Nationwide
LVV registered
Free conversation? +316 10 78 45 40 info@partnersinvertrouwen.com

A safe and healthy work environment for every employee and organization.

Our proactive external confidential advisors help you establish a safe and healthy work environment.

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What does a confidant do?

A confidential advisor deals with both undesirable manners such as (sexual) harassment, aggression, bullying and discrimination, as well as integrity issues such as fraud, theft, misuse of company resources, undesirable side activities or abuse of power.

It is often difficult for smaller organizations to have their own (internal) confidential advisor. For them, then, an external confidant is a good solution. But even larger organizations often opt for an external confidential advisor, whether or not combined with an internal confidential advisor. The external confidential advisor can support your internal confidential advisor and is independent. This makes it easier for some employees to report or discuss something.

Ons team

A confidant has three duties:

1

The first task

Supporting the victim of unwanted behavior or the potential reporter of an integrity issue: listening to his or her story and working together to find an appropriate solution to the situation, allowing him or her to function safely and healthily again.

2

The second task

Educate employees and supervisors about undesirable behavior and integrity issues: the emphasis is on prevention, how to deal with it if it does occur and the role of the confidential advisor in this regard.

3

The third task

Solicited and unsolicited advice to management in both areas.

So an external confidential advisor will ensure that your organization becomes a safer workplace, saving you a lot of money and improving the working atmosphere for your employees.

Together, we provide a safe and healthy work environment. This ensures lower costs, higher productivity and better flexibility.

Partners in Vertrouwen’s External Confidential Advisor ensures that:

  • Your organization meets the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (PSA policy) to provide a safe working environment.
  • Emphasis is placed on education and prevention.
  • Your employees can discuss undesirable behavior or integrity issues in confidence.
  • Problems can be addressed quickly, improving the work atmosphere.
  • Absenteeism can be reduced.
  • It becomes clear what can be improved in your organization.

Together, we provide a safe and healthy work environment. This ensures lower costs, higher productivity and better flexibility.

Partners in Vertrouwen’s external confidential advisor helps you create a safe and healthy work environment.

A safe and healthy work environment improves productivity and flexibility.

A safe and healthy work environment also includes behavior that all employees are comfortable with. Inappropriate behavior can affect the atmosphere in a department in such a negative way that employees’ enjoyment of their work is greatly diminished and does not help the bottom line. Something you would like to prevent as an employer but often do not recognize until it is already too late.

Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is looking.

Integrity is not only a trait that an organization should expect from its employees, employees should also expect it from their employer. This creates the safest and healthiest working atmosphere, especially when it is clear where to turn if one suspects something is not right. Examples include fraud, theft, misuse of company assets, unwanted side business or abuse of power.

16% of Dutch employees report experiencing unwanted behavior from colleagues.

More and more articles appear in the news about undesirable behavior at work. By this we mean (sexual) Harassment, aggression, bullying and discrimination. The perception of desired and undesired intercourse is different for everyone, and everyone decides for themselves whether or not a line is crossed.

How are undesirable behavior and integrity regulated by law?

The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires an organization to develop adequate policies on undesirable behavior in order to provide a safe working environment for employees. The Whistleblower Protection Act states that organizations with more than 50 employees, or susceptible to fraud, are required to have an integrity policy with an internal reporting system. The Confidential Advisor is part of this.

What can your employees turn to Partners in Vertrouwen for?

Inappropriate behavior

Employees can go to the external confidential advisor of Partners in Vertrouwen when confronted with the inappropriate behavior of a colleague.

Integrity incidents and abuses

Also, if employees suspect integrity incidents and abuses, they can contact our external confidential advisors.

Reception, guidance and information

The employee can come to us for relief, guidance and information, and together we will look for a possible solution, with the employee always remaining responsible for this solution.

Neutral location

Employees may contact Partners in Vertrouwen by phone or email to schedule an appointment. This appointment will take place in a neutral location at our office or at a location of your choice.

Good complaint procedure and reporting system

These are always matters that cannot be resolved through the informal route. It is therefore important to have a good complaints procedure and reporting arrangement, so that employees know the steps to follow. The Confidential Advisor will also support the notifier in all steps in this process.

Conversation mediation or mediation

We always try to find the solution through the informal route first but if that is not possible, people will be able to use the formal route of conversation mediation or mediation or eventually file a complaint with the complaint committee.

Conversation guidance

We also have in-house mediators who can guide the conversation or possibly take up the mediation process.

Referral to a counselor

If necessary, we will refer to a social worker (complaint officer, psychologist, occupational physician, company social worker, lawyer, police etc).

Aftercare

Our external confidants always provide aftercare to your employees who have engaged in a conversation with us.

LVV registered

Our external confidants are LVV registered and speak both Dutch and English.

Why an external confidential advisor from Partners in Vertrouwen?

Our external confidants come from legal practice, psychology practice and business. They have attention and knowledge of both the importance of acknowledging personal experiences, emotions, communication and organizational interests involved in problem solving.

We believe that prevention is better than cure and therefore proactively put prevention first.

We are independent and proactive and have no interests or relationships with other employees. Therefore, it is easier for employees to go to an external confidant if they are confronted with a colleague’s inappropriate behavior or suspect integrity violations.

We provide analysis and advice regarding how desired manners and integrity are included in your code of conduct and integrity policy, as well as for your existing reporting procedure and grievance procedure and review them against regulations.

We demonstrate accountability to management by producing a fully anonymized annual report with analysis of findings and recommendations.

We have mediators on our team with years of mediation experience who can do conversation coaching in addition to mediation.

We are happy to support your internal confidants by sparring with them or offering peer review.

We provide replacements for vacation and illness.

We allow ourselves to be evaluated by your own employees, anonymously, so that you can get feedback on the appreciation of our performance.

Our external confidential advisors have a legal background and extensive experience within small and large (international) organizations, both in the commercial and nonprofit sectors.

Our external confidants are solution-oriented within the capabilities of the metier of Confidant.

Our external confidants are LVV registered and speak both Dutch and English.

Do you have questions or are you considering appointing an external confidential advisor?

For questions about dealing with sexual harassment or integrity issues or if you would like to appoint an external confidential advisor, please contact us without obligation.

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