MJ is changing the way people think about insurance — and it’s through taking a future-focused approach that we can offer bold, innovative solutions to our clients. To offer these solutions, we must be future-focused when it comes to MJ’s business operations as well. This mindset led us to begin our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) journey.

Times have changed, and we recognize that we need to show the impact we are making—not just through fluff pieces, but through data and insights that highlight the effect we have on our clients, associates and communities. For a company, embarking on your ESG journey can be intimidating. We get it! There’s a lot to learn, and a lot of progress to be made. However, we hope to inspire you —our partners— to take the leap and start assessing the impact you are making within these various components of business. We have a feeling you’ll be pleasantly surprised with what you find.

Like with any innovative idea, we’ve heard the pushback—we understand it as well. Publishing a report such as an ESG report can be scary. It’s a level of vulnerability and transparency that not all businesses are ready to commit to. We are publishing our first ESG report and ask for patience as we work towards the goals we have established in our report. We chose not to let the fear and unknown surrounding ESG stop us from making progress—and we encourage you to do the same.

We are now on a mission to change the way people think about ESG. While we know there is noise about these initiatives being “fluff” business terms, we are committed to proving that, at least for MJ, that is not the case. The way we perceive our ESG initiatives is it’s a framework to help guide us to do good while doing good business. We have aligned our report with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) for the Professional Commercial Services industry. These frameworks serve as a guiding light for how we developed our ESG strategy.

There are so many elements that fall under the ESG umbrella, so when we took away the stigma or perception around it, we found that we were already making an impact without formally titling it ESG. ESG reporting allows us to tie datapoints and goals to the initiatives deemed most critical by both our internal and external stakeholders and track progress to those goals. ESG reporting is risk management in its truest form. It allows you to uncover your risks and exposures as you inspect every facet of your business. It allows you to make strategic decisions to ensure long-term sustainability for your company. At MJ, we believe this level of inspection is not only important, but critical for long-term success. 

A lot of the noise surrounding ESG reporting has to do with the “E” — the environmental element. And while we believe in leaving the planet better than we found it, there is so much more to ESG reporting than the environmental piece. It’s reporting on your cyber and data policies, quantifying your DE+I impact, analyzing your associate wellbeing programming and so much more. It’s better business. So, while yes, the environmental factor is included in ESG reporting, we encourage you to think about the other two elements— “S” Social and “G” Corporate Governance. They are likely some of the most critical factors to your business.  

As a privately-held company, MJ is not required to publish the data contained in our ESG report. We have made the decision as an organization to publish an ESG report to be the best partner to our clients. If our clients are working towards these goals, we want to play our part in positively impacting those we serve, our communities and our planet. We encourage our clients to expect more from their insurance partner—and we are committed to meeting those expectations.  

We encourage you to take a look at our report.