Get the latest delivered to your inbox
Privacy Policy

Now Reading

80 Businesses Honored as ‘Best for Workers’, Creating Higher Quality Jobs That Serve a Higher Purpose

Honorees Support Working Families with Better Benefits, Living Wages, Workplace Flexibility, Professional Development, and  Ownership Opportunities

80 Businesses Honored as ‘Best for Workers’, Creating Higher Quality Jobs That Serve a Higher Purpose

Honorees Support Working Families with Better Benefits, Living Wages, Workplace Flexibility, Professional Development, and  Ownership Opportunities

Published 09-16-14

Submitted by B Lab

Today, 80 companies worldwide were recognized for creating the highest quality jobs by the nonprofit B Lab with the release of the third annual ‘B Corp Best for Workers’ list. This analysis includes metrics regarding compensation and benefits, health and wellness programs, parent-friendly flex time and leave policies, professional development and internal promotion, corporate culture, profit sharing and ownership opportunities.

“With Millennials’ increasing demand for work-life integration, B Corps are winning the talent war,” said Jay Coen Gilbert, co-founder B Lab. “The Best for Workers Honorees are leading the way with their commitment to creating high quality jobs that serve a higher purpose.”

The ‘B Corp Best for Workers’ list honors businesses that earned an worker impact score in the top 10% of all Certified B Corporations 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.

Honorees include Dansko, the 100% employee-owned, footwear brand, Ecotrust Forest Management, an investment and advisory firm helping investors and landowners enhance forest health and productivity, Rally Software, a leading global provider of cloud-based solutions for managing Agile software development (and the first successful B Corp IPO) and Charter School Business Management, a NY-based provider of financial training to the charter sector.

The ‘Best for Workers’ companies come from over 25 different industries such as consulting and financial services, renewable energy installation and technical services. One third of honorees are based outside the United States, including countries such as Brazil, New Zealand, Italy Argentina and the United Kingdom. (Full list of honorees below and at bestfortheworld.bcorporation.net)

Each honored company is a Certified B Corporation. They use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems and have met rigorous standards of overall social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Today there are over nearly 1,100 Certified B Corporations, across 100+ industries and 34 countries, unified by one common goal: to redefine success in business.

B Lab released the “Best for the World” list (overall impact) in March and the “Best for the Environment” list  (environmental impact) in April and the ‘Best for Communities’ (community impact) list in July. All past honorees can be found at bestfortheworld.bcorporation.net

*          *          *

B Lab is a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement to redefine success in business so that all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but the best for the world.

B Lab drives this systemic change through a number of interrelated initiative: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier for all of us to tell the difference between “good companies” and good marketing; 2) passing legislation to accelerate growth of social entrepreneurship and impact investing (27 states have already passed benefit corporation legislation); 3) developing B Analytics, a customizable platform for investors to benchmark and report the impact of their global private equity portfolios; and 4) providing free, powerful tools for businesses to measure, compare and improve their social and environmental performance (more than 16,000 businesses use B Lab’s free B Impact Assessment).

For more information, visit www.bcorporation.net.

Executives from all B Corps available for comment. For more information contact Katie Kerr at katie@bcorporation.net, (610) 293-0299

 

2014 ‘Best For the Workers’ Honorees

 

 13 Midsize Businesses Honorees (50+ Employees)

Chroma Technology Corp (Bellows Falls, VT) - Chroma Technology Corp. is a manufacturer of interference filters for the ultra-violet, visible and near-infrared portions of the spectrum, including band pass, multiple band pass, and long and short pass filters, as well as beamsplitters, dichroic mirrors and laser rejection filters.

Cooperative Home Care Associates (Bronx, NY) - CHCA is the nation’s largest worker-owned cooperative, providing high-quality home care services to elders and individuals living with disabilities—primarily African-American and Hispanic residents of the South Bronx, Harlem, and Washington Heights.

Dansko (West Grove, PA) - Dansko, literally translated as “Danish Shoe,” was founded in 1990 with a simple, flexible-bottom clog. The brand has since expanded significantly, adding more diverse products from casual to dress, and from sandals to boots.

HCA (Philadelphia, PA) - Home Care Associates of Philadelphia (HCA) has dedicated itself to a quality care through quality jobs mission. By providing quality home care jobs, HCA works to ensure quality care across the Philadelphia metropolitan area for elders and people with disabilities.

King Arthur Flour Company (White River Junction, VT) - King Arthur Flour is America’s oldest flour company, operating for over two hundred years and continuing its promise to create the best flour available to bakers and consumers across the country.

MAX Insurance (Overland Park, KS) -Mutual Aid eXchange (MAX) is a member-owned enterprise that provides insurance the way it should be; fair, faithful and socially responsible.

Namaste Solar (Boulder, CO) - Namasté Solar is an employee-owned cooperative that designs, installs, and maintains solar electric systems for homes, businesses, non-profits, and government entities.

PeaceWorks Technology Solutions (Waterloo, Canada) - PeaceWorks provides first-rate technology solutions that enable organizations to achieve their mission with increased ease and efficiency.

Rally Software (Boulder, CO) - Rally Software is a leading global provider of cloud-based solutions for managing Agile software development.

Sungevity (Oakland, CA) - Sungevity is the nation’s fastest growing residential solar company that designs, installs, and finances residential solar electric systems.

The Redwoods Group (Morrisville, NC) - The Redwoods Group, a privately held, socially conscious company, provides property and casualty insurance underwriting and risk and claims management services to YMCAs, Jewish Community Centers and resident camps across the nation.

Traction on Demand (Burnaby, Canada) -Traction is a CRM consulting and software development firm with unparalleled expertise in Salesforce.com implementations, data quality and marketing automation.

Woodfold Mfg., Inc. (Forest Grove, OR) -Woodfold Manufacturing has been making custom wood products in Forest Grove, Oregon since 1957. Their accordion doors and partitions are used to separate space in commercial, institutional, and residential environments.

 

25 Small Businesses Honorees (10-49 Employees)

Abacus Wealth Partners, LLC (Santa Monica, CA) - Abacus Wealth Partners is a national financial management firm that is committed to bring self and global awareness as well as sustainability to investment management.

Application Experts (Broomfield, CO) - App-X provides flexible web-based solutions for Alternative Asset Fund Managers and Institutional Investors seeking to achieve strong financial performance through high impact investing strategies.

Audacious Inquiry (Baltimore, MD) - AI is an innovative management and technology consulting company that actively pursues projects that involve solving social problems and providing public benefit.

Bullfrog Power (Toronto, ON) - Bullfrog Power’s mission is to provide Canadians with easy and practical 100% renewable energy solutions for their homes, businesses and transportation that empower them to create a sustainable world for future generations.

Charter School Business Management Inc. (New York, NY) - Charter School Business Management’s mission is to empower the stakeholders of the charter sector with financial knowledge and services to develop and maintain fiscal solvency and organizational viability. CSBM professionally develops and trains their clients regarding best business management practices or directly manages their financial responsibilities.

Community Wealth Partners (Washington, D.C.) - Community Wealth Partners offers strategy and implementation services to nonprofit organizations and philanthropic foundations, partnering with them to design and implement innovative approaches to growth and sustainability.

Corporate Knights (Toronto, Canada) - Corporate Knights uses the latest data and analysis tools to empower markets to make the world a better place. Corporate Knights is comprised of three divisions, which rate, animate and agitate to drive this shift to a more symbiotic form of capitalism.

Enrollment Resources Inc. (Langford, Canada) - Enrollment Resources (ER) is a leading Performance Improvement company dedicated to working with organizations that wish to make society a better place.

Green Building Services (Portland, OR) - Green Building Services (GBS) provides services and tools to support the design, construction, and operation of buildings that are responsible, enduring, and healthy.

Green Living Enterprises (Toronto, Canada) - Green Living Enterprises is a full-service media, marketing, custom content provider and events company that has created and deployed advertising and marketing campaigns for companies such as Scotiabank, The Home Depot, Direct Energy, and Toronto Hydro.

Greentech Capital Advisors (New York, NY) - Greentech Capital Advisors is the first and largest global investment banking firm that is dedicated to serving companies that are transforming the world’s energy, industrial and resources infrastructure.

Heller Consulting (Oakland, CA) - Heller Consulting helps nonprofits streamline their operations and maximize their use of software for fundraising and mission management. The company specializes in software selection, implementation, optimization and training for products from Convio, Salesforce.com and Blackbaud.

Imprint Capital (San Francisco, CA) - Imprint Capital is an impact investment firm that creates and manages high performing impact investment portfolios for foundations, families, and financial institutions.

Myplanet (Toronto, Canada) - Myplanet empowers organizations with UX design & technology solutions to support the delivery of great web-based products.

North Berkeley Investment Partners (Berkeley, CA) - North Berkeley Investment Partners is an independent investment advisory firm whose mission is to help clients feel comfortable and confident in the decisions they make to reach their life goals.

ProtoTest (Denver, CO) - ProtoTest tests web and mobile apps to ensure functionality, performance, usability and accessibility.

Sílice (Mendoza, Argentina) - Sílice is dedicated to generating products and services related to information and communication technology.

Snakk Media (Auckland, New Zealand) - Snakk enables brands to reach their consumers on smartphones and tablets through engaging ads delivered across a network of mobile websites, applications & games.

South Mountain Company, Inc. (West Tisbury, MA) - South Mountain Company is an employee-owned design, build, and renewable energy company on Martha's Vineyard. The company plans and develops residential and commercial buildings, as well as designing and installing solar & wind energy systems and energy efficiency improvements.

SustainAbility (London, U.K.) - SustainAbility is a think tank and strategic advisory firm working to catalyze business leadership on sustainability.

The CAPROCK Group (Boise, ID) - The CAPROCK Group is a multi-family wealth advisory firm, customizing financial solutions for individuals and families who don't have the time or expertise to create such solutions on their own.

Top Drawer Creative Inc. (Toronto, Canada) - Top Drawer Creative is an advertising agency with a unique specialization. They focus on a specific consumer psychographic segment called AHAA (Active, Healthy, Affluent, Aware) and the brands that target this group.

Trillium Asset Management (Boston, MA) -Trillium Asset Management, LLC is the oldest independent investment advisor devoted exclusively to sustainable and responsible investing (SRI).

UTOPIES (Paris, France) - UTOPIES specializes in sustainability consulting, accelerating change by helping companies turn difficulties and externalities into opportunities.

Wasmer, Schroeder & Company, Inc. (Naples, FL) - Wasmer, Schroeder & Company is an independent investment advisory firm specializing in Separately Managed Account (SMA) management.

 

42 Micro-Enterprises Honorees (<10 Employees)

A&R Solar (Seattle, WA) - A&R Solar is a team of smart, environmentally conscious specialists who design and install solar energy systems for homeowners, businesses, and government agencies.

Analytica Advisors Inc. (Ottawa, Canada) - Analytica Advisors is focused on strengthening the global and domestic success of the Canadian clean technology industry and innovation-based companies that are core to the industry.

Beartooth Capital (Bozeman, MT) - Beartooth Capital is a leading impact investment fund manager whose mission is to generate strong investment returns, real conservation results, and community benefits.

Blue Hill Partners LLC (Philadelphia, PA) - Blue Hill Partners is an energy services company that provides specialty energy efficiency retrofits as a fully funded, turnkey service.

BluPlanet Recycling Inc. (Calgary, Canada) - BluPlanet Recycling Inc. is a Calgary based multi-family residential and commercial recycling collection service provider.

Clean Yield Asset Management (Norwich, VT) - A pioneer in the field of socially responsible investing (SRI), Clean Yield began in 1985 as a stock-market newsletter that provided buy and sell advice on socially and financially screened securities.

Council Fire, LLC (Annapolis, MD) - Council Fire is a world-class management consulting firm working with clients to "operationalize" sustainability and harness the power of information to drive competitive advantage and success in both the public and private sectors.

Dharma Merchant Services (San Francisco, CA) - Dharma Merchant Services is a socially responsible and green certified provider of credit card processing accounts to small and midsized businesses throughout the US.

Disconnect, Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) - Disconnect creates software to preserve your online privacy and reduce your exposure to the threat of malware, identity theft, and tracking of your search and browsing history.

Ecotrust Forest Management (Portland, OR) - Ecotrust Forest Management (EFM) is a forestland investment management and advisory services company with a business model that generates financial returns, while delivering clear conservation value and strong community benefits.

Education Funding Partners (Golden, CO) - Education Funding Partners (EFP) is the only national-scope, social enterprise that provides Fortune 500 corporate marketing sponsorships exclusively for major public school districts.

Enviro-Stewards  (Elmira, Canada) - Enviro-Stewards Inc’s Engineers & Scientists serve as sustainability catalysts for industrial, commercial and institutional facilities.

Ethical Electric (Washington, D.C.) - Ethical Electric is an energy company that does good. Ethical Electric powers as many American homes and businesses as possible with 100% clean energy from renewable sources like wind and solar.

Farmland LP (San Francisco, CA) - Farmland LP acquires conventional farmland and converts it to organic, sustainable farmland. They provide investors with access to this unique asset class, which has proven to deliver inflation-protected returns over long periods of time.

FlipGive (Toronto, Canada) - FlipGive (formerly Better The World) provides a digital platform that connects brands to the $200+ billion fundraising market; converting customers into a sales force to raise money.

Good for Business (Madison, WI) - Good for Business specializes in purpose-led creative communications developed for use in all media - print to digital.

Graines de Changement (Paris, France) - Graines de Changement is a laboratory of ideas and innovative solutions. They design and produce the ideas, tools and templates that everyone needs to be an agent of change.

GrantBook (Toronto, Ontario) - GrantBook is a social purpose business specializing in the procurement and implementation of cloud-based tools that help grantmakers and their networks to maintain a more social and technology-enabled workplace.

Grassroots Capital Management Corp. (Cummington, MA) - Grassroots Capital is a leader in microfinance investment. The firm plays a pioneering role in attracting private capital into the industry, creating investment vehicles to address market gaps, and providing the necessary funding to support new and innovative as well as established and mature initiatives.

Little Pickle Press (San Francisco, CA) - Little Pickle Press ("LPP") is a 21st Century publisher of high quality, high impact media for children.

Local Food Lab (Stanford, CA) - Local Food Lab is a platform for the ideas and companies that are changing the food system.

Manoverboard Inc. (Winnipeg, Canada) - Manoverboard is a purpose-driven design firm that provides websites, identities, and communications strategy to principled businesses and organizations.

Mark Leibowitz Photography Inc. (Santa Monica, CA) - Mark Leibowitz Photography, Inc. practices and creatively develops sustainable photography services for advertising, commercial and private clients.

MRW Connected, Inc. (Easthampton, MA) - MRW Connected provides custom web solutions to educators, non-profits, social entrepreneurs, and just about anyone else working to make the world a better place.

NATIVA (Milan, Italy) - Nativa is a prototypical XXI century company. Its purpose is the Evolution of business and society, so that they create a positive impacton people and planet, thus growing Happiness.

Notogroup (Portland, OR) - Notogroup is an Executive Search Firm with a proven service model that takes into consideration the intricacies that effectively fuse leadership, culture, and business ambition.  

NRG Insurance (Seattle, WA) - NRG is a brokerage insurance firm that connects customers to a multitude of insurance providers, delivering risk management options that include custom insurance options.

One Energy Renewables (Seattle, WA) - OneEnergy Renewables specializes in the development of large-scale clean energy projects – making renewable energy solutions accessible and cost-effective for its corporate, utility, and institutional clients.

OneRoof, Inc. (Berkeley, CA) - OneRoof, Inc. is a Berkeley California-based social enterprise company with extensive prior experience in delivering IT-enabled communications to rural communities in India and Mexico.

OpenConcept Consulting Inc. (Ottawa, Canada) - OpenConcept delivering secure, accessible, responsive and interactive web sites for their clients and believes that social change requires new forms of collaboration and effective use of the Internet.

Praxis Consulting Group (Philadelphia, PA) - Praxis Consulting Group assists employee-owned, not-for-profit, and other socially responsible organizations in developing high-performing, sustainable workplaces that benefit all stakeholders.

Purpose Capital (Toronto, Canada) - Purpose Capital is a North American impact investment and advisory firm that works with Canadian and US investors – individuals, families, foundations, financial institutions, and governments – and their advisors who wish to integrate social and environmental impact into their operational strategies and investments.

Pymwymic (Amsterdam, Netherlands) - Pymwymic is the ‘Put Your Money Where Your Meaning Is Community’ of impact investors who believe in the flow of capital for good.

Renewal Funds (Vancouver, Canada) - Renewal Funds is a social venture fund dedicated to delivering financial returns by investing in leading environmental and social mission businesses in Canada and the USA.

Resonate LLC (Now Sustrana LLC) (Berwyn, PA) - Sustrana LLC is a strategic sustainability consulting and technology company based outside of Philadelphia.

RosettaBooks (New York, NY) - RosettaBooks is the leading independent digital publisher, annually selling over 1,000,000 eBooks worldwide.

SEQUIL Systems, Inc. (Delray Beach, FL) - SEQUIL Systems, Inc. is an award-winning professional services firm which provides highly technical building commissioning, LEED program management, energy modeling and sustainability consulting services to the architecture, engineering and construction industry.

Sustainable Business Consulting (Seattle, WA) - Sustainable Business Consulting (SBC) is a Seattle-based consulting firm focused on demonstrating the bottom-line business benefits of sustainability and leading companies through successful implementation.

Takt-etik (Montreal, Canada) - Takt-etik relies on the expertise of eight advisors that have a combined 25 years of sustainability consulting experience, making it the largest firm of its kind in Quebec.

Turbo (Sao Paulo, Brazil) - Turbo Aceleradora accelerates the growth of positive impact companies in Brazil. They believe business must take into account the needs of all its stakeholders as well as its social and environmental impact.

Volans (London, U.K.) - Volans is a future-focused consultancy and think-tank that drives market-based ‘breakthrough’ solutions to the future’s greatest challenges.

Y Scouts (Tempe, AZ) - Y Scouts is a leadership and executive search firm that connects purpose-driven organizations with purpose-driven leaders.

B Lab logo

B Lab

B Lab

B Lab is a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement to redefine success in business. It's vision is that one day all companies will compete not only to be the best in the world, but best for the world.

B Lab drives this systemic change through a number of interrelated initiatives: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations who lead this movement and make it easier to tell the difference between “good companies” and good marketing; 2) passing benefit corporation legislation to create a new kind of corporation legally required to create value for society, not just shareholders; 3) helping investors invest for impact through use of the B Analytics data platform; and 4) helping businesses measure, compare and improve their social and environmental performance through use of the B Impact Assessment as a free powerful educational tool.

More from B Lab

Join today and get the latest delivered to your inbox