General Policy 

The purpose of this policy is to administer and clarify to all employees and members of the Buildup Bootcamp NGO (BuildUp) general policy in terms of its objectives, operations, and future while laying the foundation for employees and members in terms of conduct and expected performance to achieve said objectives, operations, and future plans.

SCOPE

This policy will be utilized and applied to all employees and BuildUp members regardless of the position they hold. The policies described below may at any time be subject to modification if the Board of Members of NGO deems it necessary. In such cases, all stakeholders will be fully informed of the changes made. 

1. GENERAL PERSONNEL POLICY STATEMENT

1.1 PURPOSE

The purpose of the Personnel Policy is to set down the policies, conditions, rights, and obligations of BuildUp employees and members subject to their performance of the duties and responsibilities in their respective job descriptions. All employees and staff members are expected to abide by the code of conduct which was distributed from the time of hiring. 

1.2 CATEGORIES OF PERSONNEL

All the members of the organization are classified into categories as follows:

1. President + Board Members (Founding Trustees)
2. Trustees
3. Faculty and Deans (Programs and functional)
4. Administration/Management
5. Students

President is the leader of BuildUp responsible for oversight of organizational finances, vision, mission, staffing and long-term goal setting. 

Board Member (Founding Trustee) is an appointed or elected individual or company that has overall responsibility for the management of BuildUp.

Trustee is an individual or company who makes fixed monthly donations to the BuildUp and can hire graduates of the BuildUp.

Dean or Faculty is an individual who is responsible for leading the programs or special operations of BuildUp which includes work with tutors and students.

Mentor is a Trustee who suggests a problem to student teams of BuildUp and guides them in their work for creating a product that solves this problem.

Administration is a group of individuals that run managing positions and are responsible for conducting operational and organizational processes at BuildUp.

Student is a middle-level specialist who applied for one of the programs of BuildUp and has been elected to take up the program.

BuildUp Community includes Founding Trustees, Trustees, Alumni and current students. 

Employees of the BuildUp include administration and deans. They have the responsibility towards the day-to-day functioning and/or in any one of more ongoing/prospective projects of the organization.

Employees designate salaried individuals who, after a probationary period, are given ongoing assignments. Permanent employees are those whose contract does not have an expiration date and have completed their probationary period. They are considered the company’s “regular” employees and are categorized as regular full-time and regular part-time.

Temporary employees are those whose contract is valid for a definite amount of time and must be renewed in order for them to retain employee status. Those employees can be full-time or part-time and will be contracted on a long-term basis subject to periodic evaluations and performance assessments.

Full-time employees are typically employed on a 40-hour/week schedule according to legislation. Part-time employees are those who work less than forty hours per week.

1.3 REMOTE WORK, WORKING HOURS, AND TIME-OFF

BuildUp’ss functioning is based on remote work. Remote work is defined as working during an employee’s working hours anywhere outside of our office, located on 3 Hakob Hakobyan Street 0033 Yerevan, Armenia. During remote work hours, employees must be available via Slack, Zoom, email, and/or phone. All employees are required to attend meetings via audio/video conferencing. If an employee is unable to attend a given meeting, they must notify the person hosting the meeting and schedule a debrief with a meeting attendee within 12 hours.

The regular working schedule for most employees is from Monday to Friday. Working hours are defined based on individual contracts. Flexible schedules are allowed accounting for the fact that employees may work in different time zones. The practice of flexible hours does not typically alter an employee’s status and if so, it must be clearly stated in a formal written agreement signed by both employee and employer.

1.4 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

To achieve a good performance evaluation, an employee should:

1. Be an integral part of BuildUp community.
2. Meet his/her targets consistently.
3. Complete his/her job duties as expected.
4. Show willingness to learn and develop.
5. Follow our Code of Conduct and other company policies.
6. Have a good attitude and collaborate well with his/her colleagues.

Executive Managers conduct periodical performance reviews assessing an employee’s success in meeting the requirements of his or her job description and organizational expectations and the establishment and accomplishment of goals. These reviews apply to employees who have completed their onboarding period.

1.5 STAFF BEHAVIOR, CORRECTIVE AND DISCIPLINARY ACTION

BuildUp expects its employees to adopt attitudes and behavior that maintain the good image of the organization. Besides the usual rules to follow (respect, courtesy, punctuality), there are procedures of conduct for employees and community members which must be observed.

• Since the BuildUp is a non-political organization, employees shall not participate in activities of a purely political nature on work premises or during working hours. It is also prohibited to use the organization’s materials for these purposes. 
• Employees or community members should not be engaged in any political activities under the name of the BuildUp or representing BuildUp.
• Corruption on the part of any BuildUp employee or community member in their engagement with the organization’s activities, is prohibited. No employee or community member or any third party acting on behalf of BuildUp or dealing with BuildUp, is allowed to offer to pay a bribe, or pay a bribe, nor they solicit the payment of a bribe, or accept a bribe in conjunction with any aspect of the organization’s activities.
• Any gifts offered voluntarily to the employees or community members in their official capacity are regarded as gifts to the organization and they should not be accepted without permission. By default, employees or community members should decline the offer if the acceptance could be perceived as against the interest of the organization, or that of society, or lead to complaints of bias or impropriety.
• Under the principles established by BuildUp, no employee, man or woman, has the right to put pressure on another, make intimate advances, give preferential treatment or show sexual favoritism at work.
• To avoid putting themselves in a conflict of interest with the objectives and operations pursued by BuildUP, employees shall respect the following guidelines:
• It is prohibited to use BuildUp property for illegal or unauthorized purposes.
• It is prohibited for any BuildUp employee having confidential information to disclose it without express authorization beforehand.
• Employees cannot at any time accept a job from another employer if this job interferes with their work schedule and their duties and responsibilities.

An employee may be the subject of disciplinary action for matters relating to their performance, capacity or conduct, including (but not limited to) the following:

1. Unsatisfactory Performance
2. Unacceptable Conduct
3. Wilful or Serious Misconduct

BuildUp will ask the employee for a written explanation (within 3 working days) on the offense deemed committed by the employee concerned, identifying the charges against him/her and the particulars of the facts relied upon to support it.

After investigation of concerns and allegations, considering the seriousness of the poor performance/misconduct; the response or explanation given by the employee; the employee’s employment history and record, informal or formal disciplinary actions may be made. Informal disciplinary action may take the form of redirection, retraining, reorganization/redeployment, and counseling. Formal disciplinary action takes the form of verbal warning/counseling; written warning; and dismissal.

The policy extends to all functions and places that are work-related or out of work conduct of the employee that may impact on the organization.

1.6 CONFIDENTIALITY

Employees, Founding Trustees, and Trustees will inevitably receive and handle personal and private information about students, partners, and the organization. Any and all information and data created, discovered, and kept by the organization is considered as confidential information as follows:

1. Student personal data.
2. Student performance reports.
3. Product performance reports.
4. Educational materials and business cases.
5. Documents, processes, and initiatives explicitly marked as confidential.

BuildUp students are not allowed to announce their participation in the program until their mentorship is approved, share educational and business cases and product development details.

All the users of this confidential information are obliged to maintain it in confidence viewing confidential information on secure devices and disclosing it to others when it’s necessary and authorized.

All the users of this confidential information are not allowed to:

1. Use confidential information for any personal benefit or profit
2. Disseminate this information in any way of form to any individual or entity that is not part of the organization.
3. Replicate confidential documents and files and store them on insecure devices.

When an employee, Founding Trustee, Trustee or student stops working for an organization or being a member of BuildUp Community, they are obliged to return any confidential files and delete them from their personal devices.

Confidential information may occasionally have to be disclosed for legitimate reasons. Examples are:

1. If a regulatory body requests it as part of an investigation or audit
2. If our organization examines a venture or partnership that requires disclosing some information (within legal boundaries)

Any employee or member of BuildUp Community who does not respect organization confidentiality policy will face disciplinary and, possibly, legal action. Any employee who willfully or regularly breaches confidentiality guidelines for personal profit will be terminated. We may also have to punish any unintentional breach of this policy depending on its frequency and seriousness. Termination may be applied to employees who repeatedly disregard this policy, even when they do so unintentionally.

This policy is binding even after separation of employment or being a member of the BuildUp Community.

2. DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT POLICY

2.1 PURPOSE

This policy reflects our commitment to ensure equality and promote diversity in the workplace. BuildUp is an equal opportunity employer. Discrimination against protected characteristics implying this policy to all employees, job candidates, trustees, and partners and harassment of any form are not tolerated in BuildUp community.

2.2 POLICY ELEMENTS

Being an equal opportunity employer means that we provide the same opportunities for hiring, advancement and benefits and fairness in evaluating performance and terminating to everyone without discriminating following:

1. Age
2. Sex / Gender
3. Sexual orientation
4. Ethnicity / Nationality
5. Religion
6. Disability
7. Medical history

We want all employees to treat others with respect and professionalism. In practice, this means that we:

1. Hire and promote people based on skills, experience, or potential and try to reduce bias in every process.
2. Conduct diversity and communication training.

BuildUp is committed to prevent and resolve any kind of harassment against its employees and community members. Harassment is any kind of behavior that humiliates, victimizes, or threatens a person, like directing racial slurs and making sexual advances. Sexual harassment is a serious violation of principles of respect and mutual collaboration and will not be tolerated in any shape inside and outside of our organization.

2.3 PROCEDURE

BuildUp is responsible for building an environment where the rights of every employee and community member are respected. All supervisors and managers are responsible to use equal opportunity practices and make decisions based on objective, non-discriminatory criteria. Everyone should comply with our policy at all times.

Whenever biased are found, we will act immediately to refine our processes, train our people to combat their biases, and protect possible victims of discrimination. Employees who display discriminative actions or harassment will be subject to disciplinary action depending on the severity of their actions, including termination. 

3. POLICY FOR MANAGEMENT CONDUCT

3.1 PURPOSE

This policy defines general responsibilities of employees running managerial positions.

3.2 POLICY ELEMENTS

An employee holding a managerial position at BuildUp is responsible for creating goals, providing feedback regarding performance, providing resources for a successful work relationship, and completing the performance management forms.

Managers should:

1. Set clear objectives and specific goals for each team member. Renew those goals during [annual/ bi-annual/ quarterly] performance reviews.
2. Provide useful feedback. During scheduled meetings with team members, give a manager gives them guidance and praise, as appropriate. Be fair and specific to help them understand and implement your feedback.
3. Keep their team members involved. There should be two-way communication between managers and their teams. Make their expectations clear, but always take their team members’ motivations and aspirations into account. 
4. Keep logs with important incidents about each one of their team members. These logs help to evaluate their teams.

3.3 PROCEDURE

Managers should video-meet with their team members once per [week] to provide feedback and talk about their work and motivations. This way, team members can receive feedback in a timely manner.

Managers conduct periodical performance reviews assessing an employee’s success in meeting the requirements of his or her job description and organizational expectations and the establishment and accomplishment of goals. 

4. INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA USE POLICY

4.1 PURPOSE

This policy sets guidelines for recommended internet and social media use while representing BuildUp.

4.2 POLICY ELEMENTS

Any employee or community member, representing BuildUp by handling the organization’s or personal social media accounts or speaking on our company’s behalf is expected to act carefully and responsibly to protect the organization’s image and reputation. 

We expect our employees to always adhere to the confidentiality policy. We also caution to avoid violating our anti-harassment policies or posting something that might make your collaboration with your colleagues more difficult. We advise our community to:

1. Ensure others know that your personal account or statements do not represent BuildUp. You should not state or imply that your personal opinions and content are authorized or endorsed by BuildUp. We advise using a disclaimer such as “opinions are my own” to avoid misunderstandings.
2. Follow our confidentiality policy and observe laws on copyright, trademarks, plagiarism, and fair use.
3. Be respectful, polite and patient, when engaging in conversations on the behalf of BuildUp. You should be careful when making declarations or promises towards stakeholders.
4. Inform communication team when you are about to share any major-impact content.
5. Avoid any defamatory, discriminatory, or offensive content. It may be considered as a violation of organization’s anti-harassment policy if directed towards colleagues
6. Correct or remove any misleading or false content as quickly as possible.

4.3 PROCEDURE

BuildUp may have to take disciplinary action leading up to and including termination if employees or a student do not follow this policy’s guidelines. 

CODE OF CONDUCT 

Principle 1: Honesty, Integrity, and Fair Play

BuildUp and its staff are fully committed to the principle of honesty, integrity, and fair play in the conduct of the Organization’s mission. All staff should ensure that the organization’s activities are dealt with in an open, fair, and impartial manner. All the members of BuildUp Community should follow the principle of honesty, integrity, and fair play within their activities in the framework of the project. Working considerately and fairly with everyone in a way that respects diversity, different roles and boundaries and avoids giving offence is the fundamental of the community.

Principle 2: Dignity and mutual respect

Respect towards each other and politeness are basic values in interpersonal relations in BuildUp community. No behaviour that undermines human dignity or is contrary to any of these principles should take place in the community. The working environment should make for frank, constructive and unambiguous communication, also allowing, where necessary, for duly justified professional criticism, which is essential for professional development. 

Principle 3: Equal Opportunity 

BuildUp ensures equal employment opportunity, equal membership opportunity, and equal participation opportunity. All of the above mentioned are available regardless of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, or another legally protected status. This principle applies to all aspects of the employment relationship and community relationship.

Principle 4: Accountability and Transparency

Buildup is committed to conduct its activities with accountability and transparency which implies focus on fulfilling their mandate and serving the needs of its stakeholders. 

Principle 5: Governance, anti-corruption, and Acceptance of Advantages

BuildUp has zero tolerance for corruption. All employees, Founding Trustees, Trustees, and students must never offer to provide anything of value directly or indirectly to government officials and business partners to secure an undue advantage. The organization prohibits payment, offers of payment as well as anything of value directly or indirectly with the purpose of influencing or obtaining undue business or personal advantage.

BuildUp prohibits all employees or members of the BuildUp Community from soliciting or accepting any advantage from any persons having business dealings with the Organization (e.g. clients, suppliers, contractors). Employees who wish to accept any advantage from such persons should seek advice and permission from the administration.

Principle 6: Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest situation arises when the “private interests” (both the financial and personal) of the employees or members of BuildUp community compete or conflict with the interests of BuildUp. They should avoid using their official position or any information made available to them in the course of their duties to benet themselves, their affiliates, or any other persons with whom they have personal or social ties. They should avoid putting themselves in a position that may lead to an actual or perceived conflict of interest with the organization. 

Principle 7: Handling of Classified or Confidential Information

Employees and members of BuildUp Community are not allowed to disclose any classified or exclusive information to anybody without authorization. Individuals who have access to or are in control of such information should at all times provide adequate safeguards to prevent its abuse or misuse. Examples of misuse include disclosure of information in return for monetary rewards, or the use of information for personal interest. 

They should not disclose, in any form whatsoever, to anyone not entitled to have knowledge of it. Any disclosure of information obtained in the context of confidential procedures is not tolerated. It should also be noted that unauthorized disclosure of any personal data may result in a breach of the applicable legislation on privacy.

Principle 8: Compliance with the Code

It is the personal responsibility of every employee or member of BuildUp Community to understand and comply with the Code of Conduct. 

When facing a potential unethical behavior one should ask her/himself the following questions: a) Is it in accordance with the company's practices and policies? b) Is it legal? c) What do my colleagues/Manager think? d) To what extent will this affect the community environment? 

Anybody who violates any provision of the Code may be subject to disciplinary action. In cases of suspected corruption or other criminal offenses, a report will be made to the appropriate authorities.