Xenos Staff Manual

WORK CONDUCT

It is the policy of Xenos to maintain a safe, productive working environment free from sexual harassment, inappropriate and other disruptive behavior. Personal conduct that interferes with the operations, creates safety hazards, brings discredit to the fellowship or is offensive to members or fellow employees will not be tolerated.

Personal Conduct

It is the policy of Xenos that certain rules and regulations regarding employee behavior are necessary for our ministry. Further, certain rules and regulations are necessary for the efficient operation of the fellowship. Conduct which violates basic Biblical ethics, interferes with operations of the fellowship, discredits the fellowship, or is unduly offensive to others will not be tolerated.

Employees are expected at all times to conduct themselves in a positive manner so as to promote the ministry of this fellowship. Such conduct includes:

Reporting to work punctually as scheduled;
Giving proper advance notice whenever unable to work or report on time;
Complying with all fellowship safety, health and security regulations;
Safe-guarding church technical and communications assets (e.g., computers, phones, internet access tools, et.al.) by refraining from any use that would be deemed immoral or otherwise counter-productive to individual spiritual health and church efficiency and effectiveness;
Smoking only in places not prohibited by fellowship rules;
Treating all fellowship members, visitors, and fellow employees in a courteous manner;
Refraining from behavior or conduct deemed offensive or undesirable, or which is contrary to the fellowship's best interest;
Performing assigned tasks efficiently, professionally and in accord with established quality standards;
Maintaining a personal appearance consistent with a constructive and professional work environment;
Maintaining a clean and orderly workplace or area; and
Complying with fellowship rules and policies.

The following conduct is prohibited and will subject the involved person to disciplinary action up to and including termination:

Insubordination or the refusal by an employee to follow his/her supervisor's instructions concerning a job-related matter;
Fighting or assault on a fellow employee, fellowship member or guest;
Providing persons under the age of 21 with alcoholic beverages except as otherwise provided in Section 4301.69 (A) of the Ohio Revised Code or other specific current or future laws which may apply to a situation.
Engaging in illegal activities, as defined in the City Ordinance of Columbus, the Ohio Revised Code, other applicable laws or statutes during a Xenos-sponsored or affiliated event.
Theft, destruction, defacement, or misuse of fellowship property or of another employee's property;
Engaging in any form of sexual harassment or prohibited discrimination;
Falsifying or altering any fellowship record or report, such as an application for employment, a time record, or an expense report;
Using church computers, phones and/or internet access to view or disseminate immoral or otherwise damaging materials, or using such tools in a fashion counter to productivity in the workplace;
Gross moral failure (behavior subject to discipline according to the Bible);
The possession of firearms or other weapons on fellowship property;
Use, transfer, possession or being under the influence of illegal drugs; and
Reporting to work while under the influence of alcohol or any illegal drug.

The above list is illustrative of the type of behavior that will not be permitted, but is not intended to be an all-inclusive list. Any questions in connection with this policy should be directed to the human resource representative.

Sexual Harassment

The policy of Xenos is that sexual harassment will not be tolerated. Each supervisor has a responsibility to maintain the work place free of any form of sexual harassment. No supervisor is to threaten or insinuate, either explicitly or implicitly, that an employee's refusal to submit to sexual advances will adversely affect the employee's employment, evaluation, wages, advancement, assigned duties, or any other condition of employment or career development.

Other conduct that has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment, whether committed by supervisors or non-supervisory staff, is also prohibited. Such conduct includes:

Sexual flirtations, touching, advances, or propositions;
Verbal abuse of a sexual nature;
Graphic or suggestive comments about an individual's dress or body;
Sexually degrading words to describe an individual; and
The display in the work place of sexually suggestive objects or pictures, including nude photographs.

Sexual harassment is not only a violation of state and federal law, it is also a violation of the Biblical ethics under which the fellowship operates. Accordingly, any employee who believes that the actions or words of a supervisor or fellow employee constitute unwelcome harassment has a responsibility to take the following actions:

Tell the harasser that his or her actions are not welcome and they must stop.
Immediately report the incident to your supervisor or the human resource representative. If the supervisor receive the report, he or she should promptly report the incident to the human resource representative.
If additional incidents occur, immediately report them to one of the above individuals.

All complaints of harassment will be investigated promptly and in as impartial and confidential a manner as possible by a representative of human resources. If an employee is not satisfied with the handling of a complaint or the action taken by human resources, then the employee should file a written complaint with a senior elder. In all cases the employee will be advised of the human resources representative's or senior elder's findings and conclusions.

Any employee, supervisor, or manager who is found after appropriate investigation to have engaged in harassment of another employee will be subject to disciplinary procedures as deemed appropriate by the Board of Trustees, depending upon the circumstances, up to and including termination.

Retaliation of any kind against an employee who honestly reports what they believe to be sexual harassment is strictly prohibited and will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination.

Solicitation

Persons not employed by Xenos may not enter its premises at any time for the purpose of solicitation of employees or distribution of literature to employees. Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to, soliciting signatures or financial contributions, selling merchandise, distributing literature, pamphlets, or printed matter of any kind on fellowship premises.

To prevent interference with work activities, solicitation and distribution activities by employees of other employees at work areas, or during work time, are prohibited. Solicitation by non-working employees is also prohibited if it interferes with the productivity of other employees who are working.

Distribution of written materials of any kind, including circulars or other printed materials, is not permitted in any work area at any time without prior Xenos approval. Exceptions to this policy are:

Xenos approved campaigns, and
official Xenos-sponsored volunteer activities.

Use of Church Technical Resources - Computer and Internet Access

Use of pornographic material is a moral issue. We do not accept use of Fellowship computers to access pornography, and we consider such behavior subject to disciplinary action, although our response would not be as harsh as corporate America, where such incidents are prosecuted under the guidelines of, "abuse of corporate assets" and violations of work hour requirements. The issue at stake is the spiritual health of our staff, and our service to the church and our community.

In addition to pornography, computer and Internet abuse can come in the form of consistently 'surfing the web' and/or making excessive use of entertainment materials available on the web. This abuse can take the form of an addiction consuming time and focus. When surfing and 'gaming' detracts from an individual's job responsibilities and impacts work, there is a problem. Occasional access to services on the web is now a normal part of work and personal life. At issue is when such use adversely affects the job an individual must do.

All positions in the church require an overall pattern of consistent moral integrity, and accessing pornography in any form is clearly at odds with moral purity. Excessive use of on-line entertainment material does not have the overt effects that pornography does, but this abuse is also a moral issue of stewardship over time and attention to job responsibilities. Xenos IS (the Operations Division, Information Services Department) is responsible for the first level of protection against improper use of our computers and the Internet.

As part of our protection plan, we log employees’ web activity. The process of reviewing employee web activity through web access logging is meant as an additional deterrent to spiritually detrimental activity. Our intention is to provide a known presence of active accountability. We hope this will bring about prevention, as opposed to a tool implemented primarily for discipline. When reviews of access violations find an employee has followed a pattern showing intentional efforts to circumvent the web content blocking programs in place, the web activity logging reports could become the basis for disciplinary follow-up.

When an employee tries to access a site or sites using multiple search criteria and differing combinations of inappropriate criteria over a relatively short period of time, they are showing a pattern indicative of working to get around our blocking programs. Since, at times, the Xenos content blocking protocol will error on over-blocking some valid sites, we will review each unblock request from users. IS will maintain a flexible stance, but is charged with weighing each such request against both valid restrictions under this policy as well as accounting for overall workplace productivity.

Xenos IS will review logs of web access for patterns indicating a intention to access restricted and pornographic web-sites on the part of a specific employee. If a review finds an employee who meets this criteria of intentional activity, IS will inform the person’s supervisor. The Supervisor will be responsible to follow-up with the employee on the circumstances surrounding the incident(s). The employee will have the opportunity to explain the circumstances surrounding the incident. We anticipate that many incidents will be resolved through a better understanding of these specific circumstances. No permanent record will be needed if an employee has adequate reasons in explaining their access violation patterns.

Since this type of intentional activity is in clear violation of the moral requirements for any position in the church and its subsidiaries, violations and any resultant supervisory actions can become part of the permanent disciplinary records of the employee. Restoration is the goal of this policy and process, but the results of proven violations will become part of an employee's work history.

Conflicts of Interest

It is the policy of the fellowship to prohibit its employees from engaging in any activity, practice, or act which conflicts with, or appears to conflict with, the interest of the fellowship, its members, or its suppliers. Since it is impossible to describe all of the situations that may cause or give the appearance of a conflict of interest, the prohibitions included below are not intended to be exhaustive and only include some of the more clear- cut examples.

Employees are expected to represent the fellowship in a positive and ethical manner and have an obligation both to avoid conflicts of interest and to refer questions and concerns about potential conflicts to their supervisor.
Employees and their immediate family are not to accept gifts, except those of nominal value, or any special discounts or loans from any person doing, or seeking to do, business with the fellowship.

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