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Code of Conduct

Professional behavior standards that enable productive collaboration while maintaining dignity, respect, and psychological safety.

개요​

Kyndof's Code of Conduct defines the behavioral boundaries that allow diverse people to work together effectively. This isn't a list of corporate platitudes—it's a practical guide for navigating conflict, maintaining professionalism, and ensuring everyone can do their best work without fear of harassment, discrimination, or toxicity.

This code applies to all Kyndof employees, contractors, partners, and anyone representing the organization in professional contexts. Violations have consequences ranging from coaching to termination, depending on severity and pattern.

Core Values in Action​

Our values aren't abstract ideals—they translate into specific behaviors:

Respect: Treat colleagues as professionals with valuable perspectives, even when you disagree. Respect means listening before responding, assuming good intent until proven otherwise, and separating critique of ideas from attacks on people. You can challenge someone's proposal without demeaning them personally.

Integrity: Do what you say you'll do. Own your mistakes. Don't take credit for others' work. If you commit to a deadline, hit it or communicate early when you can't. Integrity builds trust, and trust is the foundation of effective teamwork.

Collaboration: Default to transparency and information sharing. Help others succeed even when it's not directly your responsibility. Don't hoard knowledge or create information silos. Collaboration means elevating the team, not just yourself.

Accountability: Take ownership of outcomes, not just effort. When something goes wrong, focus on fixing it rather than assigning blame. Accountability means stepping up when needed and speaking up when you see problems—don't wait for someone else to handle it.

Expected Behaviors​

Here's what good conduct looks like day-to-day:

Constructive Communication: Critique ideas rigorously but respectfully. Focus feedback on work quality, not personal attributes. Say "this approach has risks" instead of "you're being naive." Disagree without being disagreeable.

Inclusive Language: Avoid language that marginalizes or stereotypes groups based on gender, race, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, or other protected characteristics. This includes jokes, casual comments, and assumptions. If someone asks you to adjust your language, do it without defensiveness.

Active Listening: When someone speaks, listen to understand rather than to respond. Ask clarifying questions. Acknowledge their perspective before offering your own. Don't interrupt or talk over colleagues, especially in meetings.

Transparency: Share information proactively. If you have context others lack, provide it. Don't use information asymmetry as a power tool. Transparency doesn't mean oversharing—use judgment about relevance and confidentiality.

Timely Responsiveness: Reply to messages within reasonable timeframes (same day for urgent, within 48 hours for non-urgent). If you need more time, acknowledge receipt and set expectations. Don't leave people hanging.

Assume Good Intent: When someone's behavior bothers you, start by assuming they didn't mean harm. Ask for clarification before assuming malice. Most conflicts stem from miscommunication, not intentional offense.

Unacceptable Behaviors​

These behaviors violate the Code of Conduct and will result in corrective action:

Harassment: Unwelcome sexual advances, inappropriate comments about someone's body or appearance, persistent unwanted attention, or any behavior that creates a hostile environment. Harassment is determined by impact on the recipient, not intent of the actor.

Discrimination: Treating someone unfavorably based on protected characteristics (race, gender, age, disability, religion, etc.). This includes biased hiring, promotion decisions, task assignment, or exclusion from opportunities.

Bullying: Repeated patterns of intimidation, belittling, public humiliation, or aggressive behavior designed to undermine someone's confidence or standing. One-off conflicts aren't bullying; persistent targeting is.

Retaliation: Punishing someone for raising concerns, reporting violations, or participating in investigations. Retaliation includes subtle acts like exclusion, assignment to undesirable work, or damage to reputation.

Dishonesty: Lying to colleagues, customers, or stakeholders. This includes falsifying data, taking credit for others' work, or misrepresenting capabilities or timelines to avoid accountability.

Confidentiality Breaches: Sharing proprietary information, customer data, or sensitive internal discussions outside authorized contexts. Respect confidentiality labels and NDAs.

Conflict of Interest: Failing to disclose relationships or financial interests that could bias your judgment or create appearance of impropriety. Conflicts aren't automatically prohibited, but they must be disclosed.

Substance Abuse: Being under the influence of alcohol or drugs during work hours or at work-related events to the extent that it impairs judgment or professionalism.

Reporting Violations​

If you experience or witness Code of Conduct violations:

Direct Resolution: If you feel safe doing so, address the issue directly with the person involved. Many conflicts resolve through honest conversation. Say "when you [behavior], I felt [impact]. Can we discuss this?"

Manager Escalation: If direct resolution isn't appropriate or doesn't work, raise the issue with your manager or the other person's manager. Provide specific examples (date, behavior, impact).

People Ops Channel: For serious violations (harassment, discrimination, retaliation) or when manager escalation isn't appropriate (manager is involved), contact People Ops directly via dedicated email or anonymous reporting form.

Anonymous Reporting: We maintain an anonymous reporting channel for situations where you fear retaliation or prefer not to identify yourself. Anonymous reports limit our ability to investigate fully, but we take them seriously.

Legal/Regulatory: Nothing in this policy prevents you from filing complaints with external bodies (e.g., labor boards, EEOC, law enforcement) if you believe laws have been violated.

Investigation Process​

When violations are reported, we follow a consistent process:

  1. Intake: People Ops receives the report and conducts an initial assessment. Is this a Code of Conduct issue? How severe? Who needs to be involved?

  2. Investigation: Trained investigators interview the reporter, the accused, and relevant witnesses. We gather documentation (emails, Slack messages, meeting notes) as appropriate.

  3. Findings: Investigators determine whether the violation occurred based on preponderance of evidence. This isn't a criminal trial—we're assessing whether policy was violated.

  4. Consequences: If violation is substantiated, consequences range from coaching and training to written warnings, suspension, or termination. Severity matches the violation.

  5. Follow-Up: We check in with the reporter to ensure retaliation hasn't occurred and that they feel the issue was handled fairly. We monitor the situation for recurrence.

Throughout the process, we maintain confidentiality to the extent possible while conducting a fair investigation. Both parties are informed of the outcome in general terms, though details of consequences may remain private.

Consequences and Remediation​

Violations don't always result in termination—context and severity matter:

First-Time Minor Violations: Someone makes an off-color joke, uses insensitive language, or crosses a boundary unintentionally. Consequence: Direct conversation, clarification of expectations, possible training. Focus is on education and behavior change.

Moderate Violations or Patterns: Repeated minor issues, single instance of inappropriate behavior (e.g., public outburst, serious unprofessionalism). Consequence: Formal written warning, mandatory training, possible temporary suspension. Continued employment is conditional on improvement.

Severe Violations: Harassment, discrimination, physical threats, gross insubordination, egregious dishonesty. Consequence: Immediate suspension pending investigation, likely termination. Some behaviors are fireable on first offense.

Retaliation: Always treated as severe violation regardless of circumstances. We protect people who report in good faith.

Remediation focuses on behavior change, not blame. If someone violates the code but demonstrates genuine understanding and commitment to change, we invest in their development. Persistent patterns or unwillingness to change leads to separation.

Special Contexts​

Certain situations require additional consideration:

Remote Work: Code of Conduct applies to all virtual interactions—Slack, Zoom, email, collaborative docs. Don't assume digital communication has lower standards than in-person.

After-Hours Events: Company-sponsored social events (team dinners, offsites, conferences) are work contexts. The Code of Conduct applies even when alcohol is present or the setting is informal.

Social Media: You're entitled to personal opinions on social media, but when you identify yourself as a Kyndof employee, your conduct reflects on the organization. Avoid statements that contradict our values or harm our reputation.

External Partners: Treat contractors, vendors, customers, and partners with the same respect as colleagues. Harassment or discrimination toward external parties is equally unacceptable.

Cross-Cultural Norms: Kyndof operates internationally. Behaviors considered acceptable in one culture may not be in another. When in doubt, err on the side of professionalism and ask rather than assume.

Ambiguous Situations​

Not every conflict is a Code of Conduct violation. Here's how to tell:

Heated Disagreement: Two people passionately debate a technical decision, voices get raised, but it's focused on the work and both parties feel respected afterward. Not a violation (though worth improving communication).

Performance Feedback: Manager gives critical feedback about work quality. Employee feels demoralized. Not a violation unless feedback is delivered with disrespect, bias, or intent to humiliate.

Interpersonal Friction: Two teammates don't get along, avoid working together, express frustration privately. Not a violation unless it escalates to exclusion, gossip, or sabotage.

Cultural Differences: Someone from a direct-communication culture gives feedback that someone from an indirect-communication culture finds blunt. Not a violation but worth discussing expectations.

When situations are ambiguous, ask: Is the behavior creating a hostile environment? Is it discriminatory or harassing? Does it undermine someone's ability to do their job? If yes, it's likely a violation. If it's just interpersonal friction, work it out directly or with manager mediation.

Why This Code Exists​

Code of Conduct policies exist because diverse teams inevitably have friction. People come from different backgrounds, hold different values, and have different communication styles. Without clear boundaries, these differences can devolve into toxicity.

This code sets those boundaries. It's not about sanitizing the workplace or avoiding difficult conversations—it's about ensuring that when we challenge each other, we do so professionally. Great teams have conflict; toxic teams have unmanaged conflict.

Enforcing this code is a leadership responsibility. Managers set the tone by modeling expected behaviors, addressing violations promptly, and creating environments where people feel safe reporting issues. If you're a manager and you ignore violations or retaliate against reporters, you're failing your duty.

For individual contributors, this code is both protection and obligation. It protects you from harassment and mistreatment, and it obligates you to treat others with respect. Hold yourself to the standard, and hold others accountable when they fall short.

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