Acceptable use for employers
People on this network have chosen to trust you with parts of their story. These are the rules that make that trust safe. Your organisation accepts them when it joins, and every person with an account is bound by them.
The rules
No screenshots, no copies
Everything you see on Backed stays on Backed. Do not screenshot, photograph, print, download, copy into another system, or retype a candidate’s profile, photo, video or messages. If you need to remember something, use the notes in your own pipeline.
No onward sharing
Do not share a candidate’s profile or anything you learn from it with anyone outside your organisation, or with colleagues who are not part of the hiring decision. Your team admin controls who at your organisation has an account.
Contact runs through the support worker
Every candidate has a named support worker. Start there — every time. Do not seek out a candidate’s phone number, email or social media, and do not contact them directly unless their support worker has arranged it with them.
Background information is for positive action only
If a candidate has chosen to share something about their background, it is because you declared a matching support commitment. Use it for that commitment — the adjustments, the programme, the mentoring you promised — and for nothing else. Never use it to screen anyone out, to compare candidates, or in a conversation the candidate has not agreed to.
Do not try to infer what is hidden
Hidden means hidden. Do not try to work out a person’s background from the organisation supporting them, from match scores, from what is missing, or by asking their support worker. If you need to know something to keep someone safe at work, ask the support worker to raise it with the candidate.
Tell the candidate’s support worker about concerns
If you are worried about a candidate’s welfare or safety, tell their support worker straight away. If you are worried about how a colleague at your organisation is using the network, tell your team admin or the network team. Concerns are handled as a process and recorded.
Keep your own records lawful
What you write in your pipeline about a candidate is your organisation’s record, and you are the controller for it. Keep it factual, relevant to the role, and delete it when you no longer need it. Never record background information a candidate has not shared with you.
Interviews and trials are paid where the law requires
A trial shift is work. Pay at least the rate the law requires, tell the support worker the time, place and pay in advance, and confirm outcomes on the network so the candidate hears from someone they trust.
How the network knows
Every view of a profile, every filter on background, and every message is recorded in an audit log the network team reviews. Support workers can see who has looked at the people they support. Candidates can see who has shown interest in them.
What happens if these rules are broken
Breach means suspension. The network team may suspend an individual account or your whole organisation immediately, without notice, where a candidate’s privacy or safety is at risk. Suspension takes effect on the next request and stops all browsing, messaging and publishing. Reinstatement is at the network team’s discretion after the facts are established.
Where a breach involves personal information, the partner organisation supporting the affected person and, where required, the Information Commissioner’s Office will be told. Serious breaches may also be reported to the police.
Questions
Unsure whether something is allowed? Ask the candidate’s support worker first — that is what they are there for — or contact the network team through the app. Related: terms of use · privacy notice.