01Our commitment#
PassRidge has no tolerance for slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour, human trafficking or child labour. Our people and our Flex contractors work in an office or from home and test software, so the risk in our own work is low. The risk is not nil. Recruitment is an industry where workers have been charged fees, had documents held back or been moved on false promises, and we are in that industry. This statement says what we do about it.
It is published voluntarily by PassRidge Ltd and PassRidge LLC, and follows the structure of section 54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015. It covers our own operations, our Flex contractors and our suppliers and partners.
02Our business and structure#
- PassRidge Ltd (Company No. 13482617 (England & Wales)) and PassRidge LLC (Delaware limited liability company) run PassRidge together, one for each region.
- We place QA professionals with employers, supply independent QA contractors through PassRidge Flex, and run managed testing teams for clients.
- Our workers and contractors are skilled, mostly remote, and work in many countries.
- Our suppliers are mainly software and hosting providers, payment and payout services and professional services firms.
03No worker fees#
The employer pays. This is the rule that does most to stop debt bondage in recruitment, so it is the first one we apply.
- We never charge candidates or contractors for applying, matching, a placement, training, equipment or Flex access. See the Candidate promise.
- Nothing is deducted from pay to cover our costs, and we take no deposits.
- We never hold a passport, visa, ID or bank card. We may look at a document to check the right to work and give it back at once.
- We do not restrict where you work or live and we do not require exclusivity. A Flex contractor can decline any task and either side can end the arrangement on 7 days' notice. See the Contractor terms.
- Contractors are paid within 14 days of approval, whether or not the client has paid us.
- We decline client briefs that require workers to pay a fee, hand over documents or accept pay below the legal minimum.
04Suppliers and partners#
Our supply chain is small and mostly digital. We still look at it.
| Group | Risk we see | What we do |
|---|---|---|
| Partner recruiters and job-board feeds | A third party charges candidates for access to a role we have listed | A partner may not charge workers for any service linked to our roles. A fee complaint is a reason to remove the partner and the role. |
| Clients | A client's own labour practices | We ask what the role pays, the location and contract type. We stop work with a client we find asks for fees or ID, or hides terms. |
| Delivery partners and subcontractors for managed teams | Pay below legal minimum, long hours, no written contract | We ask for a written contract and confirm pay and hours before work starts. Anyone who works on our managed teams signs a contract in a language they understand. |
| Technology and professional suppliers | Low, mostly well-known firms with their own statements | We check their public policies when we sign a contract. |
05How we look for risk#
- We review modern slavery risk at least once a year, and again when we enter a new country, partner type or service.
- New partners complete a short screening before they send a role. It asks about worker fees, document retention and written contracts.
- We watch for red flags: fees to candidates, a role with no pay or no employer, pressure to move chat to a messaging app, pay far below the market or local legal minimum, and workers who cannot leave.
- Flex rates are shown before you accept a task. We do not offer a task whose rate falls below the local legal minimum for the hours involved.
06Training and awareness#
Everyone who works at PassRidge, including recruiters and the people who vet partners, learns the signs of forced labour and trafficking when they join and once a year after that. They know that a concern goes to a senior person and that they should never confront a suspected offender themselves.
07Reporting a concern#
If you see or suspect forced labour, fees charged to workers or ID being held, tell us.
- Write to [email protected] with the subject “Modern slavery concern”. A senior manager reads it, not your line manager, and replies within 2 working days.
- You can send it without your name. If you do, give enough detail for us to act. A throwaway email address is fine.
- We protect anyone who reports in good faith. Retaliation is a disciplinary matter, and we end our work with partners who retaliate.
- We record every report and the action we took. We will give the number of concerns and what happened in each new version of this statement.
If someone is in immediate danger, call your local emergency number. In the UK, the Modern Slavery Helpline is 08000 121 700. In the US, the National Human Trafficking Hotline is 1-888-373-7888, or text 233733.
08How we judge what we do#
We look at whether partners complete screening, whether any worker has reported a fee linked to us and whether we act within the times we promise. We have not yet had enough history to show a trend, and we will say so until we do.
09Review#
We review this statement every year, or when something changes. See also our privacy notice for how we protect the data of people who tell us about their working lives, and our equal opportunity statement.