At Hireup, we're building a community for our Clients, which facilitates their control of their own support or services received through Hireup. We know that any successful community is built on a foundation of trust, so we've created this Code of Conduct (“Code”) to enable you to understand how you can participate positively in our community.
This Code sets out your responsibilities as an employee or independent contractor of Hireup (“Worker”) and will apply whenever you're participating in the Hireup community, including but not limited to when you are interacting with Hireup Users on the Platform, interacting with Clients generally or interacting with the Hireup team.
Capitalised terms within this Code have the same meaning as those in the Terms of Use unless otherwise defined in this Code.
The Hireup Principles
Everything that happens within the Hireup community is underpinned by our core principles. These principles provide us with a framework to engage with each other. This is an evolving document—we're constantly rethinking our approach as we learn from the community. But these principles are the heart of what we've learnt so far, and we're always working to make sure they're enforced.
Choice and Control
We believe that our Clients should have total choice and control over the support or services they receive from Hireup. We've designed the Hireup model to ensure that our Clients decide who they work with, when they want their support or services to be provided, the scope of support or services to be provided and how they would like those services or supports delivered.
Direction
You must respect the instructions, directions and decisions of both the Client, their family or Account Manager and the Hireup team (except in cases that it is unsafe or illegal to do so).
You must make yourself familiar with the support or service requirements of the Client and any other support or service training documents that will help you deliver safe services. You must be responsive to feedback and training provided to you by Hireup or the Client and/or Account Manager.
Individualised Support
You should endeavour to provide a service that is individualised and is supporting the Client you are working with to achieve their individual goals. You can do this by asking lots of questions to understand the preferences of the Client so that their individual choices and requirements are guiding your work.
You should build strong relationships with your Clients and their support network while always being mindful of professional boundaries.
Professionalism
You must only provide support or services that you are skilled and qualified to deliver. A Client may receive a variety of different support services however you must only work within the scope of your role as set out in your job description or any agreement between you, Hireup and the Client you are providing support or services to. You must always comply with Hireup's Policies and Procedures while using the Hireup Platform, engaging with Hireup Clients, the Hireup community and the Hireup team.
You must be punctual, reliable and act in accordance with the Hireup cancellation statement (Home Care & Support Workers) or the relevant provisions of the agreement between you, Hireup and the Client. You must refrain from possessing or using drugs or alcohol when working with Hireup.
Health and Wellbeing
There's no doubt that the various forms of disability services or support are incredibly rewarding, but it can also be mentally and physically challenging sometimes. Happy and satisfied Workers provide the best services and support, so think about other things going on in your life and be aware of fatigue and exhaustion. Like lots of things, quality is better than quantity when it comes to the provision of any support or services.
Dignity of Risk
Dignity of risk is about respecting the rights of our Clients to assess the risks associated with their decisions and actions.
Enabling Risk
As a Hireup Worker, you must enable risk-based decision making for the people you are supporting or providing services to. It is your responsibility to find the balance between respecting someone's right to make decisions about their own life and ensuring they are safe.
Assessing Risk
You should also feel empowered to make risk-based decisions for yourself; this means assessing the risks and making decisions about whether to complete certain work or undertake any task at the request of Hireup or our Clients.
Working Safely
You have responsibilities to ensure that the support or services you deliver are safe, appropriate and of the highest quality.
Zero tolerance for abuse and neglect
Hireup has a zero tolerance policy for abuse, neglect, negligence, violence, discrimination, bullying and harassment against people with disability. This means you must prevent and respond to all forms of violence against, and exploitation, neglect and abuse of our Clients. You must report any concerns of abuse or neglect to Hireup as soon as you are aware of them.
You must not assault, harass or intimidate our Clients, any member of our community, or deliberately or negligently expose our Clients or any other member of our community to a risk of physical, psychological or other harm.
Security and Privacy
You must maintain the confidentiality and privacy of the personal information of our Clients and other members of the Hireup community. This means you must not share information about our Clients, the people you are working with or any other member of the Hireup community with anyone else without their consent. Further if you have a Hireup Account, you must keep your Hireup Account password secret and not provide anyone else access to your Hireup Account.
If you become aware of a potential or actual privacy or confidentiality breach by you or anyone else in the Hireup community, you must report it to Hireup immediately.
Inclusion
You should contribute positively to an environment that is free from discrimination, bullying and harassment, including on the basis of disability, race, age, sex, gender identity, religion, political or other opinion or affiliation, or criminal record.
Authenticity
You must not use the Platform or communicate with our Clients, Hireup or any member of our community for a purpose which is not related to potential or actual support or services.
You must not provide any information that is incorrect, misleading or deceptive on your Hireup profile or in any communications you have with our Clients, Hireup or any member of our community. You also must not include any offensive, defamatory, derogatory or inappropriate material in your Hireup profile or in any communications you have with our Clients, Hireup or any member of our community.
Reporting
You must acknowledge that as a Hireup Worker you have reporting requirements, some of which may be mandatory. You are required to report situations where you believe that there is a significant risk of harm to the Client you are working with, this includes physical harm, sexual harm, emotional or psychological harm, financial abuse, neglect or exposure to domestic violence.
You also have a responsibility to report any issues or incidents that occur during or in relation to any support or service you provide through Hireup via our 24-hour online reporting tool, as soon as possible or at the very least within 1 day of the incident occurring.
You must work transparently and honestly with Hireup to resolve any complaints, issues or incidents. You are accountable for your performance and behaviour while working with our Clients, other Workers and Hireup.
Positive Communication
Communication is one of the strongest tools we have to build strong working relationships. Words can be powerful in shaping how we think and feel about ourselves and each other.
Respectful conversations
Disability is often talked about with sweeping assumptions, which doesn't help us accurately or positively represent the variety and diversity of disability. We expect you to engage in respectful, nuanced and open-minded conversations within and outside our community and to be aware of the words and language you use.
Effective communication
You will maximise your work opportunities with Hireup by engaging in open, effective and timely communication with our Clients, the Hireup community and the Hireup team.
Other Responsibilities
Hireup Policies and Procedures
The Hireup principles outlined in this Code and our Policies and Procedures will help guide you and our community. As a Hireup Worker, understanding and committing to your role and responsibilities as outlined in our Policies and Procedures is vital as we all work to maintain a healthy and supportive Hireup community. You must comply with the Policies and Procedures which apply to you. If you want more information on these Policies and Procedures or are unsure where to find them please get in touch with our team.
NDIS Worker Code of Conduct
As a Hireup Worker you will often be supporting participants of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has set out an NDIS code of conduct that applies to anyone involved in delivering support or services to people with disability. The NDIS code of conduct imposes civil penalties on people who fail to follow it, so we're committed to helping you understand your role in bringing the code to life. The code asks that you:
- act with respect for individual rights to freedom of expression, self-determination and decision-making in accordance with applicable laws and conventions;
- respect the privacy of people with disability;
- provide supports and services in a safe and competent manner, with care and skill;
- act with integrity, honesty and transparency;
- promptly take steps to raise and act on concerns about matters that may impact the quality and safety of supports and services provided to people with disability;
- take all reasonable steps to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against, and exploitation, neglect and abuse of, people with disability; and
- take all reasonable steps to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct.
You can access the laws and regulations managed by the Commission here.
Also, if you're based in Victoria, Hireup and Hireup Workers also have to follow the Victorian Code of Conduct for support workers. The code has five obligations for workers, which you can read here.