Why Shift Workspaces is Working to Become B-Corp Certified

Shift is passionate about building communities that enhance the health, peace of mind and the quality of life of our members, employees and neighbors. We value kindness and respect in our relationships and know that our own happiness and wellbeing is intertwined with others. We work to strengthen our local communities with the hope that they might begin to resemble the world in which we want to live. We are mindful of our environmental footprint and have committed to replace more resources than we consume as a company.

Since we opened our first Shift community in 2012, we’ve strived to be a business that is socially and environmentally responsible. When we first heard about the B Corp movement a few years ago, we knew that it was a natural extension of the mission we had already started. Becoming a certified B Corporation will take our relationship with sustainability and fair business to the next level.

Certified B Corporations, or B-Corps for short, are social enterprises certified by the nonprofit organization B Lab. B Lab certified companies based on how they create value for non-shareholding stakeholders; these include employees, customers, the local community, vendors, and environment.

Becoming B Certified is a long, rigorous process; one that can take months or years. We have devoted tremendous resources towards certification and we are thrilled to be joining a community that exists to use business as a force for good in our community and the world.

We will focus on five main principles as a BCORP: customer, vendor and employee happiness, volunteer hours, water conservation, electrical conservation, and maintaining a zero carbon footprint.

B Corporations are important today more than ever because they are setting a new standard on how business should be done. It’s no longer about who can do, produce, or operate more, instead it’s about who can do, produce, and operate better. We believe that our efforts to become a BCORP certified company demonstrate our commitment to our local community, our employees, the environment and our members and we hope that it inspires you to do the same.