Inventium founder says four-day working week helps business with for purpose goals

Dr Amantha Imber explains sustainable business and productivity can often go hand in hand.

Inventium is six years into being a B-Corp, accredited three times over, and its founder sees many parallels between her productivity practice and being a for-purpose business.

In those years as a B-Corp, founder and organisational psychologist Dr Amantha Imber has grown her consultancy business with clients like Disney, Unilever, Vic Roads, Apple, Blackmores and scores of others by offering specialised productivity training crafted from corporate psychology research.

She tells Pro Bono News that as a B-Corp and a sustainably-minded corporate citizen, the four-day work week which she first trialed during the lockdown in Melbourne in 2020, actually boosted productivity, despite the challenging situation.

She says its positive side-effects dove-tail with the for-purpose value system.

“Enormously so. We tracked a bunch of metrics when we did an initial assessment in the four day week. Our engagement scores were already in top 10 per cent but following the four day work week trial our engagement was in the top one per cent.

“That was during peak lock down. The four day week has been amazing for the mental health [of my staff] I would say,” Dr Imber says.

“I think because we run a four day week at Inventium and having seen that it does not have a negative impact and in fact boosts productivity [while] applying the tools that go along with making it really productive, it of course has a social impact on our staff.

“The team is applying it every day. That has been one of the keys in making it successful for our business,” she said.

She says there are also enormous carbon footprint gains to be made through being remote-first.

“We made a decision to become a remote-first organisation in Melbourne and Sydney and through that simple choice alone we have reduced emissions by 63.8 8 tonnes.”

Amantha Imber started her behavioral science consultancy firm in 2007 “prior to B Corp coming to Australia”.

“I first found out about B Corp in 2014. I’ve always been a really purpose-driven business owner; purpose over profit, so when I first heard about B Corp I thought, that is an organisation that is very aligned,” she said.

“The first time we started to get accredited we didn’t quite make the accreditation standards which I actually thought was great, because they [are so thorough].

“It is a very rigorous process [and] a labour intensive one. The assessment you have to make makes you think about the environment, your workers and society,” she explained.

“It was thinking through things largely in terms of suppliers we used. 

“We started using more local suppliers, more female based workers, we looked at our environmental impact and a lot of it was out of our control, because there were other tenants in the building, for example … so we started to think through what was in our control.

“It was everything from battery recycling to thinking about letting people work from home,” she said.

Imber says the way Inventium approaches their certification is by doing “lots of little things” to lessen Inventium’s impact on the environment.

“I remember when we were going through the process. Me and a team mate … it was a two or three week full-time job,” she explains. 

“That is testament to all businesses that are accredited. These are businesses that are deeply invested in the impact they are having on the planet.”

Doing better in the world

The Inventium founder says that one positive benefit is connecting with the B Corp community.

“Recently they have been doing a program where they get other B Corp’s together for group discussions, talking about how we can do better in the world,” she said.

“It is really nice to connect with like-minded people.”

She said that her B Corp accreditation was about making sure her business was doing good and being the best business it could be.

“Ultimately the work that we do is all about improving the experience for your workers. That aligns with B Corp values, thinking about it now, the work we do,” she said.

Imber said that it is a really good process to go through if you have a business and are for-purpose aligned, even if you aren’t going to meet the accreditation standard initially.

“I think even if you don’t want to become a B Corp, going through the process is so worthwhile because your eyes become open to what you want to do and how to go about it.”