Be the Business Terms & Conditions: Be the Business Programmes (Volunteers)
These terms and conditions of participation (“Terms”) apply to any participation in Be the Business Programmes (together the “Services”). The Services facilitate a relationship between parties participating in The Productivity Programme (the “TPP Programme”), including as part of the Inspiring leaders Programme (“Inspiring Leaders”), and between parties participating in Inspiring Leaders. ‘Be the Business’ is the trading name of The Productivity Group, a charitable company limited by guarantee with registered charity number 1173660, company number 10754958 and registered at 10 Queen Street Place, London, England, EC4R 1AG.
In these Terms any reference to “you” or “your” is to a board member or mentor who has agreed to participate in the TPP Programme on a voluntary basis or participant of Inspiring Leaders References to a “Business Representative” or “participant” are to SME leader participants of the TPP Programme.
By participating in the Services, you are accepting these Terms, and you acknowledge that you hereby understand the following:
- Board members or mentors act as volunteers (“Volunteer(s)”) in providing their services and therefore act in a personal capacity; not on behalf of their employer.
- It is the role of the Volunteer to deliver the TPP Programme in accordance with the Product Description as a minimum, leveraging your experience and case studies where appropriate.
- In relation to provision of the Services, there must be no form of paid contract or paid arrangement between a volunteer and business representative and no cash, cash equivalent or gifts shall be exchanged. Should either party want to enter into a commercial relationship, they are obliged to inform Be the Business immediately and terminate these Services.
- Be the Business may terminate this agreement immediately and without notice to you, if in our opinion, you are in breach of our Volunteer Policy or any of the policies referenced therein.
- The scope of the advice given by you will only ever be of a general nature and you agree to notify participants of the TPP Programme that no advice or guidance provided by you is intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional advice.
- You agree you have read and will at all times comply with our Code of Conduct and Volunteer Policy.
- In the event of unprofessional or discriminatory treatment being experienced or observed in the course of these Services, you agree to report any incident to the Be the Business team immediately at programmes@bethebusiness.com
- Participating parties will each be able to view each other's names via the delivery processes of the Services. This information must be treated as confidential and not shared other than in accordance with delivery of the Services by you.
- To the extent permitted by law, Be the Business will have no liability towards Volunteers or participants (howsoever arising) in relation to your participation in the Services
- During the Services, Volunteers and participants may disclose confidential and personal information to each other for the purpose of building up a relationship of support and advice. The party disclosing shall be the “Discloser” and the parties receiving the information shall be the “Recipient”.
- For the purposes of the Services, confidential information means: all know-how, data, information, trade secrets, or materials, in any form whether marked confidential or not, including but not limited to conceptions, inventions, developments, improvements, designs, techniques, technical data, market information, including sales, costs, prices, customers and suppliers, forecasts, marketing and any commercial and financial, technical and business strategic plans already disclosed or to be disclosed to Recipient by Discloser.
- As part of assessing the value and effectiveness of the Services, it is expected that Volunteers will take part in insight and evaluation activities when requested by Be the Business.
- A Recipient undertakes:
- not to use the confidential information for any purpose except for the purpose of the Services, without obtaining the prior written agreement of the Discloser;
- to keep the confidential information secure and not to disclose it to any third party except for the purpose of the Services and where any third party knows they owe a duty of confidence to the Discloser and are bound by obligations of confidentiality.
- The undertakings in the bullet point above do not apply to: (i) any information which is, or in future comes into, the public domain (unless as a result of the breach of these Terms); or (ii) to any information which was already known to the Recipient and which was not subject to any obligation of confidence before it was disclosed to the Recipient by the Discloser.
- Nothing in these Terms will prevent the Recipient from making any disclosure of the confidential information required by law or by any competent authority.
- A Recipient will, on request from the Discloser, return all copies and records of the confidential information to the Discloser and will not retain any copies or records of the confidential information.
- A Recipient shall have no licence, interest or right in respect of any intellectual property rights of the Discloser, except the right to copy the confidential information solely for the purpose of the Services.
By participating in the Services, you acknowledge that Be the Business:
- makes no representation or warranties of any kind, express or implied about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of any participant, Volunteer, or the Services. Any reliance a participant places upon Volunteer is therefore strictly at their own risk;
- is not liable for any false, inaccurate, inappropriate information provided by a participant or any third party;
- is not liable to you or any other third party for any loss or damage (including, without limitation, loss of profits) arising directly or indirectly from participation in the Services.
These Terms are governed by, and are to be construed in accordance with, English law. The English Courts will have non-exclusive jurisdiction to deal with any dispute which has arisen or may arise out of, or in connection with, these Terms.
Information and Data Sharing
Be the Business is committed to protecting your personal information and will implement all appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard it.
Your personal information will only be used for the purposes of the Services. However, information about you may be disclosed to Be the Business team for support in the event that information shared implies that the Discloser is or may be a risk to themselves or other parties.
Be the Business uses proprietary and third-party software to manage services. The programme delivery software will keep an accurate file on each participant. Files will include the personal contact information, their application form, onboarding, board meeting and inspiring leaders attendance, role description, skills assessments and any reflection assignments or notes submitted, record of all support meetings and any grievances or complaints. This file will be treated in accordance with the Data Protection Act (2018). More information about how we handle your personal data can be found in our Privacy Notice on the Be the Business website.
In line with data privacy legislation, the we will enter into data processing agreements with processors involved in the delivery of the Services, and will comply with all relevant legislation.
In respect of the personal information that is processed by Be the Business, Be the Business is the data controller and we work with several third-party processors in line with our privacy notice. We will only use your data to match you with someone who either needs advice and support to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the Services; and profiling to identify the ways we can best support businesses or improve services. Data will be used for research purposes by Be the Business or their agents. All research outputs will be aggregated annonymised insights in which participants will not be identifiable, unless consent is sought for identifiable materials such as case studies.
Be the Business works with partners to share best practice to benefit the business community.
If you are a Volunteer and Be the Business has a relationship with your employer (“Employer”), and you are signing on as a Volunteer to the Services because of introduction to the volunteering opportunity by your Employer, Be the Business will share the following data about you with your Employer:
- Full name
- email address
- work phone number
- job title
- Status (e.g. registered / unmatched / matched)
If you want to opt out of this, you can do so by emailing programmes@bethebusiness.com.
The purpose of sharing the Volunteer data is:
- So that the Employer can better understand the engagement of its employees who are taking part in the Be the Business Programmes as Volunteers
- To invite Volunteers to specific events within your organisation and to gather feedback from you on the Be the Business Programmes.
By giving us your information, you are consenting to sharing your data with us and with your Employer (if appropriate) for the purposes above.
If you have been referred to a Be the Business Programme by a third party, for example a membership association, business network or other business support provider, for the purposes of providing you access to a Be the Business Programme through their services or referral, Be the Business may share the following data about you with the relevant third party where you identify them as your referral source.
- Full name
- Email address
- Company name
- Status (e.g. registered / unmatched / matched)
If you want to opt out of this, you can do so by emailing programmes@bethebusiness.com.
The purpose of sharing the data is:
- So that the third party can understand the engagement of, and thus the value of offering this programme to those they support.
- To invite Volunteers and Business Representatives to specific events where relevant
- And to allow the third party to gather feedback from you on the Be the Business Programmes
By giving us your information, you are consenting to sharing the data listed above with us, and any organisation you identify as a referral source, for the purposes above.
If you are participating in Inspiring leaders through your employer, Be the Business will share the following data about you with your Employer:
- Full name
- email address
- work phone number
- job title
- Status (e.g. registered / unmatched / matched)
- Engagement with the programmes (Board meeetings and reflection sessions attended)
- If you want to opt out of this, you can do so by emailing programmes@bethebusiness.com.
Be the Business will also share aggregated annonymised insight into:
- Learning takeaway themes
- Changes in confidence or skills in the boards intelligences
- Inspiring Leaders Statisfaction feedback
The purpose of sharing the data is:
- So that the Employer can understand the engagement of its employees taking part in Inspiring Leaders
- So that the Employer can measure the value and success of its employees taking part in Inspiring Leaders
- To invite Volunteers to specific events within your organisation and to gather feedback from you on the Be the Business Programmes.
By giving us your information, you are consenting to sharing your data with us and with your Employer (if appropriate) for the purposes above.
We will hold your data securely on our systems for as long as you are in the services and then delete in line with our retention schedule. Be the Business will uphold your data subject rights. If you would like more information about how your personal information is looked after, and to find out who to contact for more information, visit: .Be the Business privacy notice.
Controlling your personal information
You can modify your profile information at any time by emailing programmes@bethebusiness.com These terms may be amended without notice to you. We encourage you to review these terms from time to time. We will post amendments to these terms on website; the amendments will take effect when posted on our website www.bethebusiness.com
Volunteering Policy
Introduction
Be the Business seeks to involve volunteers to:
- Provide skills and perspectives to small business leaders to boost UK productivity
- Increase our engagement across the business community. Principles and values
This volunteering policy is underpinned by the following principles:
Good practice guidelines
1.. Preparing for volunteering
Before involving volunteers in any role, Be the Business will ensure that the following are in place to ensure their safety and effectiveness:
- Involving volunteers: recruitment and selection process
a) Role descriptions
Be the Business will create clear role descriptions for each volunteer opportunity. These will be available to ensure that potential volunteers, staff and the organisation as a whole are clear on the purpose of the role, this will also provide a basis for support and supervision as it outlines the volunteers' tasks and responsibilities.
b) Promotion
Be the Business will ensure that all volunteer opportunities are promoted widely to increase accessibility of a diverse range of interested parties. Our recruitment will include but not be limited to online promotions through LinkedIn, via Partner Channels and direct via employers.
Our recruitment process will be a fair and open procedure, promoting equality of opportunity. For example: Be the Business will only list the skills and requirements on a role description that are necessary for that role;
Our promotional material will clearly explain how a volunteer can get involved. The first step for volunteers is to fill in an application form that asks for personal contact information, and confirms they are eligible to take part in the programme.
Be the Business will make reasonable adjustments to accommodate volunteers
c) Eligibility
All volunteers identified as ‘eligible’ from the application form process will be accepted and then invited to a group onboarding call. It is at this stage the volunteer and the Be the Business team can reconfirm the suitability of the role to the volunteer and identify next steps, which will include matching with a board/mentee.
Once a volunteer is matched, they will be invited to join a board, or they may refuse the opportunity if there is a conflict of interest or other issue arising.
d) Saying no and referring volunteers on
Be the Business recognises that volunteers are an important part of their work and services provided, but also recognise that volunteers placed in roles not suited to their needs or interests can be detrimental to both the service and to the volunteer's motivation and development. If during the application process a volunteer has been identified as not suitable to the role, then Be the Business reserves the right to refuse the offer to volunteer.
- Managing volunteers
Be the Business is committed to the ongoing support of volunteers to ensure that they are able to
carry out their role; the following elements are essential to ‘managing our volunteers’:
a) On-boarding and welcoming
All volunteers will attend an onboarding information call. This will include:
b) Support via the software used to deliver the services or via email to programmes@bethebusiness.com.
Be the Business will ensure that any mandatory training that is required for the role is clearly explained to the volunteer during their onboarding process. Be the Business will provide any training essential to the role prior to the volunteer undertaking related tasks.
c) Additional Support
Any concerns volunteers have, and any performance concerns the Be the Business team have may require a volunteer to attend an informal discussion. If required, Be the Business can provide supervisory sessions. The Volunteer Manager should keep a record of these meetings, including actions and outcomes.
d) Complaints
If volunteers have any complaints about their participation, either with Be the Business or another participant in the services, please send an email in the first instance to programmes@bethebusiness.com outlining the parties involved and the complaint or request a callback regarding a complaint.
e) Record keeping
Be the Business uses proprietary and third-party software to manage programme delivery. The programme delivery software will keep an accurate file on each volunteer. Files will include the volunteer’s personal contact information, their application form, welcome call attendance, role description, record of all support meetings and any grievances or complaints. This file will be treated in accordance with the Data Protection Act (2018). More information about how we handle your personal data can be found in our Privacy Notice on the Be the Business website.
f) Recognition
Although volunteers have chosen to give up their time to help Be the Business, we understand that recognition of their contribution is vital in helping them to be part of the productivity movement, see the difference they make and to encourage others to volunteer. Where possible Be the Business will promote the contribution that volunteers make to our work, through internal newsletters, press releases and through our social media.
g) Saying goodbye
Be the Business understands that volunteers discontinue their involvement for several reasons and so have identified steps to take to ensure a process that is smooth and beneficial to both parties. Volunteers may leave because of other commitments, due to issues with the role, or because they have decided they are no longer interested in performing the role. In any case, once made aware, Be the Business will:
Be the Business are unable to provide references for individual volunteers
- Policies and Procedures
Be the Business recognises that volunteers are a part of our charitable work and should be protected and bound by Be the Business’s policies and procedures that are designed to keep all interested parties safe and ensure work is carried out to a high and consistent standard. Relevant policies available on request are
- Safeguarding
- Equal Opportunities
- DEI
- Terms and conditions
- Code of conduct
- Insurance
- Complaints
- Data retention policy
- Subject Access requests
Code of Conduct
- Be the Business programmes facilitate confidential activity, and all individuals taking part should observe this
- All board meetings and reflection sessions participated in as part of the services are held under the Chatham House rule I.e. participants are free to use the information received that is not deemed to be confidential, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.
- Participants of Inspiring Leaders reflection sessions will ensure that all observations and reflections on board skills and behaviours shared abide by the Chatham House Rule in which the learnings were gained
- All colleagues, Clients and potential Clients are to be treated with dignity and respect
- It is the role of the Volunteer to respond to the Clients’s needs & requirements and not to impose their own agenda
- The Volunteer must always remain professional and not enter any personal relationship with the Client
- The position of third parties e.g. line managers and colleagues must be respected by both Volunteer and Client
- The Volunteer should not try and intrude into any areas that the Client wants to keep private
- The Volunteer shall share knowledge, experience and skills with fellow Volunteers to enhance learning and development
- At all times the Volunteer shall respect the core values and principles of Be the Business and maintain the highest levels of professionalism
---
Version / Date
2 // 11 November 2023