Wrong. At NEOM, we don’t expect our managers to know the answer to every question. But we do expect managers to ask an appropriate senior colleague if they are unsure how to respond to queries from their team – especially if these queries relate to our Code of Conduct. If you’re unsure of how to reply to your team member regarding any potential conflict of interest, you should thank them for raising the concern, then ask a colleague in our Compliance Department for advice before responding.
Wrong. Such conduct might very well amount to bullying and harassment. NEOM takes a zero tolerance approach to bullying and harassment of any kind. Even if you think your colleague is only joking, what’s important is how this behavior makes you feel. At NEOM, what we care about is the impact of behavior like this – not just the intent. If you feel subjected to such behavior, you should notify your manager, another senior colleague, or our Speak Up channel as soon as possible. As long as your report is made in good faith, we will protect you from any form of retaliation.
Wrong. We are committed to providing a healthy and safe environment for all those working on our sites. This includes third-party contractors. Where migrant workers are concerned, we need to pay particular attention to their working conditions, as they could be more vulnerable than others to mistreatment. If you feel that our commitments to a healthy and safe working environment are not being upheld by our partners, you need to let us know. You can do so by contacting your line manager, a member of the Compliance Department, or our Speak Up channel. If your job involves working alongside third parties regularly, you can also help us to ensure these partners share our human rights commitments, by communicating our standards regularly and helping them to improve.
Wrong. As part of our cybersecurity controls, we never use cloud-based data storage services to upload or share company-related information. Your manager would rather have you do the right thing – if you are struggling to send the materials through our email system due to their size, you should wait for CISO support on Sunday rather than sending the attachments out of compliance with our procedures.
Wrong. It doesn’t matter if your intentions are good. If you get involved in the selection process and your friend’s daughter is hired, it could lead to the accusation that you influenced the decision-making in her favor. If your boss is asking you to help out with this selection process, you should notify them, or a senior member of the Compliance Department, that this could lead to a perceived conflict of interest. You may then need to be separated from any decision-making involving your friend’s daughter. However, this will help to keep our recruitment processes transparent and protect you from any accusation that you acted improperly.
Wrong. You should never accept anything of value that could be seen to affect your decision-making at NEOM, especially when this involves current or prospective suppliers seeking to do business with us. It doesn’t matter if your intentions are good. If you accept the voucher and then this supplier wins the tender, you could be accused of providing unfair preferential treatment in exchange for the gift. It also doesn’t matter that this gift didn’t come in the form of cash or items purchased by your contact. You should never accept gifts in the form of cash equivalents, including shopping vouchers. In this scenario, you should politely decline the voucher and point out to your contact that NEOM’s responsible business practices prevent you from accepting gifts from current or prospective suppliers during a tendering process. You should also record the offer of the voucher in line with the provisions of the Gifts and Hospitality Policy. If you still have any questions, you can speak to your manager or the Compliance Department.