that you’re part of is a really, really valuable exercise and something that we’re really looking forward to doing more in the future.

One of the other really helpful and practical tools is the improvement reports. So, because it’s such a rigorous step-by-step evident process, the system automatically, with the support of our account manager and assessor, will show areas of interest. So, the kind of things that we as an organisation now have gone over and had really good conversation with key people and key stakeholders to understand what more we might want to do, what kind of investment might be needed in order to make some of those impacts in how we can resource appropriately and decide how much a priority they are for the organisation.

So, this is an example of the impact report and some of the natural areas of opportunity that are part of the process. And then the other really helpful thing is some of the goal-setting tools that sit behind there. So, again, there’s some very specific actions as you can see for Simplyhealth’s profile and see as we’re working through those in quite a systematic way, really, to inform our wider ESG agenda and some of the road-mapping goals that we’ll set for the organisation and therefore for everyone as we think about B Corp and everything that we’re doing.

Having said that, the world does not stand still. And so Vicky talked about there is a bar and it is coming in waves, expectations are only growing, particularly from consumer and a corporate perspective. And so one of the things that B Corp and B Lab, who run the certification process we’re doing, is they’ve instigated a whole piece of work which is about looking at the new standards for the future and actually what will be important for our organisation to continue supporting community and society in the future. And that actually means that there are some new standards that are currently under consultation. So, as you’ve heard us talk about, on the left-hand side, we have the process that we’ve just been through as an organisation, and the process that it is today if you were to embark on the B Corp assessment process. And that means we have to meat the minimum threshold of 80 points for a verified score. And you have, within the five categories, some flexibility around how unique that score is.

So, as you saw from our own data, some of the areas we’re slightly stronger in, some of them we’re slightly weaker. And actually, as long as they all come into the 80 then, and you meet that minimum threshold, then that’s a good thing and you’re satisfied. Actually, just a little soundbite from that. The vast majority of organisations are the medium, first attempt verification, will actually only score about 50. So, to have achieved B Corp first time, from an assessment perspective, is quite a thing. It looks like a low number, but the fact is, it’s not. And you see in some of the data points and the detail, it’s quite rigorous. What B Corp and B Lab are proposing that we move to, and the conversation at the moment, is a slightly different model for the future, which potentially would come into effect in 2024. So, instead of the minimum 80 score, what we would be looking at, and it’s still proposed at this stage, are 10 key topics of impact area. And under each one of those, and we already have this information, which is really, really helpful and a lot of people and stakeholders have fell into it, but there’s some minimum impact requirements that we would need to demonstrate that we’re meeting as an organisation across those 10 areas.

And then fitting above and across with that are sort of a wider impact assessment, and that’s where you’ll have a bit of a slightly different scale amount of scoring. So, as head to 2025, and when we re certify, one of the things we’re keen to do now as a stakeholder in this process is share our views on how see those 10 areas shaping up when they feel like the right things that will stretch us into the future and deliver everything that our stakeholders need from us. So, this deserves a flag because if you’re going to search or look into this in a bit more detail, you will see it’s transitioning. And actually, our view on that as an organisation is that’s a good thing to have because it holds us into account individually as an organisation, but also as a community of B Corp. It really does set the standard for the future which is something we’re really keen on.

The other thing I wanted to do is just talk a bit about that B Corp community. So again, I’ve just shared a couple of screen grabs which hopefully just bring it to life and make it a bit more meaningful for you. So, as part of that B Corp community, and it’s a global community, but also we do have our UK community that they’re now part of and we’ve already had some fantastic starter conversations there. You have access to something called the beehive. And this is a really nice social tool, directory, marketplace. Essentially, a one-stop shop for you to engage with other B Corps who are certified, and have lots of things in common and are essentially trying to address some of the same challenges that exist in the world. And this tool has already been, for us, a really valuable place to go and to meet new organisations and people and connect with a community where actually we feel that we can have a greater impact than potentially we could just on our own as an organisation.

So, this just gives you a flavor of what’s in that community. As I said, there’s a marketplace, so we have already started changed some of our procurement habits based on some of the information in this tool. And we have opportunities, for example, to take part and benefit from discounts other B Corps are offering up. Now as a fellow B Corp, we’ll also be looking to make that reciprocal and doing the same on behalf of our own products and services we are offering right now. The other things that’s really useful is a series of events. So, again, some of these will be regional based, and some will be virtual. And the really nice thing here is, as you can see, there’s an example, the marketing meet up so B Corps can share and collaborate around some of their sort of functional activity and how they’re continuing to drive forwards and just share some of the highs and lows of how that’s going. There’s also some very practical things like how to re-certify and the process around that. And then actually, there’s some deeper dives around particular other societal issues or whether it’s changes in legislation and you want to understand how and what that means for your organisation. There’s opportunities to go and meet other peers and talk about some of those. But with really stretching sort of goals for the future, which typically not most organisations will have, certainly not ones we’ve encountered.

So, of course there’s a lot of information in there. One of the first things I would suggest is to jump on the B Corp website. I’m sure, if it’s of interest, many of you already have. There are also some fantastic social channels that globally and then again regionally B Lab rather on behalf of B Corp community. So, it’s a fantastic series. And our Forces for Good that I know gets shared on LinkedIn regularly. And again, it’s part of some of the content we share. There’s also a Best for the World series, which focuses on the key five areas of impact at the moment, and showcases some of the very best practice in impact globally. So, I would definitely encourage you to take a look at some of those examples and maybe reflect on where your organisation is and whether some of those things are still important to you and some of the goals and the roadmaps that you’ve got for the future.

So, on that note, I think Vicky and I have probably done enough talking. But what I would love to just finish on is just to say that, genuinely, we’ve put so much effort, as an organisation, into making sure that we reflect everything that is great about what we’re doing and the positive impact that we’re having. Not just locally, not just regionally, but we’ve heard many of our stakeholders. And to part now of this inspirational pioneering community, it’s something that we’re really proud of, our people are really proud of. As Vicky said, that our customer is our focus, our new recruits are wanting to have some very proactive conversations around. And so this is already proving to be a really helpful, unifying vehicle for us as an organisation. And I hope that this reflects on everything that we going to achieve B Corp certification, and the process that sits behind it, given you an insight into why we did it, how we did it, and the kind of impact that we want to strive for the future. So, on that note, I think we’re going to hand back…

Ben Telfer:

Thank you. Thank you very much, Charlotte. Thank you, Vicky, as well. That was an amazing overview. Thank you for being so detailed. Seeing that impact assessment was a fantastic resource for our members. The journey to become a B Corp, which a number of our member companies around the world are considering, and so I think that’s been a great overview. And it’s also a contentious decision, that I know we spoke about earlier. So, I’m glad there’s a few questions coming in on that.

First one that’s come in, did the pandemic in the early past of 2020 influence your decision to become or begin your B Corp certification process?

Vicky Bramley:

Charlotte, should I take that one?

The short answer is no, it didn’t. We were already embarking upon the thought process before that. So, we’d started that long before, the conversations internally long before that. And let’s just be honest. There are other accreditations. There are other ways to measure your influence on society and the environment more broadly. So, we took some time to look at those different accreditations, what would work for us, and make the right decision for us. Where it did have an impact though, and you might well see it in some of the numbers reflected that Charlotte popped up from our scoring earlier, is you’ll see that employees actually were fairly low in terms of our overall scoring within the process. And that’s because the pandemic affected our ability for things like staff volunteering, charity volunteer days, which we’re actually very generous with. So, we give up to five days for every employee for volunteering, and indeed we’ll support more for those who prepare it. So, there are areas that were impacting our ability to deliver in some of the areas that are measured.

Ben Telfer:

Thank you for that, Vicky.

Next question, is there a simple way of seeing where you might rate before doing the whole process?

Charlotte Cook:

Ooh. Talk to a fellow B Corp probably. I would suggest. So, until you’ve gone through the process, it’s difficult to understand exactly where you would fall. You really kind of do need to go through the process line by line, and evaluate your performance and impact as an organisation. The important thing also is your ability to evidence it. So, we haven’t really gone into it in huge amount of detail on the call, but one of the things we really wanted to make sure was from a data perspective as we embarked on the B Corp impact assessment, that we had all of our ducks in a row. Because what we didn’t want to do is waste time scrambling around systems and processes and trying to assimilate all of that. So, there isn’t an easy way of doing that right now, but I would suggest reaching out to B Corps who’ve been through the process. You can probably just give your voice over a system of the key areas and particular areas that you’re concerned about, there might be a gap. We can certainly go through that in a bit more detail.

Fast forwards to the new impact areas that are under consultation at the moment, if you go onto B Lab’s website, global website, there is a huge amount of information and resourcing there around those 10 new areas of impact, and the kind of standards that will sit alongside each one of those. Again, looking to the future, this isn’t something right now, but maybe in the next few years, if your organisation wants to embark, I would encourage you to look at those new impact areas, and you’ll be able to look at each of those 10 and the minimum requirements for each of those.

Ben Telfer:

Excellent. Thank you, Charlotte. Another question here. In the UK market, and if you’re a healthcare market or generally in the UK market, does the term mutual resonate with consumers?

Vicky Bramley:

Yes, it does. So, we have a long history of mutuals. You’ll know that, Ben, more than anyone. In the UK market, in particular in insurance. And longstanding perceptions and relationships with building societies, for example, and building from there on. In fact, we were born out of a kind of mutual status of the old man who would… On the hospital Saturday fund where we would, a chap would, or somebody would walk around the streets in local areas on a Saturday after a Friday payday, I’m talking 150 years ago now, long before the NHS, where you would then be able to donate some of your earnings from the week into a community health fund. And so mutual statuses have been around for a very, very long time. And yes, I do think there’s an element of… For me, I would say there’s an element of parallel between mutuality and the B Corp movement, because they have a lot of the similar drive at the heart of what they best stand for. And I think that that will perhaps become the modern incarnation and the modern perception of those mutual organisations. Not to say that only mutuals can become B Corp. Obviously, we know that’s not true either. But I think there’s something that sits really neatly and binds them together.

Ben Telfer:

Thank you, Vicky. Anything to add on that, Charlotte?

Charlotte Cook:

No, the only thing I would say is obviously we track quite a lot of research, particularly in the UK market. And I think it’s proven that more and more consumers and corporates actually, to a certain degree, are making more ethical, responsible choices around where they spend their money, their well-earned money. And so potentially this is going to become more and more important for organisations to really consider how they want to position what they do. And actually, at a time where, from a regulation or a disclosure’s point of view, that can get very technical and the average consumer can get lost in a lot of the acronyms and the frameworks and the detail that exists around all of that. But purely and simply, B Corp is a shorthand for you can trust us to be transparent, to be purpose led in our decisions, to govern ourselves well as an organisation, and always put your interests, the interests of our community, and all of our stakeholders first and foremost above our own. So, being able to be a vehicle to deliver that message to UK consumers I think is already resonating well for us, as you heard Vicky say. So, yeah, that would be my take on it.

Ben Telfer:

Okay, thank you, Charlotte. There’s a question related to that that I’ll save for the end because there’s a number of questions that have come in as well. So, this one is, can the person asking the question ask about the legal change required as part of a B Corp. Do you have a relatively simple legal structure, and therefore was it easy to do? Or was it tricky? And if so, how did you overcome it?

Vicky Bramley:

I don’t think any organisation has a really simple legal structure. And we certainly don’t have a super simple one. But it equally isn’t also as complicated as some of larger blue chip organisations as well. So, I think there’s an element of our relative simplicity helps in the process. But one of the really good examples of that is that… One of the impact assessment criteria is around your articles of association reflection, so that your organisation construct essentially reflecting some of the key measurements that they’re looking for you to build into the fabric of your organisation. And so we were able to relatively easily… I know Charlotte will probably say not easy at all, but relatively easily, compared to other organisations, able to make change to our articles of association to really reflect that. And that really helped us when we were working through some of the matrices of the measurements. It’s not a necessity to make changes to your legal construct. You might find it’s perfectly fine as it is. We took the opportunity to do it because we actually felt that it was the right thing to modernize some of those statements anyway.

As Charlotte said, the world doesn’t stand still and so we’re trying to modernize our business in so many ways, and that was an opportune moment for us to really look at who we are, what we stand for, and how we shape ourselves and build ourselves a strong foundation for the future.

Ben Telfer:

Thank you, Vicky. Charlotte, anything to follow on from Vicky’s comments?

Charlotte Cook:

I think Vicky covered that one. Yeah, I think you’ve covered that one.

Ben Telfer:

Fantastic. Next question, so you mentioned B Corp has won you new business. And the person asking that said, “That’s great news, has it also helped with recruitment?”

Vicky Bramley:

Yeah, as Charlotte said, and you can add more, Charlotte, we know that we have had really strong, over time, over all of our years, we’ve had really, really strong feedback from new recruits about our purpose-driven nature, and indeed the strength and the values that underpin that in our organisation. And we’ve just had some feedback recently in recruiting within our own ESG team, that Charlotte and I are particularly passionate about some of those things, and that really helps. The B Corp accreditation has already helped. We’ve had direct feedback from new recruits in our organisation since July to say that they were making a choice between us, joining Simplyhealth, and joining another organisation, and they chose Simplyhealth over other choices because of our B Corp status and because of what it meant to them about the kind of business that we must be to have been through that process and to have achieved the accreditation. Charlotte, is there anything you want to add?

Charlotte Cook:

Yeah. No, we had a lovely story, yeah, exactly that story, a couple of weeks ago, and I was talking to our YT team. And actually, I think maybe potentially as an organisation, we’ve been a bit slow off the mark to take full advantage of that from a talent acquisition perspective. So, I have lots of people now that are very, very keen, and as are our colleagues. They use it, just use it to help us bring great talent and keep great talent in the organisation, because they see the value of that, again, as a bit of a short hand to describe how perfect we are as an organisation and some of the transparency that exists around being a B Corp. So, they see the value of it. I think what we just need to do is really activate it now and hopefully see the benefits of taking the recruitment perspective.

Vicky Bramley:

Of people in our organisation as well, we really aren’t having to work hard to rally troops behind this, behind the movement. So, we have had people proactively approaching us in quite significant numbers to be part of this, and to get very excited about it, and to think about that solution. It certainly isn’t something that Charlotte and I will be doing in isolation within the RESG space in the organisation. It’s something that’s spread across the business and people are super keen, from all corners of our business, to be involved and to work at how they can be part of it and what they can do to contribute.

Ben Telfer:

Thank you for that. A great answer, Vicky and Charlotte. We’ve got time for a couple more questions. You mentioned there was a benchmark against other B Corps, and the question is are some of these benchmarking groups quite small because there’s not too many other insurance companies that are B Corp? Is that something you’ve found and is there still value in benchmarking against other industries and other types of organisations?

Charlotte Cook:

Should I take that one, Vicky? So, whilst absolutely there’s something about size and scale in terms of some of the benchmarking and the data, I think one of the things that we’ve already found of most value in sort of the benchmarking activity, that actually quite a lot of what we’re talking about isn’t necessarily very sector specific. And so quite a lot of the impact area is definitely where we feel that we can continue to drive forwards and make even more progressive, and take even more progressive action. Some of the areas that actually doesn’t really make a huge difference which industry or sector you’re in, actually because the topic has commonality across quite a few organisations. So, whilst there are some specific benchmarks that are industry specific, for us anyway, based on some of the areas where we’ve impact assessed, I’m having some great conversations with people outside of my sector about some of the areas that we want to improve on and they’re already way on. So, there was the ability to do that, and of course you can do that globally as well as regionally. Which offers a whole other different kind of conversation.

So, there is the opportunity. I think it depends where you organization is at on its journey, the kind of things that are on its roadmap, and the community that you want to lean on in order to sort of inspire some of your future action and goals.

Ben Telfer:

Thank you, Charlotte.

Fantastic. Just two more questions. This is the question that I mentioned before, and it’s something, Vicky and Charlotte, we spoke about just before this call. And it’s a question we get from a number of our members around the world that are looking at becoming a B Corp and it just asked, do B Corps potentially threaten mutual insurers and their advantage as it gives the chance for for-profit companies to get an accreditation that competes with the unique nature of mutuality? Would be great to hear your thoughts and opinions on that and why Simplyhealth chose to go through that journey.

Vicky Bramley:

Should I start, Charlotte? And then you can build…

Yeah, it’s a great question, and one that we’ve heard too. And you’ll continue to hear, I’m sure. I absolutely don’t think it threatens the uniqueness of mutuality. And in fact, I would say it celebrates it in many ways. It’s not easy to go through the process of becoming B Corp certified, and that’s why the numbers are still relatively small in the UK and globally. And we want that to grow, we want to be part of a bigger community of like-minded organisations. We want to find out those organisations that are taking things seriously and thinking about the things that we’re thinking about and wanting to work with us to share those perspectives. The bigger that community is, the better the impact on the world overall. And so we see the bigger picture here rather than the narrower picture of let’s stick within a mutual circle and all be mutuals together. There’s definitely something to celebrate about being a mutual, there’s definitely something that we feel is really aligned to the B Corp purpose and B Corp movement of being a mutual. And it certainly helped make the decision for us as to why we chose to go down the B Corp path because it felt so right.

It felt so aligned to what we believe in, where we are, our purpose as an organisation, and what we’re trying to achieve. So, overall, I’d say I think it celebrates it and helps to build a bigger community of like-minded organisations. Charlotte?

Charlotte Cook:

Yeah. I was just jotting down a few notes, Vicky. So, for me, I guess I would start from the place of why a business is in business first of all. And that’s easy to answer from our perspective and the community that we’re talking to today. But realistically, if we want to solve some of the world’s problems that exist today, that’s only going to happen when we put collective action ahead of self interest. And that’s where that sort of personal, community level that you’re part of, friends and family, and local community, or the business community. And so my one would probably be of a mindset of not what we lose as an organisation, but actually what could we and others gain as a result of being part of a bigger movement and I guess a bigger collective action around some of the areas of impact that we know we’re going to have to face into, whether that’s a business, societal, or global perspective. So, the power is always in coming together and tackling these things and driving forwards, not in individual action and isolation.

Ben Telfer:

Amazing. Thank you, Charlotte. Thank you, Vicky. And that was a great question, but an equally great answer. Just finally, last question, to both of you. What advice would you give to other members, other mutual co-opting insurance companies that were considering the B Corp certification? What advice would you give? What should be their next steps or first steps if they’re seriously considering this?

Vicky Bramley:

I’ll give you my view first, which is that I think you need to have that internal alignment, stakeholder alignment before you start. It’s not an easy process to go through. The data requirements alone are really, really heavy. And so you need to have that alignment across the whole organisation to be able to get behind the labor-intensive nature of really completing the process. And so for that, you’re going to need the support at the top level. It can’t be something that is a half-hearted effort within the business. It has to be something that the business really believes in before you start, because it isn’t easy. But it’s well worth it.

Ben Telfer:

Thank you, Vicky. Charlotte?

Charlotte Cook:

Yeah, I certainly echo Vicky touched on data. So, absolutely the data and the evidence that you’ll need to demonstrate and provide to B Lab as you go through the process. We’ve been really lucky, we’ve had some key people within the organisation, and certainly at a leadership level, that really believe this is the right thing. And having key people across the organisation that are willing to drive it and get involved, it’s super, super important. I think towards the end of the process, we have about 20 people who are all required in the organisation and wanted to to provide enough evidence, and they did a fantastic of assembling all of that and taking the time to make sure that it was accurate and everything that B Corp and B Lab needed from us was in a good place. The other piece of advice that I would suggest is just reach out. So, reach out to us, myself or Vicky, reach out to any other B Corps that you know. So, we’re already talking to five or six different pending B Corps, and helping them to explore the process and the impact areas. And having those peers and those organisations that you can lean on to ask some of those questions, to explore things in a deeper way is really important.

And I know that we had the opportunity to do that going through the process ourselves. So, absolutely reach out to us, reach out to some other B Corps, and understand some of their learnings from the process and actually how they can help you and run alongside you and see if you want to go through the same process.

Vicky Bramley:

To that point, find out if there are people in your network, suppliers, partners, customers, that are B Corp accredited in your circle. We’ve got one of our roots to market is Three Dentists through our dent plan business. And we are helping some dentists who are hoping to become B Corp accredited in their space, and we’re running a green dentistry program with them to help them think more broadly about their impact on society and the environment. So, take a look at your network as well as just the wider B Corp community.

Ben Telfer:

That’s fantastic. Thank you so much, Vicky, Charlotte. You’ve been so generous in what you shared today. And after that last question, my answer would be get in touch with Vicky and Charlotte and your colleagues at Simplyhealth, and thank you for that offer. And it’s a serious offer. I know you mentioned this before the webinar. If there’s any further questions from people watching this recording, or people that have asked questions, please do get in touch with myself or anyone else at ICMIF, and we’ll be happy to introduce you to Simplyhealth to see if it’s apparent for you to begin a similar journey towards becoming a B Corp. So, thank you, Vicky, Charlotte, for joining us today. Thank you everyone else in the audience. Just a reminder that this was episode nine in our mutual advantage series, and you can have access to the recordings and the transcriptions for all the previous episodes that you can get via the URL on the screen.

Like with all webinars, this has been recorded and you can watch any of our past webinars on demand via that link on the screen. And just finally, you mentioned that Simplyhealth is 150 years old. ICMIF is only 100 and we just celebrated two weeks ago our centenary conference under the theme leading with purpose, and all those conference sessions have been recorded and will be shared with members over the next few weeks and you can see some of the similar topics that we’re talking about, mutuality, purpose-driven business models, and sustainability as a differentiator. So, please check out those video recordings. And again, like I said, they’ll be shared with members very shortly.

So, just a final thank you to Vicky and Charlotte, and thank you everyone for joining, and see you on a future ICMIF webinar soon. Thank you, everyone. Enjoy the rest of your day.

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