Our principles aren’t negotiable.
This page separates three things on purpose: what the network believes, what it intends to build, and what it commits to from its first partnership onward. Nothing here is a benefit currently offered to employees, because the company does not yet have any.
People before profits.
What the network believes
The founder did not start this company to extract the most money possible from employees, customers or partners. He started it to own businesses that give a damn about the people who work for them, and to prove that doing so is not a handicap.
Profit matters. It pays wages, funds benefits, buys equipment, absorbs bad months and makes growth possible. A company that ignores it is not kind; it is temporary. So the network expects its businesses to be profitable, and it expects them to get there without treating anyone as disposable.
When the two conflict, when the faster path to a number runs through the people who make the number, the network chooses the people. That is the whole philosophy. Everything below is an attempt to make it operational.
An employment standard, in development
What the network intends to build
As the network grows, it intends to write a documented standard that every company it owns will be expected to meet. The working principles are listed here so they can be held against the company later. None of them is a program that exists today.
Fair and competitive pay
Compensation set by the value of the work and the cost of living where it is done, reviewed in the open.
Transparent employment
Clear terms, clear expectations, and no surprises in how decisions about people are made.
Respectful, accountable management
Managers answer for how they treat people, not only for results.
Well-being and boundaries
Mental health treated as real, and a working day that ends.
Meaningful benefits as they become affordable
Added as the business can carry them, and not promised before it can.
Development and advancement
A path forward for people who want one.
A voice in the workplace
Employee input on how the place runs, and protection from retaliation for raising a concern in good faith.
A share in success
Ways for the people who build a company's results to share in them.
One standard across the network
The same expectations in every company the network owns, documented and checkable.
Not every partnership is worth having.
What the network commits to
Black Sheep Network wants to build relationships with people and organizations that share its values, and it is open to new businesses, partnerships, collaborations and sponsorships. It also declines them. Financial opportunity alone does not make a relationship worth having, and the network would rather walk away from a deal than knowingly compromise on how people are treated.
Where an existing relationship turns out to involve serious, substantiated disregard for the people a partner depends on, the network will reassess it and, where appropriate and lawful, end it. The network holds itself to the same standard, and expects to be judged by it.
What the network looks for
Respect for employees
People are treated as people, in practice and not only in policy.
Honest business
Straight dealing with customers, partners and the public.
Ethical, accountable leadership
Leaders who take responsibility when something goes wrong.
Willingness to improve
Perfection is not expected. Good faith and the capacity to change are.
Long-term thinking
Decisions made for the business that will exist in ten years, not only for this quarter.
Alignment with this page
Agreement, in substance, with the belief that people come before profit.
We’re building something better.
"We’re not trying to fit in" is not an excuse to be unprofessional. It is a commitment to do the work properly and to measure a company by more than what it earns. The network expects to be held to this page, and it will update it as intentions become practice.