This is the 4th post in our HR Open Source [#HootHROS] initiative. You can learn more about #HootHROS here, but the aim is to work out loud and share behind-the-scenes looks at how some of our social HR projects come together, and what we learned from them.
We’re all familiar with Patagonia, Method, Warby Parker, and Etsy as brands that are using the power of business to address social and environmental problems.
What you may not know is that all these companies are also B Corporations. In June Hootsuite announced that we joined this growing movement of changemakers using business as a force for good.
What is a #BCorp?
B Corporations are a new kind of company seeking a better way to do business. It’s like a LEED or Fair Trade certification, but for a business, not just a building or a bag of coffee. There are currently over 1300 certified B Corporations around the world.
Why is Hootsuite a #BCorp?
There are many reasons why companies choose to become a B Corporation. For Hootsuite one of the key reasons was to attract and engage top talent. We believe employees are looking for more than just a paycheque but a purpose and to work for a company that operationally aligns with their values. B Corp is a way to show how we roll.
It also ensures we are held accountable to that commitment by benchmarking our performance against other companies that are best for the world and provides a roadmap for improvement.
Most importantly, it gives us the opportunity to be at the forefront of a growing movement that’s gaining traction around the world with over 250 B Corps certified this year so far—or one certification a day.
The case study below breaks down the following:
- How we became a B Corp
- Results of becoming a B Corp (early-stages)
- What we got wrong in our journey towards becoming a B Corp
- Key takeaways for HR leaders
Announcing #HootHROS Becomes #HROS
Why? We launched our open-source HR initiative (#HootHROS) in April as a way to share best practices and inspire others in the HR community as we’ve been inspired.
Over the past several months we’ve opened up our HR practices and developed four case studies (and counting) on topics ranging from employer brand, recruiting dashboards, candidate experience, and corporate social responsibility.
We will continue to push these out internally, but our aspirations for open-source HR are collaboration contributions from all of the community. We’d love to see other companies join and have dropped the “Hoot” to make the open-source HR movement brand agnostic.
How To Contribute To Open-Source HR (#HROS)
Want to contribute? Here’s how:
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General learnings and shares: If you come across an interesting, informative, or inspirational piece of content on HR or recruiting practices, share it on social media with the #HROS hashtag. Simple.
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Pen Case Studies: HROS case studies are in-depth breakdowns of specific HR and recruiting initiatives. They typically include the following: What you did, why you did it, how you did it, results or metrics, *what you got wrong (optional), what you learned and key takeaways.
* We realize not all companies may be comfortable sharing this. That’s okay. Our intent in this section is leading with humility, but also to inform practitioners of potential pitfalls and blind spots so others can learn.
Use the #HROS hashtag and we’ll help amplify your shares and compile the case studies to build a bank of HR knowledge and best practices.
Additional #HROS Case Studies
Rethinking Candidate Experience
How We Built A New Recruiting Report For Leadership
Social HR: How to Design and Execute a Global Employer Branding Campaign in 5 Days