Code of Conduct

What is the Code of Conduct?

We aim to build a team of forward-thinking producers who are brave, co-operative, supportive, curious and have a deep desire to change our industry. For all of you who act like a leader, the Code of Conduct (the “Code”) should be common sense, a reminder of your responsibility to achieve the highest standards of honest and ethical behavior and to use your best judgment in all situations involving Makers.

Who does this Code apply to?

This document should not only govern our Maker’s staff but create a framework for the partners we choose and the client’s we aim to work with.

What are the behaviours required to work at/with Makers?

Use your best judgment. If you are unsure, always ask.

• When making a decision, the outcome should be positive and acceptable by everyone involved. If someone can be negatively impacted, best judgement has not been used. 
• Let the points below guide your judgement.

Act with integrity and transparency.

• Never shelter someone from the truth. Hiding facts that allow everyone to feel up to speed on a situation can only impact the outcome – everyone is part of the team.
• We should not sugar coat problems that arise – everyone needs to come together in both celebrating wins and dealing with challenges. 
• All financial interactions should be transparent and understood by all parties.

Avoid conflicts of interest.

• If you are working for Makers, you need to work in our best interest. Don’t compete with us or use your position here or Makers opportunities, information or property for personal gain. 
• It is critical Makers is seen as an unbiased consultant to our client partners. We must always be able to provide a range of vendor options to our clients. And those partners must be fairly selected, none benefiting Makers more than any other.
• We don’t bid against other creators. We are production experts that work with our clients as consultants and act in their best interest. Our goal is aligned with theirs – to curate the best team that is best equipped to handle their project. Sometimes, this means that clients will require us to coordinate multiple bids from various creators (not including us). Other times, this means that clients will require us to curate the team of creators without multiple bids. Either way, the teams we build rely on great creators from across our industry – creators that we aim to treat fairly and build great relationships with. If a client is bidding us against those creators, they fundamentally don’t understand what we do, and we need to educate.

Keep information confidential; protect Makers’, clients’ and partners’ intellectual property.

• Makers is a trusted partner of many organizations that are competing with each other and/or are developing strategies to transform their companies. It is nobody’s business beyond our walls what projects we are working on or how our client partners operate. We are the secret keepers of everyone. 
• Makers is developing a lot of new processes and procedures that have other companies asking “How’d they do that?”. Keeping this special and unique to Makers is critical to our future success.

Comply with applicable laws.

• If it’s written in a corporate law or criminal law book in Canada, it must guide our actions as a company and how we interact with one another. 

Treat people with respect and fairness; including any and all people of different religions, ethnicities, abilities, and non-binary/LGBTQ2S+ identities.

• We are a team of individuals with different influences. We celebrate these differences because they give us a wider range of insights that help us build better relationships with each other, our clients and our partners. No one should ever be made to feel like an outsider.
• We are committed to building and preserving a safe and healthy working environment, and respecting everyone’s rights, culture, diversity and dignity.
• We do not tolerate any acts of harassment or violence against or by any employee, and all employees are personally accountable and responsible to enforce this. 
• Discrimination or harassment of any kind, including discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, colour, religion, veteran status, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, family status, pardoned conviction, mental or physical disability, or any other characteristic protected by law is strictly prohibited.

Create safe environments for people to work but also to provide feedback.

• Take a listen-first approach, it’s important to acknowledge the feelings or concerns of others before we decide how to respond. Seek council from another Maker to frame your response if it helps.

Engage in self-reflection, welcome feedback.

• No one is perfect. We believe in career-long learning and continuous improvement. Providing a range of fairly considered opinions is what separates Makers from other top-down hierarchies. 
• Look for ways to incorporate a second set of eyes (or even more) to make every idea, every approach, every thought piece, every proposed solution as refined and multi-dimensional as possible.

What if you feel someone has acted outside the Code?

The first step we always encourage is to try dialogue one-on-one. However, if this is not possible or not comfortable, you may contact our HR lead Vered Levant, BA, CPHR at vered@makers.to or 403-478-7710 for a 100% confidential discussion to determine next steps.