BCorp Working Together for More Inclusive Workplaces

OpenConcept is a Certified B Corporation (B Corp) and an Ottawa web development company. We work with Open Source tools like Drupal to build sites for our clients. We believe that we can work collectively to have a greater impact on our society.

Earlier in the month at the B Corp Champion's Retreat in Toronto i sat in on many inspiring discussions about becoming a more inclusive workplace. Companies like Greyston (you've likely eaten their brownies without knowing it) have been working tirelessly to increase the employment opportunities for people who were previously unemployable. By having an an open hiring policy they can provide meaningful opportunities that support some of the most desperate people in our society.

We were led in an engaging discussion by a facilitator from TMI Consulting about identifying more barriers for people. It was terrific to talk about more of the structural issues that make the path of least resistance to favour white, able bodied, educated, and often male staff.

One element that we raise constantly is about web accessibility. We are concerned about accessibility in general, but have developed some expertise in assessing and improving the accessibility of websites to see that they are used by everyone. We have not only worked on solutions that work for our clients, but we have been addressing the root causes of many of these issues, and by addressing these structural problems in the software we have been able to improve the accessibility of over 2% of the internet. By investing in solutions for Drupal, we've improved the accessibility of over 1 million websites around the world. Sites like:

• https://amnesty.ca
• https://www.whitehouse.gov
• https://www.ontario.ca
• https://ccednet-rcdec.ca
• https://pm.gc.ca
• http://ottawa.ca

All benefit from code that we built, whether or not we got a contract to build the site. By collaborating with others in a strategic way, we are able to enhance our impact considerably. We would like to see a lot more people contributing back to help see that we are able to build a more robust and inclusive society.

Business can be a force for good, but we need more incentives to see that more businesses are engaged in triple-bottom-line thinking, rather than simply what will give them the greatest profit.