Making your practices more responsible as a service company

When it comes to improving a company's impact, we often think of businesses whose model is selling products. They could develop recyclable or compostable packaging to reduce their footprint, or donate products to under-served communities to boost social impact. Plenty of examples!

But what about service companies? What's their role in improving society? Great question — and that's exactly what we're digging into today!

First, what's a service company?

We're mostly talking about:

• Law/accounting firms

• Engineering firms

• Ad agencies

• E-commerce agencies

• Consulting firms

• In short, any company that doesn't sell tangible products

How to improve your environmental impact when you sell services?

There are plenty of concrete ways to improve your company's environmental footprint. Here are a few:

• Offer a list of local suppliers to your team to encourage local choices. To push further, introduce new suppliers in lunch & learns and add them to the list.

• Share the right resources (Recyc-Qc) so the team can dispose of e-waste in the right places based on their location.

• Build a way to educate clients on environmental best practices into your service offer. Workshops, newsletters, webinars — many channels exist to encourage them to take responsibility for their own practices.

How to improve your social impact?

What does social impact mean? In short, the impact a company can have on its community. For a more detailed definition, read up here.

So how can your (service) company concretely have a community impact? Right here:

• Offer your services pro bono to local non-profits. If your company picks this route, log the hours worked so you can grow that number over the years.

• Share your expertise and industry reality with young people from under-served communities via school presentations. A great way to democratize careers that are sometimes invisible in certain communities.

• Speaking of the next generation, why not offer day-long (or longer) shadowing experiences so young people understand the reality of your field?

You see — many ways to become a changemaker as a service company. You just have to start and jump in! Don't miss the boat — come chat so we can help you make your practices more responsible :)

Article written by Thomas, B Corp consultant (he/him)