Become a completely remote company, requiring no office space or regular transportation to/from work

Ensure all suppliers/vendors adhere to your company’s environmental commitments and standards and do not engage in any practices that are environmentally or socially harmful

75-99% of your workdays are remote

Upgrade from older fluorescent T12, T8 and T5 lamps to LED alternatives

Implement a green procurement policy

50-74% of your workdays are remote

Implement a sustainability process and standard for all meetings, conferences, and events

Create a pathway program for local youths to intern and eventually become employed at your company

Create an executive leadership team with women, minorities, and people from underrepresented communities in top leadership roles

Meet if not exceed Federal and State regulations for your industry

Eliminate all single-use paper, styrofoam or plastic cups, plates, and utensils in the kitchen area. Use reusable mugs, dishes, and silverware instead

Perform a yearly assessment of all suppliers/vendors’ environmental and social practices in comparison to your company’s commitments

Provide a product or service, as part of your company’s core strategy, that delivers a social or environmental benefit and/or focuses on an underserved part of the community.

Provide a benefits package that meets the needs of employees, and is well-defined, accessible and transparent to all workers

Provide a living wage for all employees, at all levels of the organization including both full time and part time workers

Carve out a “no meetings” day during the work week

Create a detailed risk management plan for projects and programs

Identify and manage risks related to your suppliers’ sustainability performance

Choose a pest control service that minimizes the use of toxic pesticides

Purchase and serve 75-100% local, organic, and fair trade food and drink

Prioritize working with business partners, service providers, etc. that are women-led, minority-owned and local small businesses

Define, institute, and clearly communicate a policy to prioritize employee diversity, equity, and inclusion

Arrange the workspace to take advantage of areas with natural sunlight

Purchase or lease used or recycled office equipment and furniture

Reserve at least one day a year when your company volunteers for local environmental or community projects (e.g., Habitat for Humanity, Earth Day, Save a Tree)

Have a clearly defined policy that specifies how you will screen partners and vendors to ensure that their business operations are socially responsible and eco-friendly

Provide an annual public report or update on your company’s environmental and social responsibility efforts, initiatives, and improvements

Evaluate your company’s social and community footprint including diversity of supply chain, demographic of suppliers, and physical and financial impact of operations on local community

Install bike racks outside of the office or choose a building with ample bike racks on-site to support the amount of employees

Provide equitable opportunities to ensure women have equal access to employment, leadership roles, and pay

Provide fair and appropriate breaks for workers based on hours worked and enforce a strict policy that they must take them

Institute a policy for providing training, certification, and professional development opportunities to employees

Establish a process for the board to oversee and assess the company’s performance in sustainability issues

Create and implement a human health and safety policy

Adhere to labor, child labor, forced labor, and reasonable working hour laws and practices

Properly dispose of all hazardous waste materials including batteries, paint and chemicals, lightbulbs, aerosol cans, and electronics

Install a filtered water tap or water bottle refill station that provide high-quality drinking water

Become an annual sponsor, making a substantial contribution to a meaningful event promoting sustainability in your area

Encourage employee carpools

Significantly limit the amount of physical marketing materials you produce

Complete a consumption and waste audit to help identify and quantify the items your business acquires, uses, and discards

Replace regular light bulbs with LED bulbs

Establish a paperless billing program for your customers

Buy electronics that are energy efficient, EPEAT, ROHS, etc.

Have accessible green space somewhere onsite or in close proximity to grounds

Regularly evaluate employee satisfaction through interviews, surveys, or calculation of employee net promoter score

Establish company-wide local community volunteer days and create a company-wide challenge to see who can volunteer in the community at a green event the most throughout the year

Conduct multiple quality checks on your products and/or services before distributing to consumers to ensure highest possible quality

Conduct investigations of ethical violations, and when substantiated hand out fair and reasonable consequences

Choose paperless billing with vendors, business partners, and suppliers when possible

Eliminate unnecessary paper usage as much as possible including forms, contracts, meeting agendas and materials, proofs, and drafts

Administer company-wide employee training on sustainability efforts both at work and at home

Conduct exit interviews to gain insights on company culture and operations and make improvements based on feedback

Give opportunity for all employees to provide feedback of any kind and feel secure and empowered to do so

Administer company-wide employee training on sustainability efforts related to home offices and general life practices

Develop a paper reduction policy that clearly defines when and how items should be printed

Change your HVAC or A/C filters every six months or more frequently as is recommended by filter type

Regularly test your irrigation system to ensure proper configuration, optimized watering schedule, and eliminate overwatering and waste

Designate carpool, hybrid, and EV parking spaces that are in preferred areas of your parking lot (e.g. closer to the building entrance or covered)

Make your business’ sustainability efforts a central part of your message by filling out and linking to your GBB Public Profile and publishing your sustainability commitment on your website

Choose bio-based, reused, recycled, recyclable, or FSC certified boxes and bags for shipping

Use virtual meeting platforms to replace travel when possible

Communicate your social responsibility initiatives with customers and other stakeholders in a way that clearly defines your company values, policies, objectives and actual performance

Eliminate all physical marketing materials, rely only on digital methods

Provide regular formal review, linked to a comprehensive development plan, with clear and constructive feedback to all employees

Require all business leaders to be trained in, maintain current knowledge of, and commit to complying with the company’s environmental, social and employee wellbeing policies and practices

Create and implement a policy for protecting sensitive information

Conduct regular cyber/data security checks

Include a specific commitment to a positive social and environmental impact in your corporate mission statement

Accept and evaluate employee’s feedback about violations of your corporate ethics and conduct policy

Create and implement an employee code of conduct

Create and enforce a whistleblowing policy

Create and enforce a policy for preventing and addressing discrimination and harassment

Train employees on your cyber/data security policies and what to do in case of a potential breach

Designate your office as a smoke-free working environment with outside smoking areas 25 feet away from building entry areas and common walkways

Use ceiling fans in place of air conditioning when possible

Reduce “vampire loads” by unplugging appliances when not in use

Commit to inviting, receiving and acting upon customer and community feedback in a welcoming and constructive way at all times.

Organize a sustainability committee to lead your organization’s sustainability program

Complete the GBB getting started steps

Develop a sustainability mission statement for your business and define your company’s core commitments

Populate your company’s sustainability accomplishments in your profile

Announce your commitment to GBB to all employees

Relax the office dress code to allow for attire that doesn’t require dry cleaning