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When you become aware of or witness any prevention of a safe space, general harassment, or violation of Being Axelerant, please report the incident to the People Operations representative immediately per Reporting Violations below.
Perspective
Axelerant wants team members to feel confident, comfortable, and safe in communicating their concerns. Axelerant respects, appreciates and supports every aspect of diversity as we continuously foster a globally aware team.
Scope
This policy applies to all team members employed by any entity of Axelerant, whether contractor or employee, in all locations. There are local labor laws in every country, and for some states, that must be followed when handling, reporting and investigating incidents of harassment. The People Operations team and relevant legal counsel, when required, will ensure compliance that appropriate local legal processes and procedures are followed. All Axelerant team members will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination, for any act of harassment they commit.
Unacceptable Types of Safe Space Violations
Sexual Harassment
See Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Policy.
Discrimination
Any form of discrimination towards any individual is strictly prohibited. Types of discrimination may include:
Age
Disability
Gender
Life expectancy
Race; including color, nationality, ethnic or national origin
Religious belief or lack thereof
Sexual orientation
Slander
Bullying & Workplace Violence
Axelerant does not tolerate violent acts or threats of violence. The company will not tolerate fighting, bullying, coercion, or use of abusive or threatening words directed to, about, or against a co-worker, lead, manager, executive, candidate, client/customer, or vendor. No Axelerant team member should commit or threaten to commit any violent act or discuss committing such offenses, even in a joking manner.
Retaliation
Retaliation of any sort for filing a claim of harassment will not be tolerated.
Speaking Up
When people believe they have been the target or witness safe space violations of any kind, they're encouraged to immediately and directly address the harasser, letting them know that their behavior is unwelcome or offensive and must stop immediately. Speaking up creates an opportunity in which all parties can learn from and promote understanding. Further, the harming source person can de-escalate the situation by apologizing and resolving the problem without escalation.
While speaking up may not remove all consequences, it does significantly reduce the chance of escalation and has the potential to return team members to a comfortable and inclusive environment.
Reporting Violations
When speaking up fails or isn't feasible in a harassment situation, please contact a People Operations representative within three months (3) of the incident to investigate the behavior.
We encourage team members to fill out the Misconduct complaint form to share the incident with the People Operations team. The information you share with us will only be shared with the investigation committee.
Investigation Committee
Currently, the investigation committee consists of the Executive team, People Operations Manager, and Director of Coaching. Axelerant reserves the right to add more members to the committee as required.
Investigation process
All complaints or concerns about safe space violations or discrimination will be taken seriously and handled confidentially.
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Any complaint verbal/written received by the People Operations team will be investigated to validate the violations before involving consequences for the reported people.
After receiving the complaint, the People Operations Manager will reach out to the complainant for the reported peoplefirst call, to asses the situation and provide interim options to help the complainant feel safe and heard.
Interim measures could include any or all of the following:
Immediate leave for 2-5 days considering the severity of the situation
On complainant’s formal request, the committee can ask the Project/staffing team to move the respondent/complainant from the current project
If the respondent is their direct manager, any appraisals/performance reviews should be conducted by a skip level manager to ensure there is an unbiased review
The inquiry may include the following process
reviewing of any available proof (image/screenshots/recording, etc.) shared by the complainant,
reaching out to witnesses mentioned by the complainant,
setting up calls with the parties involved within 10 days of receiving such a complaint
After an unbiased investigation process, the people operations team will share the final decision to both the parties involved and keep the Executive team, Coaches and Managers/Directors of both parties informed.
The complainant or the respondent to the complaint shall not be allowed to bring any legal practitioner to represent them at any stage of the proceedings/inquiry before the investigation committee.
In the event of failure to attend a personal hearing before the investigation committee by the complainant or the respondent on three (3) consecutive dates (intimated in advance), the committee shall terminate the inquiry proceedings or give an ex-parte decision. However, the committee shall send a notice in writing to the parties, 15 (fifteen) days in advance, before such termination or the ex-parte order.
The inquiry process shall be completed maximum within 90 (ninety) days from the date of receipt of the complaint.
Protection to Complainant
The Company is committed to ensuring that no team member who brings forward a harassment concern is subject to any form of reprisal. Any reprisal will be subject to disciplinary action. The Company will ensure that the victim or witnesses are not victimized or discriminated against while dealing with complaints of sexual harassment.
However, anyone who abuses the procedure (for example, by maliciously putting an allegation knowing it to be untrue or produces any forged or misleading document) will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action including possible termination.
The Role of People Operations
Exploring informal means of resolving potential safe space violations when verbal complaints than formal, written objections are made.
Ensuring that people filing a complaint and any accused persons are made aware of the misconduct's seriousness.
Explaining Axelerant's safe space policy and investigation procedures to all complaint stakeholders.
Arrange for an immediate investigation of misconduct.
Prepare a written report summarizing the results of the investigation.
Make recommendations for remediation to designated company officials.
Notifying appropriate authorities (police, country-specific bureaus) when criminal activities are reported.
The Role of Leadership
When managers become aware of a safe space violation, they must act quickly, confidentially, and somewhat with any allegations, whether a written or formal complaint made to People Operations. Managers are expected to:
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Managers who knowingly allow or tolerate any form of safe space violation or retaliation, including the failure to report such misconduct to People Operations immediately, violate this policy and are subject to disciplinary action, including termination.
The Role of Team Members
All employees have a responsibility to create and maintain a safe space work environment by:
Being aware of how their behavior may affect others and changing it if necessary.
Treating their colleagues with dignity and respect.
Taking a stand if they think inappropriate jokes or comments are being made to others.
Making it clear to others where they find their behavior unacceptable.
Intervening, when possible, to stop safe space violations or bullying from occurring.
Reporting promptly to their manager or the People Operations department any witnessed bullying or safe space violations.
Disciplinary Actions
All team members will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination, for any act of safe space violations they are confirmed to have committed. Although disciplinary action will be specific to each case, it can generally be classified into four levels mentioned below. Actual disciplinary actions are suggested by leadership and peer-based committee and finalized by the executive team in line with https://axelerant.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AH/pages/1751974104/Prevention+of+Sexual+Harassment+POSH+Policy#4.0-Procedures-%26-Guidelines.
Possible consequences include:
Demotion
Reprimand
Suspension or termination for more serious offenses
Detraction of benefits for a definite or indefinite time
Level 1
E.g., First-time low-impact occurrences of inappropriate behavior or an act out of character moment. After a formal investigation, team members still feel comfortable working with the instigator.
3-days unpaid suspension
Formal apology towards inflicted parties
Level 2
E.g., First-time high-impact or recurring, within 1-year, socially inappropriate behavior.
2-weeks unpaid suspension
Mandatory certification on Gender Sensitivity Training paid for by Axelerant.
Formal apology towards inflicted parties
Warning letter
Potential transfer to another team
Potential of termination
Level 3
E.g., Major infractions, including retaliation, or recurring, within 1-year, socially inappropriate behavior after a warning letter.
Termination of contract
Level 4
E.g., Serious cases, including criminal offenses.
Termination of contract
Reported to the police or other relevant authorities
Training & Guidance
Training and guidance by Learning & Development team and others for understanding, preventing, and overcoming safe space violations will be provided to team members as part of situational resolutions.