Skillled Code of Conduct

DATE LAST UPDATED: 24th June 2023

At Skillled we believe that a good community is one with clear rules. Below we have listed site policies for different aspects of the platform. Keep in mind that this is a work in progress and as Skillled grows these rules will evolve as well.

Remember that the use of Skillled is governed by our terms and conditions and our agreement of user. The policies are an addition to the previous ones. As always, we look forward to your comments on this.

Platform policies

1. Behaviour on the site

The content in messages should always be cordial. Ill-treatment or insults will not be tolerated.

Skillled does not allow any type of discrimination against people based on racial, ethnic, social or minority origin, caste, religion or belief, political opinion or any other nature, language, gender, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, or any other reason. Neither Skillled as a platform nor any user (client or professional) may engage in the previously detailed discriminatory practices. Skillled undertakes to penalize this action if detected.

Skillled may contact users through the WhatsApp instant messaging application; our representatives identify themselves with the Skillled identity. We do not ask for any payment, exchange of passwords or login details, if you suspect wrong doing please contact Skillled support.

Do not share contact information (email, phone, Skype, WhatsApp, hangout, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and external links in general)***

Sending an external link is not allowed. Nothing that will make a client and/or freelancer leave the Skillled site.

It is also not allowed to request contact details or an external link to another party.***

***This rule does not apply only to projects managed by Skillled recruiters.

Respect the privacy of messages and projects in Skillled. What happens in Skillled stays in Skillled. Unless you have obtained written authorization from the other party, you may not make public messages or content of the work.

Spam will not be accepted in any of its forms.

Skillled should not be used solely as a payment method between freelancers and clients. The projects in which the funds were released without communication between the parties and without deliveries according to the development of the projects, will not be accepted and the values will be reimbursed to the clients.

2. Content of the site

You will not publish projects, messages or content on the site of:

• Pornography and content not suitable for minors.
• Violent content.
• Content related to racial intolerance or attacks on an individual, a group or an organization.
• Content that includes excessive irreverence.
• Hacking related content.
• Content related to casinos and gambling.
• Drug related content and related articles.
• Content related to the sale of weapons or ammunition (for example, firearms and their parts, knives or electric shock guns).
• Content related to the sale of products that are replicas or imitations of designer items or other items.
• Malicious software (computer viruses, spyware, etc.).
• Any other content that is illegal, promotes illegal activity, or violates the legal rights of others.

3. Policies for the publication of works

If a job is found to be in violation of any of Skillled's policies it will be removed from the site. The client is free to repost the job if the violation is corrected. The most common reasons why a Skillled job posting is removed:

• Violates the Terms of Service of another company or entity.
• Ask vendors to do unpaid work.
• The content violates section 2 of these policies.
• Payment is offered outside of Skillled's payment platform.
• Payment is based on commission or stock compensation.
• The payment offered is less than the legal minimum wage of the country of the professional
• Violates the integrity of an academic institution, including doing homework, writing essays for school, testing, or submitting applications.
• Violate any law of the US or any other country.
• It should not contain personal or contact information.
• You must not promote other services or products.
• It's not to get full-time employees.

3.1 Guide for the publication of projects

• The need and skill required to complete the project must be understood.
• It must be written properly and completely.
• Respond to worker questions and update job description.
• Accept a proposal only when you have a clear job description, well-defined milestones, exact deadlines, and payment terms.
• Evaluate multiple proposals based on criteria important to you, such as a worker's work experience, education, portfolio, certifications, references, feedback from past clients, location, communication, style, and cost.
• Ask the worker to establish the conditions, define the main milestones and payments.
• In case of being requested by the professional, the client must inform him for what the job for which he is applying will be used.
• Ask about the worker's office hours and standard response times.
• Once you've hired for your job, log in to the site to manage the job.

4. Policies for the Submission of Proposals

When submitting a proposal, the supplier may not:

• Offer your services for free.
• Use unprofessional language and/or to harass another Skillled member.
• Offer to get paid outside of Skillled.
• Refer to the commission of the platform to the counterparty.
• Use sending messages and proposals for another purpose instead of submitting a proposal.
• Include any contact information. For example, Skype, email, phone, website URL, GTalk, etc.

4.1 Guide for the publication of proposals

As an employee, you agree to follow the following guidelines when submitting a proposal:

• Provide proposals only for jobs for which you are a good fit and can complete them in the time set by the Client.
• Help the client clarify their needs and fully develop the scope of work and final results.
• Write a concrete and detailed proposal with clear scope, deliverables and milestones.
• Set expectations that you can meet or exceed.
• Specify the payment terms that are linked to the achievement of milestones.
• Specify how change orders and revisions will be handled.
• Specify how warranty work will be handled.
• Submit an accurate proposal that reflects your understanding of the scope of work and the amount of time/effort you will commit in order to achieve customer satisfaction.
• Inform the client of office hours and the committed response time.
• Resubmit a proposal when necessary to reflect any change in the price delivery date, or approach, before the end of the proposal period.
• Do not submit unjustifiably low prices, proposal or trial proposals. If you want to submit a proposal, but need more information about the work, write a message requesting more information, stating your assumptions about the scope of work in your proposal and explaining that you will update the proposal once you receive more information.
• Do not submit proposals that are made with the intent to commit fraud.
• Do not present repetitive content or generic proposals.
• Do not offer your services in exchange for good feedback or for free.

5. Policies for the publication of your profile

A worker's profile cannot contain:

• Contact information outside of what is offered through Skillled.
• Offers to receive payments outside of the Skillled payment platform.
• Offers of free services.
• Service offers that are in violation of Skillled's or another company's or entity's Terms of Service.
• Any text that is copied from another worker's profile.
• Any work sample to which the profile owner has no legal or proprietary rights.

6. Policies regarding the duration of employment relationships on the site

• The relationships between clients and professionals that begin in Skillled must continue to be developed through Skillled for a period of 2 (two) years from the last project completed between them.
• Any labour relationship that has begun in Skillled and is continued outside the site, loses the right to our guarantee and may be detrimental to the permanence of both parties on the site, Skillled being able to cancel its permanence at any time.

7. Penalties for Violation of a Policy

Skillled will suspend or close the accounts of members who violate its policies.

• For job/project posting violations, it will be removed from the site. Repeated policy violations will result in account termination.
• For worker violations, the minimum penalty is a 15-day suspension. For major violations, such as plagiarism, dodging fees, manipulating your comment, or repeated policy violations, the worker's account will be subject to immediate termination.

8. Criteria for the resolution of arbitrations

In the event of not being able to satisfactorily complete a project, both clients and freelancers can request Skillled's intervention through arbitration. To make a fair decision, Skillled takes into account the following factors:

• What was initially agreed between the client and the freelancer: The proposal made by the freelancer and accepted by the client, the agreed delivery terms, the scope of the project, the delivery formats, and everything related to what both parties agreed to are taken into account through Skillled messaging.
• The development of the project: The work done by the freelancer, the deliveries made, the client's corrections, and all the conversation they had through the platform after the client has made the guarantee deposit are taken into account.
• Information provided by both parties: Once the project enters the arbitration process, both parties are requested to inform Skillled about the work carried out and the information they deem appropriate to highlight.

Taking these aspects into consideration, Skillled will analyze all the information and decide on the destination of the guarantee funds and ownership of the work performed.

It is important to clarify that any conversation outside the platform, or work developed that is not supported within the platform, will not be valid to determine the resolution of the arbitration.

If you disagree with Skillled's decision in an arbitration, either party may appeal to a third party through binding arbitration before the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) in the city of Miami, Florida, pursuant to the then current business rules for the AAA, except as provided herein (the “AAA Rules”).

The party wishing to initiate arbitration must send the other party a written Request for Arbitration, as specified in the AAA Rules. (The AAA offers a form called a “Request for Arbitration”