Driessen Groep and B Corp: one step further in corporate sustainability

Why B Corp?

Sustainable and social enterprise is in the DNA of Driessen Groep. We support public organizations, promote inclusive employment and invest in workplace happiness. "We've been doing a lot in this area for years," says Koen. "But the B Corp certification helps us make our impact even more visible and demonstrable. Moreover, it gives us access to an inspiring community of companies that share the same values."

During the certification process, it was confirmed that we are already doing a lot of good in the areas of people, society and the environment. For example, we saw that we do a lot for vitality for our employees, supporting people with a distance to the labor market, sustainable purchasing and our social collaborations. The certification helps us make this impact concrete and strengthen it even further.

In addition, the B Corp community expands our world. We learn from best practices of other companies and build new collaborations. "B Corps enjoy doing business with other B Corps. This helps us to further increase our impact and contributes to our own internationalization," says Koen. Thus, it not only helps us to fulfill our sustainable ambitions, but also, as a B Corps company, to appropriately enrich our working environment and culture with international insights and talent.

The certification process: a valuable mirror

Becoming B Corp certified was an intensive process that took about six months. "We had to dive deep into our organization and demonstrate with evidence how we create value in the areas of governance, employees, environment, customers and community," says Koen. This led to great insights: we already do a lot, but the process helped us measure our impact even better and capture it more structurally.

In addition, it also revealed areas for improvement. For example, we can work even more specifically on measuring the (long-term) effects of our investments in society and our initiatives for employees. We will take these insights back, for example, in the further development of programs for people with a vulnerable labor market position. "B Corp is rigorous and pushes you to not only do good, but to continuously improve it," Koen said.

What does this mean for our clients and employees?

For our employees, this certification is recognition of what we already do. It makes visible that as an employer we contribute to a better society and structurally embed corporate sustainability in our organization. "It also gives extra pride and motivation," says Koen. "Employees increasingly want to work for an organization with a clear social mission. With B Corp, we can demonstrate that even better."

For customers and partners, the certification means extra security. Working with Driessen Groep means choosing a partner who takes sustainability and social impact seriously. We meet strict international standards and continue to work continuously to improve. "When you work with a Driessen Groep company, you know it's right," Koen emphasizes. "We want our customers to be able to trust that we make conscious and responsible choices."

Look to the future

B Corp is not an end point, but a new starting point. In the coming years, we will continue to invest in increasing our impact. We are diving deeper into our areas of improvement and taking concrete new steps. One of the themes we are specifically focusing on is creating an optimal working environment for women, within our own organization and at clients. We want to ensure that they come into their own and have equal opportunities to develop. In addition, we continue to work on the structural improvement of our business operations in areas such as employee development, CO₂ reduction and making our efforts measurable.

"This certification is recognition of what we are already doing, but above all a motivation to go even further," concludes Koen. "We continue to build on enabling sustainable workplace happiness for as many people and organizations as possible."

Wondering how we enable sustainable workplace happiness? you can read more about it here.