19th March, 2024 By Jenny Herrera, CEO of the Good Business Charter Oxfam started the year publishing a report entitled ‘Inequality Inc: How corporate power divides our world and the need for a new era of public action‘. It followed the annual cry from the High Pay Centre about how few days it takes the […]
26th February, 2024 Multimodal logistics solutions provider, AV Dawson, stand out not just for their efficient operations but also for their unwavering commitment to good business practices. This commitment was recently recognised and celebrated during our inaugural Good Business Week, where they emerged as the undeniable champion, winning our Good Business Week competition! Employee activities […]
19th February, 2024 As chair of the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE), that is a question that I am regularly asked. We exist to champion the highest standards of ethical business behaviour. So we have a lot in common with the Good Business Charter – of which I am a big fan. Charles Wookey and […]
12th February, 2024 As we bid farewell to the inaugural Good Business Week that took place from 5th to 11th February 2024, we are thrilled to share the incredible success and positive impact achieved during this landmark event. The week served as a platform to celebrate businesses that are dedicated to making a difference, highlighting […]
6th February, 2024 Written by Liz Barclay, UK Small Business Commissioner Paying your suppliers quickly could help stem the flow of small business failures as the cost of doing business reaches a critical juncture. Companies have a responsibility to pay their small business suppliers quickly regardless of the payment terms – or risk a reputational […]
5th February, 2024 By Jenny Herrera, CEO of the Good Business Charter. Many companies talk about being sustainable and when you ask them what they do, they will relay a wonderful list of the different ways they are minimising their impact on the planet – and it is truly amazing to hear of the innovation […]
1st December, 2023 A case study on embedding responsible procurement, Good Business Charter Accreditation and Social Value By: Steve Betts, Head of Procurement The Northumbrian Water Group employs over 3000 people, and became GBC accredited in December 2021. THE CHALLENGE The Northumbrian Water Group is one of the UK’s leading water companies, employing over 3000 […]
15th November, 2023 A case study on using the GBC EDI commitments to begin and inform our EDI journey By: Jane Boulton, Human Resources Director Axminster Tools is UK based and distributes tools and machinery (mail order and retail) to trade and individuals in the UK, Ireland and Europe, employing 217 people. Axminster Tools became […]
2nd November, 2023 Rampant chasing after profit, regardless of its impact on employees, customers, suppliers and the planet has rightly been called out in recent years with a growing tide of consultancies advising companies on how to find their true ‘purpose’. However, as recent articles suggest, a risk of swinging too dramatically to the other […]
24th October, 2023 Written by GBC’s Head of Growth, Hunter Hampton-Matthews In today’s rapidly evolving world, businesses across industries are recognising the importance of responsible practices. In the hospitality sector, responsible business practices aren’t just a trend; they are the key to not only thriving as a business but also making a positive impact on […]
11th September, 2023 Last week I had the privilege of being part of a round-table on Levelling Up run by the University of York and University of Central Lancashire in partnership with the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The scale of the challenge is immense but one thing is crystal clear: nothing will be […]
30th July, 2023 As we mark World Day Against Trafficking in Persons it is good to reflect on how the Good Business Charter feeds into the narrative on eradicating modern slavery, both in the UK and globally. There are signs to look out for when it comes to identifying someone in slavery, the main ones […]
12th July, 2023 The word ‘culture’ is not one that the Good Business Charter has tended to reference, instead developing a focus on EMBEDDING the 10 components of the GBC. However, embedding a framework like the GBC does not flow from outside. Championing people both within and external to your organsiation flows primarily from the […]
27th June, 2023 Natalie Thompson of Schroders Personal Wealth shares some of the nuts and bolts of how they have utilised the Good Business Charter to communicate their commitment to being a responsible business. We are grateful to SPW, and other organisations like theirs, for sharing great ideas that can inspire us all in our […]
5th June, 2023 It’s always a pleasant experience to be in the same room as a load of people who are passionate about the same thing you are – and keen to talk about it! That is what happened at the University of Northampton’s first ever Sustainability Summit last month. This was two days to […]
4th May, 2023 We call our fourth component Employee Representation and I believe it is helpful to unpack what that looks like in practice. I attended an excellent roundtable on the topic recently, run by Tortoise Media with Kate Bell from the TUC as the speaker. The key is to not only provide opportunities for […]
27th March, 2023 We were delighted to host our very first round-table with our medium and large accredited organisations on 28th February, and our chosen topic was financial well-being – to share ways in which different organisations were looking after their employees. In one-to-one discussions with individual members over the past few months, we knew […]
25th January, 2023 It feels crazy to even have to say this – how have we moved so far from such a basic ethic as paying our suppliers on time? And yet, Bellevue Law was one of our accredited members to speak out on the issue last year and call the big businesses to account. […]
12th December 2022 Accredited GBC organisation, Leek Building Society, provides an excellent example of how people can be truly championed, and employee wellbeing put at the heart of a business. Pre 2019, the Director of HR did not have a position on the Executive Committee which therefore meant work around employees was not always prioritised. […]
21st November, 2022 Earlier this month we had our inaugural AGM – what we hope will become our Annual Gathering of Members. It was lovely to read a write-up of it afterwards by one of our accredited organisations, Go Squared. Really glad you found it helpful, Chris. For those of you who would like to […]
18th October 2022 When we launched York as our first Good Business Charter city, I was excited to connect with Rebecca Hill of Galtres Lodge, an independent hotel. She also chairs Indie York, a group of over 200 independent businesses across the city. York has a thriving independent business culture, with Bishopthorpe Road voted best […]
27th September, 2022 REAL LIVING WAGE INCREASES TO £10.90 IN UK AND £11.95 IN LONDON AS THE COST-OF-LIVING RISES 10.1% increase in real Living Wage, the largest year-on-year rise Over 390,000 Living Wage workers are set for a pay boost at over 11,000 Living Wage employers £338m in extra wages has gone to low-paid workers […]
26th September, 2022 I feel compelled to write a blog entry as we walk through all that is going on around us – a plummeting pound, high inflation, interest rates on the rise and the general cost-of-living crisis. What does this all mean for businesses upholding our commitments to responsible business behaviour? Last week the Living […]
17th June, 2022 A blog by Good Business Charter’s CEO, Jenny Herrera. When I came on board to lead the Good Business Charter, there is no doubt I had a lot more experience in the S and G of ESG than the E! As a chartered accountant I am hopefully relatively au fait with what […]
10th June, 2022 I have recently finished reading Martin Vander Weyer’s informative analysis of why we have lost faith in capitalism in “The Good, the Bad and the Greedy” which at times had me plunged into despair at the scale of some of the issues that have arisen in recent decades, particularly in areas of […]
25th May, 2022 It is one thing to say you are committed on paper to our 10 components. To embed them into the very core of your organisation is quite another, yet it is as this occurs that the real value of the GBC is unlocked. Our vision is for each employee within a GBC […]
3rd May, 2022 Passionate suppliers of woodworking tools and machinery, Axminster Tools have spent 50 years building our family business into the renowned organisation it is today. We do what we do to maintain a sustainable future for Axminster Tools, for the prosperity of our staff and the communities we support and engage with. We […]
21st April, 2022 We were very excited for this year’s Good Business Festival, as our CEO, Jenny Herrera was due to speak on a panel with James Ghaffari – Director of Growth and Product, B Lab UK, Janet Williamson – Senior Policy Officer, TUC and Soulla Kyriacou – Chief Operating Officer, Blueprint for Better Business. […]
14th November, 2023 After just 2 years the GBC has accredited its 1,000th organisation Today the Good Business Charter, set up 2020 in partnership with the CBI and TUC, welcomed its 1,000th organisation, the Institute of Directors, into its accreditation scheme. Ealing Council, Aubrey Allen and Dawsongroup plc are some of the latest organisations to […]
5th March, 2022 First printed in the Sunday Times, online 5 March 2022 and in print 6 March 2022 “I was enjoying a lunch with my friend Simon Fox, at the time head of the Reach newspaper group, when he told me he was keen to do something on responsible business — a subject close […]
28th February, 2022 Welcome to another month of news and updates from us at GBC! We are rapidly growing, with 920 accredited organisations and we can’t thank our supporters enough for continuing to spread the word. 2 Year Anniversary of the launch of the Good Business Charter Earlier this month, we celebrated the 2nd anniversary […]
Guest blog from Silver Birch Care 14th February, 2022 We are delighted to celebrate our two-year anniversary as a member of the Good Business Charter (GBC). We are proud to be the first social care provider and one of the first 20 organisations to join the GBC, gaining our accreditation on 16 February 2020 – […]
Guest Blog from Jon Lewis 11th February, 2022 In 2016, I returned to the UK, having spent the prior 20 years working internationally, but based in the US. It surprised me how many employees had negative perceptions of big corporate businesses in the UK, and that exposed me to the thinking at the time around […]
10th February, 2022 Today marks our second anniversary of launching the Good Business Charter on 10th February, 2020. Not a good time to launch anything given the pandemic about to unleash havoc across our nation! And yet that same pandemic has sharpened the focus on some of the issues we stand for, through complaints of tax […]
28th January, 2022 Earlier this week the World Benchmarking Alliance launched a report on the global state of play for responsible business conduct, sharing findings and insights from their Social Transformation Baseline Assessment. The results were extremely disappointing with only 1% of the 1,000 global businesses analysed able to demonstrate the fundamentals of socially responsible […]
10th January, 2022 Happy New Year to you all! Here at The Good Business Charter, we have had a monumental year of growth, as we saw a rapid increase in the number of organisations who gained GBC accreditation, as well as seeing our team expand. We hope you enjoy reflecting back on 2021 with us […]
Welcome to another month of GBC news! We are delighted to welcome 44 new members to the GBC this month, bringing our total up to 754, with 56 of those being public and third sector organisations, and 698 companies. We’re so happy to see the GBC continue to grow, and thank you to everyone who […]
For this blog, we would like to look closely at how our members have been working towards net zero, and members who offer offsetting services as part of their business, in line with their GBC environmental component. We have just chosen a few to talk about on this blog, so this is not an extensive […]
This week marks #LivingWageWeek with the announcement of new minimum rates of pay. On Monday the Living Wage Foundation announced that the UK real living wage will rise from £9.50 an hour to £9.90 an hour and the London Living Wage will rise from £10.85 an hour to £11.05. We are delighted that this means […]
Member Update This month we are delighted to have welcomed 36 new members this month bringing our member total to 712, including 52 charities and public sector, and 613 SMEs. Carbon Consultancy for SMEs GBC member and events agency Conference Care have announced the launch of a new service – Carbon Consultancy by Conference Care. […]
We are delighted to see GBC member Conference Care, who accredited with us in February 2021, launching a new service that calculates the carbon emissions generated by an organisations event, which will be a fantastic tool for small businesses who are working towards net zero. Each GBC accredited organisation must show a commitment in reducing […]
Member Update 41 new members have joined us this month, bringing our total up to 677 of which 582 are small businesses, 44 large companies, and 51 third or public sector organisations including charities. New members of the GBC team We are delighted to announce that we have expanded and are welcoming three part time colleagues to our team! Please […]
All industries have their jargon and the world of responsible and purpose-driven business is no exception. Some speak of ESG, others focus more on social value, then there is sustainability as a more generic term and what about the UN SDGs. How does it all fit in and where would we position the Good Business […]
The Good Business Charter is open for the public sector, charities and other organisations in the third sector. We want to recognise public sector and third sector organisations that have responsible practices towards the environment, their employees, stakeholders and suppliers alongside the valuable public service/charitable work they do. The Soil Association joins Oxfam, Amnesty International, […]
It’s been over 6 months since we launched our streamlined GBC application process for small and medium sized organisations, which make up over 99.3% of all businesses, and we are delighted to see a huge number of SME’s and small public and third sector organisations gain GBC accreditation in those 6 months. At the beginning […]
A guest blog from GBC member Greenwich Pantry. Greenwich Pantry is a small business in the food industry. Our cooking school is the centrepiece of our business. With a focus on balanced eating, we help people cook, eat and live well. In 2016 we embarked on the journey of building a sustainable business and use our […]
The Results Fieldwork conducted between 25th and 27th June 2021, with a sample size of 2,148, for the Good Business Charter, in collaboration with TSB showed the following headline trends: 79% of people think a business acting responsibly is extremely or very important and a further 18% think it is somewhat important. Just 2% of […]
Today we are delighted to announce the first GBC city in the UK! Huge congratulations to York where the City of York Council last week approved championing the Good Business Charter throughout the city. This marks the launch of a movement for change, and we are excited to see where it leads for the people […]
The Living Wage Champion Awards celebrates Living Wage employers and individuals that are leading the movement by promoting the real Living Wage in their industries, supply chain and areas. This year we are delighted to announce that GBC members Seniors Helping Seniors and Boo Coaching were both receivers of a Champion Award in the 2021 […]
Case Study on Seriously Helpful Online Marketing At the Good Business Foundation we think practicing responsible business behaviour should be intuitive, and we accredit organisations whose ethos strives for ethical practice and transparency. Not only is it ‘the right thing to do’, but running an organisation ethically improves office culture, sales and reputation – if […]