You agree to become an advisor for Sigma Forge Ltd, providing advice and guidance to help the company grow according to its values and to make a positive contribution to the community with its services and products.
You agree to comply with Sigma Forge's Code of Conduct, which can be found on the company transparency portal at http://github.com/SigmaForge/transparency.
You agree that your position as advisor will be public information.
As advisor, you agree to provide guidance on queries related to the business in a reasonable time frame. You may be asked to attend an advisory board meeting once or twice a year or in case of exceptional need, and are expected to attend if possible.
You agree to hold accountable to their commitments the director and staff of Sigma Forge. You will contribute to a yearly accountability and transparency report that will be published publicly detailing how Sigma Forge has lived up to its commitments and values and where improvement can be made. In this report, you will state plainly whether you believe the current leadership of the company is effective or if it should be changed.
While Sigma Forge is committed to radical transparency, you may learn private and confidential personal and business information as part of your position as advisor, especially about customers, suppliers and users.
You are expected to treat this information with the utmost care and respect, and use it eclusively for the purpose of providing advice to Sigma Forge.
You are not to use this information for personal gain.
The role of advisor is fraught with potential conflicts of interests. In addition to the general guidelines of the code of conduct, here are some specific things to keep in mind.
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Personal Investments
You will avoid making personal investments of time or money in companies that are Sigma Forge competitors or business partners when the investment might cause, or appear to cause, you to act in a way that could harm Sigma Forge, its employees, customers, the other company or the public.
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Advisory Roles, Board Seats and Your Own Business
You will avoid accepting advisory positions or board seats with Sigma Forge competitors or business partners when your judgment could be, or could appear to be, influenced in a way that could harm Sigma Forge, its employees, customers, the other company or the public. This includes starting new business activities in your own business.
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Inventions
Developing or helping to develop outside inventions that relate to Sigma Forge's existing or reasonably anticipated products and services or are developed using Sigma Forge resources may create conflicts of interest.
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Gifts
If you accept gifts, entertainment and other business courtesies from a Sigma Forge competitor or partner this can easily create the appearance of a conflict of interest. Anything beyond token, non-cash gifts or reasonable business meals should be avoided.
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Sigma Forge products
You should not use Sigma Forge products, services or information in a way that improperly benefits someone you know or creates the appearance that you have an unfair advantage over other users.
If you enter in a situation with a conflict of interest or the appearance of one, you are responsible for disclosing this fact and refusing the position or stepping down as advisor to Sigma Forge.
As an advisor, you may be contacted privately by employees, contractors or members of the public regarding breaches of the code of conduct or concerns regarding the company's actions.
Your primary duty is to the reporter, and their personal information, including their indentity must be kept confidential unless permission to disclose has been explicitly granted. This includes keeping this information confidential from other advisors, the company director, other employees and from the public authorities until legally compelled to do so.
You should also be sensitive to information in the report that could identify the reporter indirectly.
If in doubt as to your course of action, your duty is first to the reporter, second to other employees of Sigma Forge, third to members of the public and other companies, and lastly to Sigma Forge itself and its leadership.
You may be called upon to act as a first line mediator between the Sigma Forge leadership and an employee should an employee have a grievance or complaint about the leadership of the company.
It will be your duty to remain impartial and attempt to find a positive resolution to the conflict for all parties. If for any reason you are unable to remain impartial and neutral or are put in a position of conflicting interests, you will declare this explicitly and step down as a mediator. You may help by suggesting an alternative party to act as mediator instead.
All your actions as mediator will be strictly confidential.
If you do not believe mediation can be successful, you may refer the Company and employee to an alternative mediator or abitrator, in which case Sigma Forge agrees to comply with your recommendations.
Sigma Forge agrees to pay all reasonable expenses related to your duties as an advisor or mediator in a prompt manner. Every attempt will be made to accomodate your schedule for advisory board meetings.
Your privacy is taken seriously, and Sigma Forge will take all due care and precaution with any private and confidential information you disclose while acting as an advisor.
Sigma Forge, its employees and officers agree to be bound by the same rules regarding conflicts of interests and confidentiality as you are, and will immediately inform you should a conflict of interest arise.