EcoVadis for small businesses with up to 25 employees

EcoVadis is also available to small businesses with fewer than 25 employees, in the XS category. The smallest subscription, Basic, costs €449 per year in the Netherlands according to the EcoVadis pricing page. Companies of this size receive a correction for their size in the score: EcoVadis expects less extensive systems from small businesses. Whether the assessment is worth it depends on who asks for it and what you want to do with the medal or score.

For the general explanation of the assessment, see What is EcoVadis?. The costs per size class are on EcoVadis costs. This page answers whether a small business should do it, and how to approach it if so.

When does EcoVadis make sense for a small business?

An assessment costs money and time. For a small business, it makes sense in three situations.

A large client asks for it. A buyer at a large company sends an invitation and wants a scorecard within a set deadline. Then the assessment is a condition for keeping the client.
You want to strengthen your quote. At the same price and quality, a scorecard or medal can make the difference. A medal does require a Premium subscription.
You do a lot of work for large companies. If you supply several large clients, one shared scorecard saves much work compared with completing every questionnaire again.

Without one of these reasons, the assessment is often not worth it. You would then be investing in something nobody asks of you.

First ask your client which subscription they expect and what deadline they set. A client who only wants to view the results needs a different subscription from a client who wants to see a medal on the quote.

Which subscription suits a small business?

For companies with up to 25 employees there are four subscriptions. The prices below are the annual prices for the Netherlands in the XS size class, as shown on the EcoVadis pricing page when this page was written.

Subscription	Price per year (XS)	What you get	Suited to
Basic	€449	Assessment and scorecard, sharing within the EcoVadis network	One client that wants to view it in the platform
Premium	€889	Plus benchmark, medal or badge and external sharing	You want to show the medal on your website or in quotes
Select	Higher	Plus priority and guidance from EcoVadis	You are in a hurry or want more support
Corporate	Higher	Plus management of several legal entities	Groups, not a single small business

For most small businesses, Basic is the starting point, and Premium is the point at which you can use the medal. If you choose Premium, you pay almost double, and you should weigh that with your client.

Worked example: a business with ten people

An installation company with ten employees receives an invitation from a municipality that asks for a scorecard in a tender. The company works out the cost as follows.

Cost item	Assumption	Amount
Premium subscription, size XS	Dutch price, one year	€889
Internal hours for the first assessment	40 hours at €60 per hour (assumption)	€2,400
Any adviser for the file	Not needed, the company does it itself	€0
Total first year		€3,289

This is a worked example with our own assumptions, not an EcoVadis average. The company already has a safety policy and an RI&E (risk inventory and evaluation), which saves hours. If the company starts from scratch, it costs more. The number of hours is the largest uncertain part of the bill.

What does it deliver? The municipality asks for the scorecard to be sent with the bid. Without it, the company cannot submit a bid. The cost is then not a choice but a condition.

How to approach the assessment with a small team

A small business usually has no HR or sustainability department. The assessment therefore has to be done by someone with other tasks as well. This approach works in practice.

Step 1: Choose one person in charge. That is usually the owner or an operations manager. Give that person two fixed hours per week.

Step 2: Complete the company profile properly. A wrong industry or number of employees leads to the wrong questionnaire. Check this before you start the questions.

Step 3: Gather existing documents. Small businesses often have more than they think: an RI&E (risk inventory and evaluation), an employment contract, a waste contract, an insurance policy. See EcoVadis questionnaire and documents for what counts per theme.

Step 4: Write short policy. A two-page policy with targets and a date is enough. It does not have to be a thick handbook.

Step 5: Record the corrective action plan (CAP). Put the improvement points in the corrective action plan, with one owner per action. See EcoVadis corrective action plan.

How does EcoVadis score small businesses?

According to the EcoVadis methodology , companies with 1 to 25 employees (XS) receive a simplified formula and a bonus.

Bonus. A size factor of +13.75 points is added to every theme score. A small company therefore needs to demonstrate less to reach the same level.
No endorsements needed. You do not have to take part in public initiatives (such as a letter of intent) to earn points.
No reporting for ethics and procurement. For those two themes you do not have to supply figures. For environment and labour and human rights, you do.
Actions weigh more. Actions count for 65% and certificates for 35%. An expensive certificate is therefore not needed.

For example, a painter with seven employees does not need to show a CO2 report for procurement, but must be able to demonstrate that a procurement policy exists and is applied.

Which score is realistic?

A small business often scores lower than a large company, because it has fewer documents and fewer actions. The size factor partly compensates for that. A score of 45 or higher falls within the “good” level. A medal requires more, and the conditions are on score and medals. What you need to do to get one depends on the scores of other companies, so there is no fixed target score.

Note: a small company cannot get a medal if one of its themes is below 30. That applies to small companies too. So make sure you have a minimum on all four themes, even if you have little to report on them.

Common mistakes for small businesses

Thinking a small business is exempt. There is no exemption. The assessment is there for every company that is invited, although the size is different.

Trying to do everything at once. Start with the themes your client asks for, then work on the rest.

Not keeping figures. A small business can also record energy use, waste and sickness absence. Without figures, the reporting is weak.

Writing a policy that is too big. A short, workable policy scores better than a long document nobody applies.

Checklist for the small business

Do you have one person in charge with fixed hours?
Does the company profile match your industry and number of employees?
Do you have your RI&E, waste contract and insurance to hand?
Do you have short policy per theme with a date?
Is the CAP filled in with owners and deadlines?
Do you know which subscription your client expects?