Square Seller Community’s Mentorship Program Code of Conduct

[tranguyen]

The aim of the Square Seller Community’s Mentorship Program Code of Conduct (“Code”) is to develop and maintain a standard of conduct and behavior that is expected of individuals participating in the Square Seller Community’s Mentorship Program (“Program”) as mentors and mentees.

As a participating mentor or mentee in the Program, you agree to abide by this Code. You agree that if you violate this Code, the Square Seller Community may suspend or terminate your participation in the Program as a mentor or mentee. 

Responsibility

Both mentors and mentees must be aware that their behavior has the potential to negatively affect the mentoring relationship. 

Confidentiality

Mentors must maintain the name of those being mentored confidential, unless a mentee has given explicit consent to disclose their name to specific others.

Both the mentor and mentee have great responsibility to maintain and respect the confidentiality of all the information shared during the mentoring relationship including, information communicated through the private messaging system on the Square Seller Community. The mentor and mentee agree to treat all information shared during the mentoring relationship as sensitive personal information, that shall not be disclosed to any third party, with the following exception: if a mentor or mentee violates this Code, a mentor or mentee agrees to report the code violation to the program administrator. 

Availability

Mentors and mentees shall be available for a minimum of 30 minutes every two weeks to communicate with their match. It is important to respect each other’s time. This is a commitment both mentors and mentees are making, so please be thoughtful and conscientious of the time that must be dedicated to this partnership. If the mentor or mentee will be temporarily unavailable for a short period of time (e.g. traveling for work or studying for exam periods), they should notify their mentee/mentor in advance. We strongly encourage you to give at least a 24 hours notice when canceling or rescheduling meetings. 

Mentors agree to reserve time in their schedule to participate in the mentorship and provide their availability in advance to mentees via email or the private messaging system on the Square Seller Community. 

If either the mentor or mentee are unable to continue to participate in the Program full time, they can contact the program administrator either by email to community-mentorship-program@squareup.com or you can DM one of our program administrators (Tra My Nguyen Hoang or Leah Knowles)

Communication

In their communications with each other, mentor-mentee pairs should seek to maintain a professional tone of mutual respect. Both parties must refrain from using offensive or vulgar language and should never transmit  offensive images. For the purposes of this program, offensive language includes, but is not limited to: (a) profanity of any kind;  (b) sexually suggestive or explicit language or comments;  (c) derogatory or discriminatory language or remarks directed towards any individual or group of individuals based on religion, race, color, ethnicity, country of origin, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or sexual identity; or (d) any language that is violent, aggressive, or threatening in nature. Offensive images include but are not limited to: (a) images that are sexually suggestive, lewd, or pornographic and; (b) images that include offensive language, as described above. Communications refers to the exchanging of information via any media; for example, in-person, phone, email, photographs, voice-mail, audio conferencing, video conferencing, audio recordings, video recordings, email, electronic text messaging, computer files supplied on physical media and computer files transferred electronically.

When communicating in the Square Seller Community, please ensure you are following the Community Etiquette Guidelines. 

Topics of Discussion

Mentors are not employees, contractors, or agents of Square. Any information, advice, or views shared by Mentors as a part of the Program are solely those of the mentor and are not endorsed by Square. The specific  issues and the degree of personal detail discussed between mentor and mentee will depend on the comfort and willingness to share of each mentor-mentee pair.  While the Program will provided suggested activities and discussion topics to support the mentoring experience, the Program will not provide a comprehensive list of topics for discussion.  

Each mentor-mentee pair must collaborate to negotiate and agree on the topics that they are comfortable discussing and the degree of personal details they are comfortable sharing.

If a mentee or mentor expresses unwillingness, reluctance, or discomfort in discussing any topic that is raised, their mentor or mentee shall promptly stop pursuing that topic. When topics that may be of a sensitive nature arise in conversation or are identified by a mentor-mentee pair, the mentor or mentee should approach such topics cautiously and ask their mentoring counterpart whether they wish to pursue the topic. If the counterpart expresses unwillingness, reluctance, or discomfort in discussing a specific topic, the mentor or mentee shall promptly cease pursuing that specific topic.

Boundary Management and Roles

Those working in a mentoring relationship may develop friendships over time. However, it is important for mentor-mentee pairs to maintain a professional relationship. Mentors and mentees must stay mindful of maintaining confidentiality, objectivity, and equal partnership.

Mentors and mentees must not allow personal bias to influence professional actions.

Meeting In Person

The Program is designed as an online service, providing the tools necessary to engage in meaningful relationships using online and social media tools. There is no requirement or expectation that mentor-mentee pairs should meet in person. 

While mentors and mentees are free to meet in-person should both parties agree to do so, the Program does not endorse in-person meetings and notes that all in-person meetings are conducted at participant’s own risk. 

Prohibited Advice 

The role of a mentor within the Program should center on providing support for the professional and business development of the mentee. A mentor shall not provide employment, health and safety, medical, financial, tax or legal advice. Even if the mentor is coincidentally a qualified professional (for example, if the mentor is a physician or attorney), the mentor shall not provide employment, health and safety, medical, financial, tax or legal advice to the mentee. In the event such advice is sought, the mentor should advise the mentee to seek the assistance of another qualified professional.

Financial Assistance

Monetary or other financial exchanges between mentor and mentee are strictly prohibited. 

Enforcement Policy

If you are found in violation of the above Code of Conduct or any of the additional community rules or guidelines, you will receive a warning about your behavior. After the third warning, you will be removed from the Program. If your conduct is found to be unacceptable in the sole discretion of the Program administrator or you use  the Seller Community and/or the Program in furtherance of any illegal activities, you will be immediately removed from both the Program and the Seller Community. Decisions resulting in a participant’s removal from the Program and/or the Seller Community are final and not appealable. 

Reporting Guidelines

Mentors and mentees shall promptly report to the Program’s staff any observations or knowledge of a participant of the Program behaving in a manner that violates this code. You can report such violations either via sending a direct message to one of our program administrators (Tra My Nguyen Hoang @tranguyen or Leah Knowles @LeahK) or send an email to community-mentorship-program@squareup.com. Where possible, please include a direct link to the violation and/or a screenshot.