TAP’s commitment to making a positive impact

We believe in doing business in a way that benefits our employees, clients, communities, and the planet. As part of this, we’re working towards becoming a certified B Corp.

Achieving B Corp certification will be an important milestone in TAP’s story. It takes a concerted and collaborative effort to get there. And the work will be far from over when we become a certified B Corp. But it’s worth it.

What is “B Corp certification”?

B Corp certification is a rigorous standard for a company’s social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability. It’s a globally recognised designation that verifies a company’s dedication to balancing profit with purpose.

Why we want to be a certified B Corp

Financial success shouldn’t come at the expense of our employees, customers, suppliers, community, or the environment.

B Corp certification is a way for us to demonstrate this. Our motivation comes from our belief that businesses can and should be profitable and contribute to a better future.

“Pursuing B Corp certification is a natural extension of our mission to add value. Not just to our clients’ businesses but to society as a whole. It reinforces our commitment to transparency, accountability, and fairness – principles that have guided us since we started the business.” – Andrew Haines

This is more than a tick-box exercise. It reflects the commitment to ethical business practices and sustainable growth that we’ve had since TAP CXM was a two-person  show in a café off the M5.

As we’ve grown into a multinational business with 50+ people, we’ve started to codifiy this commitment in policies and initiatives.

Putting people first

Our people are the foundation of our success. A lot of companies roll out that line, but it’s especially true for us as a consultancy. Still, we like to think we take a pretty un-consultancy approach.

Health is just as important as hard work

We offer a range of health and wellness initiatives. Some are company-led, others kick-started by staff and sponsored from the company coffers.

• Regular health risk assessments
• Private health insurance provided
• Subsidised gym memberships
• Cycle to work scheme
• Access to behavioural health counselling
• Free fitness tracking devices
• HeadSpace free for a year
• Regular, inclusive team events and health challenges

We also provide subsidies for healthy meals and free nibbles in the office, including B Corp-approved snacks and fresh fruit.

Pay, benefits and balance

All TAP CXM employees are paid at least the equivalent of a family living wage. We know money isn’t everything, but it’s not nothing. Our people deserve fair compensation for the great work they do.

• Annual bonus based on company performance (equal to ~10-15% of company profits)
• 50/50 hybrid work and flexible schedules are standard
• Competitive starting salaries linked with experience
• Private pension scheme provided
• 32 paid days off, plus paid volunteering days
• Phased return to work after parental leave
• Inclusive, anti-discriminatory hiring practices

We set employee satisfaction goals and monitor progress closely to ensure our people are happy with their situation. While it’s nice to see our Glassdoor rating is way above others in our industry, the real measure of these efforts is how long people stay with us – and that nobody burns out.

Encouraging lifelong learning

We’ve always hired curious and passionate people over the ‘best CV’. One way we convince great people to work for us is by feeding that fire and providing a framework to grow it.

• Personalised training budgets for professional development
• Prioritising internal promotions and lateral moves over external hiring
• Free access to online learning
• Support to organise mentoring
• Regular written guidance for career development
• Anyone can change career direction or pace

Over 25% of our people have received formal training in the last 12 months. That’s not counting access to non-certified online courses and informal learning pathways.

Giving good people a great place to work

We want people to feel good about coming to the office. That doesn’t just mean pool tables and free snacks (though we have those too) — it means providing a healthy workplace that accommodates diverse needs.

• Monitoring indoor air quality to avoid “sick building syndrome”
• Working in Planet Mark & BREEAM certified serviced offices
• Collaborating with our London landlords to improve sustainability
• Providing facilities for breastfeeding mothers

Our Barcelona office is in Norrsken House, which is highly sustainable and exclusively home to pending or certified B Corps.

Protecting the planet

Shrinking our footprint as we expand is a challenge. And a priority.

To meet our environmental impact goals, we’re taking targeted steps across our operations:

• Environmentally preferable purchasing policies
• Travel guidance, including when to take the train and how to choose eco-friendly cabs if a car is unavoidable
• Recycling and separating waste
• Subsidising travel by public transit

We also fundraise for charities that are doing good work for the environment.

Our current focus is on benchmarking, monitoring and improving sustainability in our offices. It’s not easy as we work in serviced offices, but we have great relationships with our landlords and neighbours.

Supporting local communities

Like many companies, TAP employees have paid time off to volunteer. It’s been great to see people teaming up to support organisations like The Felix Project for several years.

We’re also in the process of repurposing old laptops which will be donated to schools, charities, others who need them – after securely wiping them of course. This helps to reduce e-waste, which is a growing problem globally.

The little things also make a difference, like encouraging people to BYO lunch or buy from small independents. We know our lunch money means more to the corner shop than the big chain. And let’s be honest, the food is often better.

Improving client outcomes

B Corp certification looks at how a business serves its client base, as well as ESG and employee satisfaction.

Thankfully, we’ve always been ahead of the curve as a client-focused business.

• Service guarantees
• Formal quality control mechanisms
• Formal feedback/complaint processes
• Robust privacy, security and integrity controls
• Company-wide compliance processes
• Regular NPS surveys with published results (currently 93)

We take data privacy, security and integrity extremely seriously. We recently underwent an independent audit to achieve our ISO 27001 certification.

The B Corp certification process

B Corp certification is judged on a strict points system. Organisations need at least 80 points to be eligible, though you can max out at 200. The median score for ordinary businesses is 50.9 points. As you might expect, qualifying for B Corp certification isn’t a slam dunk. Big efforts make tiny incremental changes. For reference, going from statutory parental leave to, say, a 24-week fully-paid policy only earns 0.51 points. It’s deliberately hard to accumulate points. Greenwashing is practically impossible.

Once an organisation think they’ve reached 80 points, an evaluator from B Labs (the B Corp certifying body) conducts a thorough audit to verify the eligibility. If everything works out, the organisation joins the ranks of certified B Corps. They are then required to publish annual impact reports and recertify every three years. This scrutiny is essential to B Corp certification. It keeps businesses accountable and continually improving.

Where we are now

Our first informal assessment before making any major changes gave us a baseline score of 43.7 points. We’ve since increased that to 55.8 (as of September 2024). So we’re above the median and improving fast, but there’s work to do. It’s not a numbers game. B Corp certification is about making a positive impact, not getting a positive grade. But the scoring system does provide a helpful “KPI” to assess our progress and help us prioritise projects.

Join our journey to becoming a certified B Corp

B Corp certification is a never-ending pursuit. We’re only at the start of our journey but taking big steps as a team. Naturally, we’ve broken our long-term goals into short-term KPIs. We’ll be monitoring our progress closely to make sure we’re on track and improving day by day.

Stay tuned for updates on our progress. In the meantime, reach out if you want to know more about our policies or the outcomes so far.