What we said we’d do, what we’ve done
Our impact areas for 2023
We’ve made progress across all areas of B Corp, but there’s still plenty more to do
Governance
What we said we’d do | What we did |
Writing a formal mission statement including:
| Collaboratively explored the needs of our clients and how William Joseph might create social and environmental impact. At our summer away day our team explored the creation of the William Joseph mission statement together. We stepped through a series of activities that offered us the opportunity to highlight the work that we do, how we do it and the contribution it makes to social and environmental impact. Our next steps are to create some options for our new mission statement and then run a collaborative session to refine the wording and develop our organisational goals. |
Building a formal onboarding process for new team members We want this activity to do more than simply explain how we do things - it should focus on why certain choices are made and the culture that we’re trying to create.
| We have designed a step by step onboarding process and started planning for team centred handbook |
Implementing Sociocracy circles As we grow our team, we want to ensure decisions are made equitably - with the ability for a wide range of perspectives to feed into them. We believe that sociocracy is the method for making this happen at scale - and are focusing on how to create various ‘circles’ that deploy this way of working across the team. |
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Plans for next year:
Measure our externalities in monetary terms and incorporate them into our financial balances
- This will build on the work we have already done to incorporate more indicators of our impact into our reporting frameworks
Workers
What we said we’d do | What we did |
Regularly (at least once a year) conduct employee satisfaction or engagement surveys We want this to be done in a people-centric way that ensures it’s not seen as being ‘checked up on’ and really understood to be the supportive mechanism that it is intended to be. Once we have these measures, we will benchmark employee satisfaction to relevant industry benchmarks and hope to outperform on attrition and satisfaction. | Weekly team check ins Our aim was to ensure that our endeavours toward staff well being was consistent and supportive. We engaged the help of Spill, a mental health and wellbeing app that offers team members the ability to work with their own therapist as well as sharing their thoughts regularly. Retreat and workshop feedback surveys We plan regular team retreats and away days, these happen once per quarter. To organise and focus these sessions we use surveys to understand the needs of the team and customise the activities for the next meet-up. Group therapy sessions Spill have been creating space for all members of the team to discuss any traumas or feelings that they are uncovering through their work. This came from a suggestion in relation to our trauma informed research where some were finding the material difficult, with nobody to speak to. |
Socially responsible pensions promotion through Nest Our pension provider allows people to switch to a more ethically responsible pension fund. We want to make sure that everyone has access to this and understands how to make the switch. | Pensions are powerful tools to change the world we live in, thanks to their financial clout. Research by Make My Money Matter showed that moving an average-sized pension pot from a traditional investment fund to a sustainable one could save 19 tonnes of carbon a year. The same research showed that greening your pension is 21 times more effective in cutting your carbon than giving up flying, becoming vegetarian and switching to a renewable energy provider combined. We’ve sent a number of communications to the team about this initiative and everybody is aware of the ethical investment options within our pension provider. |
Write a non-discrimination statement This simple statement will bring to life our approach to equality in our team | Writing a non discrimination statement and anti racism statement Equal opportunities and diversity policy William Joseph is based on the idea of designing for equity. However we also need to ensure that there are policies which bring this to life for our team and help new team members understand this principle in practice. The non-discrimination policy of William Joseph Ltd is comprehensive and aligns with the objectives of creating an inclusive work environment. It emphasizes equality and opposes unlawful discrimination based on race, sex, and other characteristics, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010. The policy covers various aspects like recruitment, employment conditions, and handling of personal data. It defines different forms of discrimination, including direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, and victimization, and outlines measures for positive action in recruitment and reasonable adjustments for disabled employees. Additionally, it specifies responsibilities for policy implementation and procedures for addressing discriminatory behavior. |
Socioeconomic analysis for workforce The social mobility commission has published detailed guidance on how to measure the social background of people. Their key question asks ‘What was the occupation of your main household earner when you were about aged 14?’. They then break down answers into three main categories:
Which allows comparison across different teams, industries and communities. This is the measure we will investigate and hopefully measures as part of our ongoing team development. | Socio economic background survey This year, we initiated a survey to understand the socio-economic backgrounds of our team, adhering to the Social Mobility Commission’s guidelines. This survey classifies backgrounds into professional, intermediate, and lower socio-economic categories. The insights gathered are part of our commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. Additionally, we’re exploring community outreach and upskilling programs to support those interested in tech careers. While we focus on monitoring and communication, we’ve decided not to set specific targets but rather emphasize professional development for all team members. For more details on the Social Mobility Commission’s guidelines, please visit their website here |
Pay Scales & Progression frameworks We have always worked hard to reward people in the team fairly whilst enabling long term sustainability of the business. As we have grown this challenge has become harder - and we now need to implement a full set of transparent processes to ensure equity across different people. | Developing a sociocratic proposal for a William Joseph professional development framework Over the past year, we have been focusing on equitable pay and professional development within William Joseph. Our efforts include developing a sociocratic proposal for a professional development framework, which guides team members in understanding the expectations and impact at various levels of experience. We’ve also established processes for setting objectives and personal progression, incorporating communication training for a comprehensive 360 feedback process. Finally, each team member now has an annual budget of £500 for training and conferences, enhancing their professional growth. Our emphasis remains on progression and supporting team members in exploring diverse skills and learning opportunities. |
Customers
What we said we’d do | What we did |
Monitor customer satisfaction & share internally within the company and publicly We have always spent time understanding our customers by building relationships with them and our team. Whilst this continues to be our focus for ensuring satisfaction, we also want to create a process to gather satisfaction insight and data from the wide range of people we now work with. Once we have this we want to share it wider than just the people who have collected it so everyone can benefit from it. | This year, we’ve enhanced our approach to monitoring and sharing customer satisfaction. Our Managing Director, Chris, now implements satisfaction surveys at the start, middle, and end of each project. These surveys assess various aspects like professionalism, idea contribution, product effectiveness, and the nature of the client-partner relationship. We also conduct ongoing satisfaction surveys for retainer clients. The collected data allows us to set specific targets for customer satisfaction, with a focus on standardizing feedback across different client engagements and improving areas like digital skills. |
Set specific targets for customer / client satisfaction Having collected standardised data about satisfaction, we then want to ensure that we have specific targets across our one of project clients and those whom we have an ongoing relationship with. | The majority of scores are at the level that we would want them to be. Of particular note is the fact that 100% of our clients would recommend us as a partner to another organisation. However our focus on client upskilling is critical. We want to improve scores related to this area, recognizing its importance in fostering a deeper understanding and skillset in digital domains such as UX, Content Design, Agile, and Product Management. This improvement will not only enhance our service delivery but also empower our clients, creating a more impactful and collaborative partnership. Find out more here |
Plans for next year:
Provide specific training or support to organisations on how to best serve underserved populations
Use a cross-subsidization model whereby higher pricing for traditional organisations allows for lower or subsidised pricing for financially-constrained organisations serving the underserved
Environment
What we said we’d do | What we did |
Highlight green credentials our hosting and measure the overall carbon savings on websites launched We always use a verified green host Krystal, to deploy our clients’ websites. This combined with our modern web design and development techniques, usually delivers a significant improvement on their websites’ environmental impact. We want to make measurement of this improvement a core part of our website delivery process and aggregate our reductions to see the full impact. | Reducing redundant digital content is vital for minimising the environmental impact of the internet. The internet’s carbon footprint is significant, with data storage and transmission contributing to energy consumption. Some studies place it at a similar impact as the airline industry in the coming years. By streamlining and removing unnecessary digital content, we have been reducing the energy demand of data centres and networks by our clients, thereby lowering greenhouse gas emissions. This approach aligns with broader sustainability goals and demonstrates a commitment to environmentally responsible digital practices. We have not been able to make the same progress in analysing and benchmarking the reduction in technical loads that also reduce this environmental impact of our work. This will be our focus for the coming year. |
Template for 360 feedback review that includes questions on environmental and social impact Whilst we have limited ability to impact on our own environmental outcomes, we can still promote this kind of thinking in our team. By ensuring that environmental and social impact is a key part of our feedback processes this will enable that to happen. | Created opportunities for team learning on communicating feedback and developed a plan for running 360 feedback cycles We have undertaken several workshops that introduce active listening and non violent communication to assist the team in sharing feedback in a safe and constructive way. The team collaborated to define types of feedback that would be useful and challenging to give and receive. The 360 feedback process is contained within our professional development proposal and encompasses the team reviewing their participation in the environmental and social impact of the organisation. |
Plans for next year:
Create a policy in place for the safe disposal of e-waste and other hazardous materials purchased for employee home offices
Better monitoring of carbon reductions of projects
Work to help make Electric Vehicles more accessible and inclusive to drive adoption: https://www.williamjoseph.co.u…
Community
What we said we’d do | What we did |
Offer training for all employees on topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion Whilst we have always supported elements of training in these topics, there has been little formal programme ensuring that everyone has access to it. We will build this timetable to ensure that we build the capabilities of the whole team in creating equality. | Over the last 12–18 months we have hosted sessions with various people to open up our own perspectives. These include:
We also hosted our own lunch and learn event themed on inclusive recruitment as a follow-up to the topic coming up a lot with clients and contacts. The event was a space to learn and share together, and we had a fantastic panel with a mix of senior leadership, practitioner, inclusion and recruitment experts and a candidate’s perspective. |