Innovation

Flow Office Systems was founded by April Burrows who wanted to start a “purpose driven business”. Flow Office Wisdom bases their business off of a triple bottom line of “people, planet, profit”. Since 2015 Flow has been recognized as a certified B Corp. from its initiatives and impact the company has had on its employees, community, and abroad. By creating such a distinct culture Flow’s social impact has been embedded into their day-to-day operations. Flow offers such a unique offering of business administrative services but its their culture that can set them apart. Flow looks to empower professional women. Flow’s current employees (all are currently women, although April Burrows does highlight they are not adverse to hiring males whatsoever) are compensated above “Guelph & Wellington’s Living Wage”. Of note, Flow actually has a flat model compensation that sees all employees compensated equally. As Flow’s business has continually grown so has their social responsibility involvement. Flow tries to convert 10% of their profit into time for their employees to allocate to contribute to social causes. Often times this initiative leads to employees utilizing their skills and services (building websites, branding, marketing, fundraising support, IT support, leadership work, etc.) to benefit local and global charities. “Using their skillset to make a difference” as April termed it, Flow has had a positive impact on community led charities that are striving to reach sustainability objectives such as The Hunger Project Canada, The Madagascar School Project, and Chalmers Community Service Centre.

Inspiration

April Burrows’ inspiration to create a business that is successful financially and also successful in making a difference in society came from her view of the state of the world. April believed founding and building a business in which she would have the power to create her own culture and values gave her the opportunity to do her part in solving a number of societal issues. April also saw the issue of gender inequality in the workplace and how it affected professional women in terms of being under paid and undervalued. April based her business culture on empowering professional women and introducing to an equal opportunity employer to the city of Guelph. Although as April outlined, the company is currently made up of “fortunate women” who have been allowed opportunities that other less fortunate women would not, she wants to create opportunities for less-fortunate local women as well in the coming years.

April Burrows who wanted to start a “purpose driven business” but knew it had to be for-profit in order to have the flexibility to create a difference without the restrictions from board of directors and other factors that can that can burden not-for-profit companies. When initially looking to start a business April Burrows was fascinated by the “Social Enterprise” business structure that was rapidly growing in the UK at the time. A true “Social Enterprise” was a not-for-profit organization but April knew this exact business structure would not fit her goals and objectives. April created an alternate business structure that was much like a “Social Enterprise” but was for-profit to allow for the aforementioned flexibility.

Overall impact

With Flow's growth their impact on the community and abroad has also grown. Flow has been able to continually hire local women giving them an opportunity to work for an equal opportunity employee. Also, the more business that Flow completes the more profits and time they can share with social initiatives. In a short-term context Flow has created an equal opportunity employer that gives opportunities to local professional women. In a long-term context Flow Office Wisdom is creating waves of impacts that will be felt in the years to come. Flow wants “to be involved in the building of communities and empowerment of leaders”. Flow’s involvement in local and global charities is helping create sustainable change for multitude of different causes. Flow Office Wisdom has been able to create a successful business that has a positive social impact on not only their employees but also the public and those who are impacted by their initiatives. Flow’s impact will continue to grow as they continue grow and continue as an equal opportunity employer.

Business benefit

Flow Office Wisdom has benefitted from creating a culture built on their values and becoming a B Corp. As mentioned earlier, Flow Office Wisdom has experienced positive business benefit from being a socially responsible company. Other social responsible companies wish to partner with other businesses that share their values. Flow is so conscious of their ethics and values they have actually turned away business and cut partnerships with other companies who do not share the same values or have operated in a way that is not considered socially responsible. Overall, Flow Office Wisdom's socially responsible actions have benefited their business in a positive way. With social responsibility in commerce being a key attribute that people look for in a business Flow will only continue to realize positive benefits from their social responsibility. Flow can be seen as a local social responsibility pioneer for being a small to medium sized company that has such a large involvement in social initiatives.

Social and environmental benefit

Flow Office Wisdom is involved in projects that support a global movement of commitment to ending world hunger through sustainability initiatives. Flow is also involved in a project that provides education, hope and health to hundreds of children and their families in an extreme poor region in Madagascar, Africa. In addition to initiatives with poverty, hunger and education on a global scope, Flow also is involved in a project that links women in Guelph with indigenous women in the remote north Andes, Peru, to give the less fortunate women in Peru opportunity to learn skills and abilities to give them a better life. Flow is working hard to try to find sustainable solutions to poverty, hunger, and education across the world through its various projects.

Flow is also taking actions on the company's environmental impact even though they do not have an office space and all employees work from home. Flow requires its staff to complete a home energy audit to inspect their home's exhaust systems in an effort to conserve energy use and minimize their environmental impact. Flow is currently investigating an initiative to reduce greenhouse gases by purchasing carbon offset. Flow's social and environmental impact stems from a multitude of actions and initiatives, which really makes if difficult to quantify their positive impact, which is what every company should strive for.

Interview

April Burrows, Founder