Our commitment to our people, our profit and the planet
At Something Big, we’ve redefined growth and are on a journey of meaningful change for people, profit and planet. We’re committed to making a meaningful difference not only through the work we do but also in the way we operate. This code of conduct helps articulate the standards we operate by. It’s important to us that they’re not aspirations, visions and goals for the future but instead the guidelines, guardrails and governance we’re living by today. We’re honest and transparent about our progress and understand that proactive action today outweighs aspirations of perfection tomorrow.
We’re encouraging others to come with us on our journey of progress, whether one of our wonderful clients, loyal supply chain partners or talented team members, we’ll all go further if we go together.
Guided by the UN sustainability goals and embracing our commitment to our B Corporation certification, we’re working hard to live by our value of doing the right thing in the following areas:
Ethical business practices
We don’t just want to do business, we want to do good business. We hire well, not just experienced experts who will give you the best guidance but also the most passionate and dedicated people who genuinely care about the work we do for you. We look after our team, we don’t just pay fair market rate salaries and reward them for great work (which of course we do) we also look after their mental health, keep them motivated and engaged and constantly inspire and develop them, that’s why they do great work. In fact, having shifted to an employee owned business model, we’ve made sure we’re all in this together, because together we create the real magic.
We treat our supply chain fairly, we negotiate fair rates, pay on time and build long lasting partnerships. If you want your work done cheaper, there are 24,000 agencies operating in the UK, someone will race us to the bottom, we’ve played down there too and learnt the hard way that our best work comes at a price.
Sustainability
Our planet needs us more than ever. As consumers, as businesses and as individuals we all have the power (and the responsibility) to turn our words into actions. And that’s exactly what we’re doing at Something Big.
We’re stepping up to our sustainability responsibilities by taking positive action. We’ve reviewed and developed our business policies and practices to reduce our carbon impact and are working with organisations Planet Mark and B Corp to keep ourselves on track and continuing to move forward. We’re encouraging our team to make good choices as individuals by increasing our knowledge and awareness thanks to 100 Ways in 100 Days and are championing the right choices for our clients.
If you’re one of our loyal clients you’ll notice that whatever you ask us for we’re committed to always offering you the most sustainable options from choosing FSC friendly paper stock and eco-friendly packaging to reducing wastage and choosing environmentally friendly promotional giveaways.
Diversity and inclusion
We’ve embarked on a proactive journey to make a positive contribution towards overcoming the challenges of discrimination, reducing bias in communications and increasing diversity and inclusion. These aren’t just words, as a team we’ve developed an action plan with tangible actions and milestones, from increasing our knowledge, awareness and understanding of under represented groups, to increasing our accessibility and inclusivity capabilities and increasing the diversity in our team. We know it’s a long journey, which may never end, but we’re committed and determined to keep going.
Health and wellbeing
COVID-19 has taught us not only how important life is but also how fragile our health can be. Whether your business is digitised, automated or a service led organisation, we believe it’s your people that make you stand out, move forward and succeed. And unlike robots, as humans we have to look after our health and wellbeing, physically and mentally. From reducing the mental health stigma to ensuring everyone in the team feels valued and connected we’re working hard to stick together as a team, be kind and live our values, because we know that’s how we do our best work.
Data protection and GDPR
Let’s face it, GDPR is complex and was hard going to start with but we all know the sentiment behind it is right. We’ve made huge efforts to not just comply with the legislation but to truly embrace the premise of it. We’re confident that we’ve got solid and robust processes in place to comply with requirements and that protecting data, be it our team information or our clients marketing data, we will do our best to keep it safe and secure.
Responsible AI Usage
Whilst we embrace the opportunities that both generative and assisted artificial intelligence can bring, we’re also aware this is a profound moment in history and a time for active and ethical leadership. As a certified BCorp creative communications agency, we take our responsibility seriously in guiding our team, clients, supply partners and wider communications industry on the responsible supervision and use of AI.
Community and support
We embrace the Mary Portas premise that no business is an island and understand that if we work together as a community we are stronger. From giving career advice to the next generation to inspiring other businesses through networking, joining panels, round tables and sharing our expertise through webinars, podcasts and speaking at events we are an active, leading part of the business community. We give more than we take back in the knowledge that when others succeed we succeed too.