Frequently Asked Questions about SafeSpace Plus™️
GENERAL QUESTIONS
- Our online service is extremely simple to implement, requiring very little work for your team.
- Safe Space Plus™ is affordable, generally requiring a nominal dollar amount per employee or event participant. The cost of just one report can cover the investment in our service for 15-30 years.
- Our secure service is comprehensive, and when it comes to HUMAN RESOURCES issues, our service ensures an employee or event participant knows they have a place to turn. Labor lawyers understand that this diminishes the associated risk – and love it!
- Our service is effective – The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners has identified an incident reporting mechanism as the most cost-effective internal control an organization can have.
- We empower – most misconduct is found through open communications channels and not through audits and the like. Yet, witnesses are afraid to get involved, and 99% of all incidents go unreported.
- Our service acts as a deterrent – The Treadway Commission, the largest study of ethics in the workplace, found that having a strong tone, or deliberate commitment, from leadership is the most effective way to deter bad behavior. Through our services, you effectively remind your teams and event participants that: a) you expect ethical behavior, b) you are paying attention, and c) you will take action and respond to misconduct
Viewed pragmatically, we are far, far less expensive than insurance you have, which (hopefully) you may never use. We deter and detect bad behavior before it leads to expensive problems and claims. Our service is also an invaluable and affordable tool to create psychological safety and a culture of inclusion in your team, increasing engagement, reducing stress, and inviting innovation and civil discourse.
If the system is externally managed, we invite you to check the credentials of their team.
We are available for additional training on safe and ethical behavior and consultation regarding ongoing communications.
If you manage it internally, we invite you to consider the efficiency and effectiveness. Safe Space Plus™️ allows you to collect incident data and build a knowledge base on your process.
Additionally, employees are very sensitive to anonymity. Ninety percent of people are more likely to submit a report if they know it’s anonymous. Our reporting is anonymous by default but always allows participants the option to self-disclose.
Our incident questions allow you an instant comprehensive summary of the issue supported by the ability to upload evidence.
Also, consider the below:
Feature | SafeSpace Plus™️ | Internal Hotlines |
Submission Available 24/7/365 | Yes | No |
Report Notification Time | Immediate | Variable |
Anonymity & Response Choices | 3 | 1 |
Form | Yes | Yes |
Reporter Consent to Contact | Yes | No |
Designate Internal Recipient Access | Yes | No |
Ability for anonymous but direct communication between reporter and investigator | Yes | No |
Independent reviews from credentialed professional | Yes | No |
Automated Report Distribution | Yes | No |
Promotional & Communications Material | Yes | Yes |
Live and/or pre-recorded educational sessions for employees on how to make a report | Yes | No |
Live and/or pre-recorded educational sessions for employees | Yes | No |
Multilingual | Yes | No |
Your time commitment is minimal, with completion being a couple of hours from start to finish once we have received your onboarding information.
Additionally, we provide clear, efficient, self-paced training to support your implementation and incident response process.
**Please note that we can also customize the form, which requires an additional consultation.
CONCERNS
SafeSpace Plus™️ is not a replacement or substitute for any “open door” policies and is an additional option for those who may feel less inclined to speak up in person. It should be clearly stated that the interpersonal lines of communication you have in place still stand. “Openness” reflects your community culture; if anything, SafeSpace Plus™️ can help you protect that culture.
We believe that all feedback is a gift. With SafeSpace Plus™️, users can provide feedback and/or report incidents. This provides your employees or event attendees with a one-stop shop to communicate constructive feedback or incidents. You can also minimize misuse via SafeSpace Plus™️ employee and attendee training.
That depends on the nature of their concern. Reports are only provided to a small group of leaders, and we recommend you take an “innocent unless proven otherwise” approach. We recommend taking investigative action with a tone of sensitivity towards both the reporter and the person named as the perpetrator.
We are available for consultation to support the creation of standard operation procedures for your incident response.
While this is a common concern for response teams and reporting providers, stats show that 90-98% of reports are valid. We also dissuade false reports by requiring submitters to confirm the accuracy of their accounts before submission.
FOLLOW-UP & INVESTIGATION
The organizational risk does not increase by giving participants an avenue to report. It is the same as a complaint received in writing, verbally, or by other method. However, here are a few things to consider:
If you have a problem and don’t know about it:
- How do you plan to protect the reputation and integrity of your brand?
- How will the ongoing and unaddressed behavior affect your employees, morale, and your organization’s culture or event?
If you have a problem and know about it:
- Do you have a process that you execute effectively and expeditiously every time?
- When you follow up, are you taking into account feedback to continue to better the process, event, or organization?
Either way, SafeSpace Plus™ provides an avenue for real-time notification so that you can make the best decision for your brand and your community.
We highly encourage transparency, being sensitive in communication, and maintaining incident and investigative confidentiality. While the decision to report back can be made on a case-by-case basis, providing awareness has cultural benefits.
- It can increase trust to share with employees actions taken in response and results to certain reports. This can leave those involved anonymous. (We are available for additional consultation regarding communications.)
- Sharing about incidents and their resolution can be a powerful deterrent to misconduct by showing commitment to upholding your code of conduct and encouraging employees and/or event attendees to do the same.
This is an excellent question, as all our reports are anonymous by default. While any report can have its limitations, reporters have the option to self-disclose with their name and contact information for you to follow up. These reports will trigger an alert to the response team with the same follow-up required as a non-anonymous report.
We are available for consultation to support the creation of standard operation procedures for your incident response.