Faversham House
A partnership to empower change by putting people first
A progressive partnership for a progressive media company
If you’re a sustainability professional, you’re likely to have come across content published by edie, or attended one of their events. These industry-leading media experts are part of Faversham House, whose brands are trusted by thousands of professionals to deliver high-quality insight for better business decision-making.
- B Corp
- Comms
- ESG Strategy
“Working with Seismic made our lives much easier, freeing up our own limited time and resources.”
Amanda Barnes
CEO at Faversham House
A busy team with a wealth of ambition
Progressive and independent, Faversham House is an industry leader within sustainability information, publishing and events. Deciding how to inform and empower their own people on their own sustainability journey was a significant decision for the company.
The Faversham House team knew they wanted to think differently, and be brave enough to do what’s right. They saw a shift in company mindset was needed, to commit to meaningful, lasting and substantive change. What was missing was a clear focus to inform the strategy, set Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) targets and KPIs for the year ahead and beyond, and align this with their core values: being ambitious, creative and taking care.
Their premier annual event, edie, a forum for sustainability leaders, coincided with the project plan. It presented the ideal opportunity for the team to communicate their commitments and progress, and they needed an accelerated level of support to meet this important deadline.
“Seismic specialises in holding companies’ hands on their sustainability journey. [Their team] always stayed in close communication, with expert support that kept us on track and focused, accelerating both our B Corp and Materiality Assessment processes.”
Amanda Barnes
CEO at Faversham House
Clear communication and flexibility
As Faversham House’s sustainability partner, Seismic acts as the external ‘challenger and guide’. Faversham House used the B Corp assessment as a framework to identify current and best practices in sustainability. They selected a B Corp expert to strategically monitor their ESG performance, risks and opportunities:
- To help them understand their starting point on the B Corp assessment.
- To advise them on which improvements to action.
- To get them ready to submit their assessment, and importantly, they wanted a partner to help educate and inspire their users about the B Corp movement.
The project involved undertaking an in-depth materiality assessment to effectively pinpoint what Faversham House needed to focus on, at this point in their sustainability journey. This provided insight into the reality of their group-wide performance, and allowed them to understand, map and align their stakeholders’ priorities across ESG.
The assessment showed that people were asking for more transparency and communication of Faversham House’s sustainability plans.
Demystifying the complexity and jargon around the materiality assessment provided much-needed clarity for time-pressured teams.
Employee-focussed groups helped secure commitment at board level, outlining the required resources, investment and time commitment necessary to create real, significant impact.
As the challenger and guide, Seismic openly communicated with encouragement and appreciation for the internal teams’ drive, despite their constraints in resource and capacity. To encourage prioritisation of the materiality assessment, helping to connect Faversham House’s purpose and values to an action plan for the team, which they could confidently engage with and implement.
“From my point of view, as a hard-nosed, long-serving CEO, the biggest reason for certifying – setting aside all the cultural ones – is that it builds an enormous resilience. It helps you mitigate risk, and there is an enormous opportunity coming out of it.”
Amanda Barnes
CEO at Faversham House
Beyond certification: leading in ESG within the media industry
Faversham House has now taken up a leading role in addressing social and environmental challenges in the media industry.
By engaging both internal and external stakeholders, we raised the profile of sustainability within Faversham House. Reiterating the seriousness of its stance, the group has shifted sustainability from a secondary to a core strategic consideration.
Faversham House stayed ahead of the curve, with a number of banks increasing ESG-related disclosure requirements for companies they lend to, Faversham House has increased confidence and certainty in their access to finance. Leveraging the soul and passion of the Faversham House team to build longer term relationships with key suppliers, they have gained greater control over the environmental impact of their events and business as a whole.
Empowered people leading the shift
All new starters at the business now have a B-Corp related KPI in their job-description as well as remuneration packages. Plus, new policies are in place regarding employee volunteering, employee training and ethical marketing.
With business ethics and integrity so crucial to Faversham House’s success, sustainability is highly prioritised by stakeholders. Seismic has helped to remove any threat of ‘bottlenecks’ to progress, by ensuring that all employees have visibility of the board’s strategic intentions, positioning sustainability at the core of the group’s ’why’ and ‘so what’ of each employee, nurturing a sense of collaboration and mutual responsibility.
“Although initially Faversham House were looking for sustainability support with their B Corp certification, over time the relationship has strengthened. We have further helped them with their B Corp Baseline, Improvement Plans and now Verification.”
Charlie Walter, Sustainability Consultant at Seismic
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