Our Commitment

The Independence Charter

These are the five things The Respect Index will not do — stated publicly so that users, journalists, and the companies we track can hold us to them.

We take no money from companies we track.

The Respect Index does not offer paid placement, sponsored scores, "verified partner" programs, or any product that lets a company purchase a higher score, a removed report, or a preferred position in search results. We are funded by users, not by employers. This is not a policy we apply selectively — it is a structural rule with no exceptions. If that ever changes, we will say so publicly before the change takes effect.

Reports are never removed because a company complained.

An honest account of a hiring or separation experience — even a sharply negative one — is not grounds for removal. Companies may file a formal dispute only on four grounds: documented factual inaccuracy, a clear violation of community guidelines, no verifiable professional relationship between the reporter and the company, or mistaken identity. Every dispute is reviewed against the original submission. Complaint volume alone does not trigger action. See our dispute process for the full standard.

We will never build a pay-to-respond product.

There is no subscription, program, or paid tier that gives a company privileged access to moderate, suppress, or respond to reviews in a way not available to all companies. Company responses to public reports are permitted at no cost and are clearly labeled. We will not build a tiered system where companies that pay get features that disadvantage unverified reports or displace critical content.

All scoring methodology is public and will remain public.

The complete explanation of how Ghost Scores, Process Scores, and Separation Scores are calculated — including weights, bias corrections, and confidence thresholds — is published at our methodology page and will remain publicly accessible without restriction. We will not move methodology behind a paywall or obscure the rules that govern how companies are ranked.

If this platform is acquired, user data is deleted first.

If The Respect Index is ever sold or transferred to new ownership, all user-identifiable data — confirmed email addresses, session hash mappings, draft records, and account information — will be deleted or made permanently unrecoverable before the transfer is completed. Historical reports and aggregate scores are platform data; individual identity records are not ours to transfer.