Privacy

Don’t be snoopy.

The privacy of our Frogs and their personal information is of great importance to Treefrog. Everyone has a right to a reasonable expectation of his or her privacy.

General Personal Privacy

A reasonable expectation of privacy implies that others will not go through Frog’s emails, phone messages, desk papers, food, bags, and any other personal items.

Below, describes different variations as to when someone’s privacy can or cannot be violated:

• Explicit Permission - If explicit permission, for example, written or verbal permission, is given for a specific instance, it is acceptable to go through someone’s communication or other personal items as long as it stays in accordance with the individual’s explicit permission. Infinite permission cannot be granted. Always ask - it is respectful.
• Implied Permission - We do not recognize implied permission at Treefrog. Although we are a transparent and open company, one cannot assume that in every instance, another’s belongings do not contain something private. Never assume implied permission. That is not respectful.
• Professional Requirement Permission - If you leave your food in the fridge for days, your computer is broken, or the roof leaks, it may require being accessed or addressed by the appropriate Frog role. In this case, access to your technology or desk may be critical to the ongoing operation of Treefrog, and your reasonable expectaton of privacy may be temporarily waived until the appropriate professional has fixed or dealt with the issue. This is not to be abused. If you have to excuse your behaviour, you are abusing it. Use extraordinary common sense when interpreting this, lest others not believe you.
• Emergency Permission - Where there is an explicit emergency requiring access to something generally inaccessible due to privacy, a Senior Frog may gain access or be given explicit access to information, email, or messages on a temporary basis.

Treefrog Ownership

Treefrog owns your communication.

Having said all of this, Treefrog owns every item of communication on every Treefrog device you use for communication, and when necssary, such as, after you leave the company or switch roles, people responsible for your role, either the CEO, Champion, or replacement individual, has a right to access any and all of your current, past, and future communication while you continue to be employed by Treefrog. Although you have an ongoing reasonable right to privacy, you do not have a right to erase or destroy information that may be important for protecting Treefrog and other Frogs in the future.

Destruction of your communication upon your termination or leaving the company is Fraud and will be met with legal action. If we lose what you were talking about before you left, this could lead to many forms of liabaility for our company.

Don’t use Personal Email Addresses for Professional Accounts

In order to prevent people from mining through your email in future to find things when you are on holiday, keep all pod-level email flowing through Group Addresses.

Treefrog reserves the right to access your information in any way necessary for the operation of the business. If you are not certain you are violating someone’s privacy, leave it to the CEO.

Personal Information

Personal information includes information about an identifiable individual that is collected, used, or disclosed by Treefrog in any form whether oral, electronic, or written. Such information can be found in personal employment files, performance assessments, medical, and benefit information. Personal information excludes the Frog’s name, title, business address or business telephone, and fax numbers. Information that is also excluded is information about a Frog that is publicly available or information about a Frog in some other public capacity.

Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

Treefrog will not use or disclose personal information except with the consent of the Frog or if the use or disclosure is authorized or required by law. Personal information collected in one department may be shared with other departments at Treefrog or a company associated or related to Treefrog for the purposes as identified above. Treefrog may disclose personal information about its Frogs for human resources and benefits administration and in the context of providing references regarding current or former Frogs in response to requests from prospective employers. Treefrog will compile and disclose certain information about Frogs to a limited number of third parties and those we are obligated to by law in order to administer staffing, compensation, and benefits programs. Although Treefrog will protect and limit the use of personal information about Frogs that is disclosed to third parties, Treefrog is not responsible for the subsequent uses or disclosure of the subject’s personal information by the third party recipient, such as, government agencies. For example, the Canada Revenue Agency.

Security, Retention, and Disposal

Treefrog will provide adequate safeguard practices to ensure the security of personal information, protect the information against loss or theft, and safeguard the information from unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification. Only Treefrog personnel with a business need to know or whose duties reasonably require are granted access to personal information. Personal information is kept as long as necessary to satisfy the purposes of the collection of the personal information. Personal information that has been used to make a decision about a Frog shall be retained for a reasonable period that will permit the Frog to access the personal information after the decision has been made.

Access to Personal Information

Files containing personal information are business records and, as such, are the property of Treefrog. Subject to Treefrog’s legal rights and obligations, Treefrog will, upon receipt of a written request, inform the Frog of the existence, use and disclosure of his or her personal information, and subject to reasonable limitations, permit the individual access to that information. Treefrog will respond to requests to access personal information within a reasonable time.

Personal information contained in business records may not be edited or removed except as follows:

• When a Frog can demonstrate that the personal information is not accurate or complete, the information will then be annotated or amended as appropriate
• When the information is personal information about a third party, sensitive or confidential business information of Treefrog or a third party, or any other information that Treefrog is required or permitted by law to remove.

Frogs can seek access to their personal information by sending a written request to the CEO.

Using Your Own Device:

When using your own personal Smartphone, iPad or Laptop, it is important to note that Treefrog has the right to view data on the device and that anything saved on the device should not be viewed as private. If your personal device is lost, damaged, or stolen, Treefrog is not responsible for replacing the device.

Violation(s) of this policy may result in discipline up to and including termination of employment.

Client Privacy

Anything with a client’s name on it that has been put into the recycling bin becomes public property and has now exposed Treefrog to liability. We sign contracts saying we will not show anyone else client information. We do not want client information coming back to haunt us.

SHRED EVERYTHING

1. agreements, proposals
2. notes about a project
3. any notes with phone numbers on them
4. scribbles with client names on them
5. architectures, thoughts, ideas

If in question at ALL, shred it.

We have Shred-It bins upstairs and downstairs, which are emptied monthly.