Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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Business in the Community is the King’s Responsible Business Network, the UK’s largest and most influential responsible business network dedicated to building a fairer and greener world together. We inspire, engage, and challenge leaders to take practical action to mobilise their collective strength as a force for good in society.
Our impact goals:
– Every young person and job seeker feels supported and has clear pathways into work.
– Every employer invests in the skills needed today and the future, to create workplaces where everyone can grow and reach their potential regardless of background
– Every community has a shared sense of pride and hope with the support needed to build a strong collective vision to deliver a fairer greener future.
Our specialist advisers support individual businesses by delivering targeted interventions, training and strategic change programmes, sharing best practice and frameworks for action.
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About Business in
the Community
Business in the Community (BITC) is the King’s Responsible Business Network, the UK’s largest and most influential responsible business network dedicated to building a fairer and greener world together. We inspire, engage, and challenge leaders to take practical action to mobilise their collective strength as a force for good in society.
Business in the Community (BITC) defines a responsible business as a healthy business. It is one that puts creating healthy communities and a healthy environment at the centre of its strategy to achieve long-term value.
Our Responsible Business Map, based on the Global Goals, guides our members on a journey of continuous improvement, working across the whole responsible business agenda.
We convene the network of leaders committed to changing their business and leveraging the power of working together to deliver positive economic, social and environmental change.
Membership
How to join us
We encourage you to reach out to our membership team to discuss your specific needs and questions. They can provide you with detailed information about the benefits of membership, answer any queries you may have, and help you decide if membership is the right fit for you. Fill out the form on this page and we’ll be in contact.
Any company or organisation, regardless of size or location, can become a member of BITC. You don’t need to have prior experience in responsible business practices. All that’s required is a commitment to managing your business in a responsible and sustainable way.
Find out if your organisation is a Business in the Community member by viewing the published list of members.
The cost of membership depends on the size and turnover of your organisation and the level of service you require. Take advantage of our free, no-obligation consultation that will help you define the most appropriate level of membership for your organisation.
Business in the Community (BITC) defines a responsible business as a healthy business. It is one that puts creating healthy communities and a healthy environment at the centre of its strategy to achieve long-term value.
Our Responsible Business Map, based on the Global Goals, guides our members on a journey of continuous improvement, working across the whole responsible business agenda.
Business in the Community
Advisory
We can provide a six-module training programme for professionals designing and delivering responsible business strategies and corporate responsibility programmes. Accredited by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM).
Learn more about Responsible Business Training at Business in the Community.
Our team of issue experts create advisory solutions, tools, and reports to meet your needs and help you embed the best of responsible business practice across your whole organisation
We offer short-term, targeted interventions, training or longer-term strategic change programmes as add-ons to your membership.
Learn more about our responsible business advisory services.
Responsible Business
and Strategy
Every business needs to increase its pace and scale of impact. BITC has identified six catalysts of responsible business to help you do this.
The Global Goals provide a shared blueprint to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. They recognise that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth. All while tackling climate change and working to preserve oceans and forests.
Led by our Responsible Business Leadership Team, Business in the Community (BITC) is working to dramatically increase the pace and scale of responsible business, to meet the United Nations’ Global Goals, also known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Gender Equality
The BITC Who Cares? report calls for employers and policymakers to prioritise balancing work and caregiving responsibilities. This can lead to a more equitable workplace and society where caring for loved ones is possible.
This annual list celebrates employers who have prioritised gender equality in the workplace. Each entry undergoes a stringent evaluation process.
A note on terminology:
BITC uses the term woman to include all people who self-identify as women and engage with their current or prospective employers as such. When we use the term gender equality, we mean equality for all genders and those who do not identify as a gender, for example, non-gender conforming, gender fluid or non-binary individuals.
At Business in the Community (BITC), we encourage all employers to talk openly about the gender pay gap, the average gap between men’s and women’s earnings in the UK. (Not equal pay).
This information is legally required for organisations of 250 employees or more and must be made available publicly. Organisations of 250 employees or more must disclose it’s Gender Pay Gap, key drivers, and the steps being taken to close it.
Our Gender Pay Gap Reporting Dashboard has been designed to support you in meeting this transparency.
Race Equality
The Race At Work Charter asks businesses to make a public commitment to improving equality of opportunity in the workplace. In 2017 The government-sponsored Race in the Workplace: The McGregor-Smith Review found that Black, Asian, Mixed Race, and other ethnically diverse people staff still encounter significant disparities in employment and progression and that greater progress and positive outcomes are needed to ensure all organisations benefit from the wealth of diverse talent on offer.
No, the signing of the Race at Work Charter is open to all organisations irrespective of membership or size.
Signing the Race at Work Charter is free of charge.
Employment and Skills
The Business in the Community inclusive recruitment Opening doors campaign identifies five keys to unlocking employment to ensure that jobs are accessible to all.
BITC is asking businesses to participate in the campaign by identifying at least three specific actions to take forward over the next three years and share the progress with BITC.
The actions should be selected from the list that underpins the five principles, developed in consultation with a broad range of charities that support the disadvantaged groups targeted by this campaign.
There is no cost to becoming an Opening Doors Employer, and the campaign is open to all employers – Business in the Community members and non-members.
Health and Wellbeing
The purpose of Business in the Community’s (BITC) Wellbeing Leadership Team is to build a movement committed to positioning health and wellbeing as strategic boardroom issues focusing on mental health.
Business in the Community defines “wellbeing” as the mutually supportive relationship between an individual’s mental, physical, social and financial health and personal wellbeing.
The Environment
Climate Action / Circular Economy
Business in the Community believes engaging in nature stewardship and adopting a circular economy approach are critical elements of a fair and inclusive transition.
You can download BITC’s report, “The Right Climate For Business: Leading a Just Transition,” to gain insights and recommendations on how to build a sustainable and resilient future that benefits both people and nature. The report focuses on achieving net-zero emissions.
The manifesto sets out our vision for 2030 – a key milestone for a just transition. Targeting businesses and policymakers, it identifies priority actions for businesses across our Seven Steps for Climate Action and five key areas where policy support is critical.
Find out more and download the Manifesto – Our Route to a Net Zero Climate Resilient Future
A Joint Statement of Demand (JSD) approach recognises that collective purchasing power can drive innovation and investment, accelerating a shift to a sustainable future—a future that BITC sees as a net zero, nature-positive economy where people and nature thrive.
Business in the Community (BITC) is leading an exciting initiative as part of the Interreg North Sea Region ProCirc Project, creating Joint Statements of Demand (JSDs) for office furniture, electric vehicle chargers (ESVs) and professional clothing. A JSD is a shared set of asks that procurers commit to include in future tenders.
Learn more about the JSDs BITC is co-ordinating, Circular Professional Clothing, Electric Vehicle Chargers and Office Furniture.
In a circular economy, products, services, and infrastructure are designed to maximise value and minimise waste. This reduces demand for precious primary resources, lowers carbon emissions, and regenerates our natural environment. There are direct business benefits too. These include better supply chain management, reducing business risk relating to environmental damage and, finding new commercial opportunities.
Environmental Social and Governance (ESG)
Incorporating ESG into investment strategies can help investors identify companies that are better positioned for long-term success and sustainable growth. It can also mitigate risks associated with environmental disasters, social controversies, and governance failures. Additionally, it aligns investment decisions with personal values and contributes to positive societal impact.
Businesses can integrate ESG principles by adopting sustainable practices that reduce environmental impact, promoting diversity and inclusion, ensuring ethical supply chains, improving transparency and accountability, and establishing robust governance structures.
ESG is important for businesses because it allows them to assess and manage the impact they have on the environment, society, and governance practices. It helps businesses identify risks, improve long-term sustainability, and build trust among stakeholders.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It encompasses a set of criteria used to evaluate a company’s performance and practices in areas related to the environment, social responsibility, and corporate governance.
Social Mobility
Social mobility can be defined as the link between a person’s occupation and income and that of their parents. Where there is a strong link there is a lower level of social mobility, and where the link is weaker there is greater social mobility.
At Business in the Community, we inspire and support our members to take action on social mobility through interventions aimed at education, inclusive recruitment and in work progression and support.
Ban the Box calls on employers to create a fair opportunity for people with convictions by removing the tick box from application forms and asking about criminal convictions later in the recruitment process if and when it becomes necessary. Signing up to Ban the Box is now one of the actions included in our Opening Doors campaign.
Find out how your organisation can join the Ban the Box campaign
The Opening Doors campaign is primarily focused on those groups who are disadvantaged in the labour market because of their background or life experience.
These include ex-military, people with convictions, people experiencing homelessness, long-term unemployed, refugees, young people, older workers, disabled people, neurodiverse people.
This list is not exhaustive, and a business may identify other groups it would like to support, including those facing intersectional barriers relating to race or gender
BITC Labs
BITC will:
- Provide a resource pack and exercises through workshops to look at organisational change/workforce planning in accelerating responsible business through the different Labs.
- Build on existing resources, draw insights from BITC members, and look at practical strategies to implement.
- Provide online drop-in surgeries.
- Build a knowledge library and communications to share and showcase insights.
BITC Labs are peer to peer learning sessions to help your organisation solve some of the societal challenges around working greener and fairer. The Labs are fluid to ensure everyone gets the most value from it, the objective is to learn from each other and find solutions to accelerate responsible business.
We are currently trialling two BITC Labs. Our Green Skills Lab pilot programme is designed to accelerate a green just transition to net zero. Our Circular Fitout Lab will foster collaboration to reduce carbon emissions and environmental impact in office and retail projects.
Find out more about the Green Skills Lab and how you can take part
A cost is associated with participation in the Community of Practice, with both BITC Member and Non-Member rates available.
- Attend five in-person all-day workshops and action learning sets for peer-to-peer support.
- Develop and implement a project for your business, that fits your priorities and ability to take action outside the workshops.