Our commitment

We are committed to promoting equal opportunities in employment and creating a workplace culture in which diversity and inclusion is valued and everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As part of our zero-tolerance approach to discrimination in any form, any job applicants will receive equal treatment regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation (Protected Characteristics). We are also committed to providing equitable treatment to all those we deal with as an organisation, including customers and suppliers.

About this policy

This policy sets out our approach to diversity, equity and inclusion. Our aim is to encourage and support diversity, equity and inclusion and actively promote a culture that values difference and eliminates discrimination in our workplace. It applies to all aspects of employment with us, including recruitment, pay, benefits and conditions, flexible working and leave, training, appraisals, promotion, conduct at work, disciplinary and grievance procedures, and termination of employment.

This policy applies to all employees, officers, consultants, contractors, volunteers, interns, casual workers and agency workers.

Hannah Beko is responsible for this policy and will review it annually.

This policy does not form part of any contract of employment or other contract to provide services, and we may amend it at any time.

Diversity and inclusion training

Managers (if any) will be given appropriate training on recognising and avoiding discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and promoting equality of opportunity and diversity in the areas of recruitment, development and promotion. Hannah Beko has overall responsibility for equality training, for staff and managers as appropriate.

We will provide regular training to ensure that everyone is aware of and understands the contents of this policy.

Discrimination

We will not unlawfully discriminate against or harass other people, including current and former staff, job applicants, clients, customers, suppliers and visitors. This applies in the workplace, outside the workplace (when dealing with customers, suppliers or other work-related contacts, and on work-related trips or events including social events.

The following forms of discrimination are prohibited under this policy and are unlawful:

Direct discrimination: treating someone less favourably because of a Protected Characteristic. For example, rejecting a job applicant because of their religious views or because they might be gay.

Indirect discrimination: a provision, criterion or practice that applies to everyone but adversely affects people with a particular Protected Characteristic more than others, and is not justified. For example, requiring a job to be done full-time rather than part-time would adversely affect women because they generally have greater childcare commitments than men. Such a requirement would be discriminatory unless it can be justified.

Harassment: this includes sexual harassment and other unwanted conduct related to a Protected Characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating someone’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.

Victimisation: retaliation against someone who has complained or has supported someone else’s complaint about discrimination or harassment. This includes where someone mistakenly believes that the person victimised has done so.

Disability discrimination: this includes direct and indirect discrimination, any unjustified less favourable treatment because of the effects of a disability, and failure to make reasonable adjustments to alleviate disadvantages caused by a disability.

Recruitment and selection

Recruitment, promotion, and other selection exercises such as redundancy selection will be conducted on the basis of merit, against objective criteria that avoid discrimination. When recruiting or promoting, we will aim to take steps to improve the diversity of our workforce and provide equality of opportunity. Our recruitment procedures will be reviewed regularly to ensure that individuals are objectively assessed on the basis of their relevant merits and abilities.

Vacancies should generally be advertised to a diverse section of the labour market. Advertisements should avoid stereotyping or using wording that may discourage particular groups from applying.

Job applicants should not be asked questions which might suggest an intention to discriminate on grounds of a Protected Characteristic. For example, applicants should not be asked whether they are pregnant or planning to have children.

Job applicants should not be asked about health or disability before a job offer is made, except in the very limited circumstances allowed by law: for example, to check that the applicant could perform an intrinsic part of the job (taking account of any reasonable adjustments), or to see if any adjustments might be needed at interview because of a disability. Where necessary, job offers can be made conditional on a satisfactory medical check. Health or disability questions may be included in equal opportunities monitoring forms, which must not be used for selection or decision-making purposes.

We are required by law to ensure that all employees are entitled to work in the UK. Assumptions about immigration status should not be made based on appearance or apparent nationality. All prospective employees, regardless of nationality, must be able to produce original documents (such as a passport) before employment starts, to satisfy current immigration legislation. The list of acceptable documents is available from the HR Department or UK Visas and Immigration.

Disabilities

We encourage people who work with us to tell us about conditions so that we can consider what reasonable adjustments or support may be appropriate.

Part-time and fixed-term work

Part-time and fixed-term staff should be treated the same as comparable full-time or permanent staff and enjoy no less favourable terms and conditions (on a pro-rata basis where appropriate), unless different treatment is justified.

Breaches of this policy

We take a strict approach to breaches of this policy, which will be dealt with in accordance with our Disciplinary Procedure. Serious cases of deliberate discrimination and victimisation may amount to gross misconduct resulting in dismissal.

If you believe that you have suffered harassment, bullying or discrimination, or witnessed it happening to someone else in the workplace, you can raise the matter with Hannah Beko. Complaints will be treated in confidence and investigated as appropriate.

There must be no victimisation or retaliation against staff who complain about or report discrimination.

We encourage the reporting of all types of potential discrimination, as this assists us in ensuring that diversity, equity and inclusion principles are adhered to in the workplace. However, making a false allegation in bad faith, or that you know to be untrue, will be treated as misconduct and dealt with under our Disciplinary Procedure.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions or comments about this policy, please contact us at Hannah@authenticallyspeaking.co.uk

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 10 January 2021

Authentically Speaking, (“the Company”, “us”, “we”, or “our”), operates the website www.authenticallyspeaking.co.uk.  We may change or add to this privacy notice, so we encourage you to come back and read it periodically.  Authentically Speaking is the data controller that resides at 23 Bishop Road, Bollington, SK10 5NX.

This privacy notice governs how we inform you of our policies regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data when you use our Service and the choices you have associated with that data.  Your privacy is very important to us.

We use your data to provide and improve our site. By using the site, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

DATA WE COLLECT

While using our site, we may ask you to provide us with certain personal data that can be used to contact or identify you (“Personal Data”). Personal Data may include, but is not limited to:

• Email address
• First name and last name
• Phone number
• Address, State, Province, ZIP/Postal code, City

For clients who work with the company, we may also collect further, voluntary information to enable us to provide our service in an optimized manner. Some data collected from clients may include:

• Sensitive Information
• Goals and Aspirations
• Business Details
• Health Related Information

Information Collected Automatically

Like many websites, we and our service providers, such as Facebook, use cookies, web beacons and other technologies to receive and store certain types of information when you interact with us through your computer or mobile device.  Using these technologies helps us recognize you, customize your experience and make relevant marketing messages.  Here are some of the types of information we collect:

• Log & Device data. When you visit our site, we may automatically record information (“log data”), including information that your browser sends whenever you visit our site. This log data may include your web address you came from or are going to, your device model, operating system, browser type, unique device identifier, IP address, mobile network carrier, and time zone or location.
• Cookie data. We may use “cookies” (a small text file sent by your computer each time you visit our site) or similar technologies to record log data. When we use cookies, we may use “session” cookies (that last until you close your browser) or “persistent” cookies (that last until you or your browser delete them). To help us make e-mails more useful and interesting, we often receive a confirmation when you open e-mail from us if your computer supports such capabilities. You can opt out of receiving emails from us. Please see the Your Choices section below.

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We may use information that we collect about you to:

• Provide our Products and Services. We will use your information to provide our products and services to you.
• Understand and improve our products. We will perform research and analysis about your use of, or interest in, our products, services, or content, or products, services or content offered by others. We do this to help make our products better and to develop new products.
• Communicate with you. We may send you emails about new product features or other news about us or on topics we think would be relevant to you. You may opt out of these at any time. Visit the Your Choices section below.
• Responding to your requests. We will also use your information to respond to your questions or comments.

We may contact you to inform you about changes in our services, our service offering and other important service related notices such as changes to the privacy policy or about security or fraud notices.

We may develop and display content and advertising tailored to your interests on our products and services on our site and on other sites.

We also may use your information to manage our business or perform functions as otherwise described to you at the time of collection.

Sharing and Disclosure

We do not share your personal information with others except as indicated within this policy or when we inform you and give you an opportunity to opt out of having your personal information shared.

We will share your information in the following ways

• With third party service providers, agents, or contractors. We use other companies, agents or contractors (“Service Providers”) to perform services on our behalf or to assist us with providing services to you. For example, we may engage Service Providers to process credit card transactions or other payment methods.  Or, we may engage Service Providers to provide services such as marketing, advertising, communications, infrastructure and IT services, to provide customer service, to collect debts, and to analyse and enhance data (including data about users’ interactions with our service). These Service Providers may have access to your personal or other information in order to provide these functions. In addition, some of the information we request may be collected by third party providers on our behalf. We do not authorize them to use or disclose your personal information except in connection with providing their services.

Analytics: Specifically for analytics providers, we use Google Analytics Google Analytics which is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google uses the data collected to track and monitor the use of our Service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.

You can opt-out of having made your activity on the Service available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, and dc.js) from sharing information with Google Analytics about visits activity. For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/  Google also recommends installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on – https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout – for your web browser. Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on provides visitors with the ability to prevent their data from being collected and used by Google Analytics.

Advertising:

We may use third-party Service Providers to show advertisements, which may include targeted advertisements on a third party site after you have visited our website.  We and the third party service providers use cookies to inform, optimize, measure performance serve ads based on your previous visits to our site.

Please note at this time, we do not recognize automated browser signals regarding tracking mechanisms, which may include “do not track” instructions.

We work with Google AdSense & DoubleClick Cookie Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our site. Google’s use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our Service or other websites on the Internet. You may opt out of the use of the DoubleClick Cookie for interest-based advertising by visiting the Google Ads Settings web page: http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/

Facebook: You can learn more about interest-based advertising from Facebook by visiting this page: https://www.facebook.com/help/164968693837950

To opt-out from Facebook’s interest-based ads follow these instructions from Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/help/568137493302217

To see more about Facebook’s participation in the Digital Advertising Alliance please visit the Choices section of this notice.

For more information on the privacy practices of Facebook, please visit Facebook’s Data Policy: https://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation

Payment Providers: We may provide paid products and/or services within the site. When we do, we use third-party services for payment processing (e.g. payment processors).  We will not store or collect your payment card details. That information is provided directly to our third-party payment processors whose use of your personal information is governed by their own privacy notice. The payment processors we work with adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of payment information.

The payment processor we use is Paypal, please view their privacy policy here https://www.paypal.com/uk/smarthelp/article/what-is-paypal’s-privacy-policy-faq3415

• To comply with legal process or to protect Authentically Speaking. If we believe that disclosure is reasonably necessary to comply with a law, regulation, legal or governmental request; to enforce applicable terms of use, including investigation of potential violations thereof; to protect the safety, rights, or property of the public, any person, or Authentically Speaking as required by law; or to detect, prevent, or otherwise address, security or technical issues or illegal or suspected illegal activities (including fraud)
• Business Transfers.

We may engage in a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, dissolution, reorganization, or similar transaction or proceeding that involves the transfer of the information described in this Policy.  In such transitions, customer information is typically one of the business assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. In the unlikely event that we or substantially all of our assets are acquired or enter a court proceeding, you acknowledge that such transfers may occur and that your personal information can continue to be used as set forth in this privacy policy.

Links to Other Sites

We may have links on our site to other sites that we do not operate.  If you click on a third party link, you will be taken directly to that site which is governed by its own privacy notice.  We strongly encourage you to read that privacy notice.  We do not control that site and assume no responsibility for the content, policies or its practices.

Retention

Authentically Speaking will retain your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice. We will retain and use your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

Authentically Speaking will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of our Service, or we are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

 Choices and Individual Rights:

We aim to take reasonable steps so you can correct, amend, delete or limit the use of your Personal Data.

You have the following choices:

• E-mail. As described above, if you do not wish to receive promotional e-mails from us, you may opt out at any time.
• Your browser’s help function should contain instructions on how to set your computer to accept all cookies, to notify you when a cookie is issued, or to not receive cookies at any time
• You can opt out of online targeted advertising by opting out within the advertisement itself or by visiting Digital Advertising Alliance, http://www.aboutads.info/, the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada in Canada http://youradchoices.ca/ or the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance in Europe http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/. You can also opt out of the Digital Advertising Alliance using your mobile device settings.

Your rights under certain circumstances:

To access and receive a copy of the Personal Data we hold about you.

To rectify any Personal Data held about you that is inaccurate

To request the deletion of Personal Data held about you

You have the right to data portability for the information you have provided to us. You can request to obtain a copy of this information in a commonly used electronic format so that you can manage and move it.  We will need to verify your identity before being able to respond to such requests.  Please contact us at Hannah@authenticallyspeaking.co.uk

Security

We believe we use reasonable administrative, logical, physical and managerial measures to safeguard your personal information against loss, theft and unauthorized access, use and modification. Unfortunately, no measures can be guaranteed to provide 100% security. Accordingly, we cannot guarantee the security of your information.

Our policy on children’s information

Our site is not directed to children under 16. If you learn that your minor child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us.

Changes to the Policy

We may change this policy from time to time, and if we do make changes, we’ll post any changes on this page. If you continue to visit our site after those changes are in effect, you agree to the revised policy. If the changes are significant, we may provide more prominent notice or get your consent on the new policy.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions or comments about this policy, please contact us at Hannah@authenticallyspeaking.co.uk

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.

We use the following cookies:

• Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.

• Analytical or performance cookies. These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

• Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).

• Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. [We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below