Transparency and Anticorruption Policy
Expertflow believes that a company’s official management should decide what is best for their employees, and which incentives and bonus programs (if any) should be applied.
Expertflow has a policy of non-interference into such incentive programs - we consider these to be internal company policies. Incentives are cash payments, presents above a value of 100$, travels, kickbacks or immaterial benefits. Bribes and corruption are if such incentives are made with the intent to influence an employee of another company against the interest of that other company.
We will not give any such incentives to employees (or persons or companies related to them) of our clients, suppliers or partners. If this is not possible, such as in ad-hoc situations, (such as paying on-site for some goods required for a project, travel expenses, lunch,...), and if the value is above 100$, then the designated supervisor within the company that employs this individual will be informed of this incentive (either by the employee or by Expertflow).
Examples of situations, were when such an incentive could favor a company in the award of a bid, in order to get a project signed off, in order to get a special rebate from a supplier or to get a payment released. Expertflow has in the past and will look forward always to decline such incentives.
Similarly, our clients and partners need to be sure who Expertflow and its employees are. Expertflow employees therefore neither receive nor pay direct incentives from or to our suppliers, partners, or clients, neither personally, nor in the name of Expertflow. Any such act will be followed by a summary dismissal of the employee in question.
We also request our suppliers not to incentivize our employees in any way or form. Any incentive to Expertflow should be done directly to Expertflow only, and never to an employee.
Expertflow trains its sales and presales team on this policy. For deals above 100,000 USD, the CEO is personally involved and aware of commercial negotiations. As a general guideline, Expertflow follows the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) corruption prevention guidelines. The CEO is therefore personally liable under the Swiss Criminal Code Art 322 for acts of corruption. As a general rule, all payments with customers or partners transit through the bank accounts within Expertflow Switzerland, subject to supervision by Swiss authorities and banks that irregularly request details on certain payments made abroad. Financial auditing of all transactions is done by Treuhand Zentrum in Berne, Switzerland - an external auditor.
Policy
- Competitive pricing: In order to be able to maintain competitive pricing, and besides reducing core costs, we mitigate project risks as much as possible. These can be currency risks, project risks, product risks, information security risks, or risks of unexpected costs (for example in the form of the above incentives).
- Dealing with companies: We conclude legally binding and enforceable contracts with companies, not with individuals. Individuals involved in a project might change, and their responsibilities might change, but the companies remain the same. Whereas we aim to have a good personal working relationship with all employees of our partners and clients at a personal level, and also coach and train our employees on how to achieve this, there is a red line between “good working relationship” and “incentives”.
- Reputation and legal risk: Expertflow has been able to grow and thrive without handing out incentives. Whereas our growth might possibly have been smaller because of it, it is also more reliable. Being involved in a corruption case could permanently damage everything that we built up, our reputation, and our hard work in one single stroke. We earn decent but not extraordinary salaries and are proud of what we can deliver. We don’t need to buy trust. We earn it.
FAQs
- “In this region, everybody does it?”, “Can't you win a deal without doing it?”:
That’s wrong, and our existence proves the contrary. We have been able to survive and grow for quite some time and are now the largest player in our target markets without giving any incentives. We are large and geographically diversified enough so that we don’t depend on the favor of one individual. - “Do you also need to pay something back to the country that you’re working in?”
All our growth in terms of employees has been in Emerging markets, where we also have our clients. We have never paid out any dividends to Shareholders - any earnings are immediately reinvested into the company's growth in the form of salaries to employees in these countries. So we invest more into emerging markets than we take from them. - “Do you report corruption?”
No, we don’t proactively report corruption if we see it happening between two companies, nor if we are approached by such. In most cases, we hear or see rumors, which is not sufficient for a legal case. Similarly, we don’t monitor or comment on how our partners win deals. We don’t have any political, religious, or ethical agenda. Our business is to provide excellent, secure, and reliable professional IT services, and all our efforts go into that only.
Contact for Privacy Concerns
For questions and queries on our privacy statement, processing, access and use of private information, correction, blocking or revocation of any granted consent to us, please contact us at ExpertFlow LLC, Jägerweg 18, 3014 Bern, Switzerland, +41 796385801, privacy@expertflow.com
Swiss regulation Preventing corruption – Information for Swiss businesses operating abroad (admin.ch)