privacy

A. Introduction

Your privacy is extremely important to BetterComp, Inc. and its affiliates ("BetterComp", “we”, “our”, or “us”). Accordingly, BetterComp has developed this BetterComp.com Privacy Policy (this "Privacy Policy") in relation to BetterComp's collection, processing, and usage of data and information obtained through the provision of BetterComp’s Services (as defined in BetterComp’s Subscription Agreement, Data Processing Addendum, and Order Form) and/or your use of BetterComp.com's website (the "Website"). By accessing and using the Website and/or Service, you agree to this Privacy Policy and consent to the data practices set forth herein.

We offer various Services for use by businesses to help them manage the compensation of their employees and attract and retain talent. Our Services for businesses are generally governed by a separate agreement. If there is a conflict between this Privacy Policy and the terms of that agreement regarding the Service for businesses, the terms of that agreement will control and supersede this Privacy Policy. In general, when a business evaluates, purchases, or subscribes to our Services for businesses, or obtains support for such Services, we collect data and information to provide and improve the Service, create improved user experiences, and operate our business.

B. What is Personal Information?

In this Privacy Policy, the term “Personal Information” includes other similar terms under applicable privacy laws—such as “personal data” and “personally identifiable information.” In general, Personal Information includes any information that identifies, relates to, describes, or is reasonably capable of being associated, linked, or linkable with a particular individual.

BetterComp’s business customers (“Customer”) provide Personal Information to BetterComp in connection with BetterComp’s Services (“Customer Supplied Data”). Customer Supplied Data consists of data provided to BetterComp by BetterComp’s Customers including, but not limited to, Personal Information about the Customer's employees. Customer Data is collected by BetterComp's Customers or their agents and is provided to BetterComp in the course of a Customer's use of BetterComp's Services. BetterComp only uses Customer Supplied Data to provide the Services to the applicable Customer, in an aggregated and anonymous format to enrich its market data and compensation databases, and as permitted by the agreement between the Customer and BetterComp.

In the course of BetterComp's Customers' use of any Services, Customer may load Personal Information concerning their employees, contractors, and other individuals into the Services and use the Services to process, handle, or store such information. Customers control and are responsible for correcting, deleting, or updating information they process, handle, store, or otherwise use concerning you, including any data about you that they may load into the Services. BetterComp has no direct control over or responsibility for the data Customers choose to load into or use with the Services. BetterComp is not responsible for the data Customers load into or process, handle, or store within the Services.

C. What Personal Information does BetterComp collect?

In general, we collect Personal Information about you that Customer provides to us, that we receive from our business partners and subsidiaries and third parties, or that we indirectly collect or infer about your activities or usage of our websites, mobile application, or products and services. The Personal Information we collect about you varies depending upon the nature of the services and/or products and our interactions with you, but the following are the general categories of the type of Personal Information we collect.

Personal Information a Customer provides to us.

When a Customer requests products and/or services from us, we ask that Customer provide accurate and necessary information that enables us to respond to Customer’s request. When Customer provides Personal Information to us, we use it for the purposes for which it was provided to us as stated at the point of collection or as obvious from the context of collection (for example producing compensation survey results and consulting deliverables, providing a product price quote, or creating a profile on our websites or mobile applications). We may collect Personal Information such as:

demographic information related to the business performance and operations of our client companies, including, but not limited to, financial metrics, global headcount, global employee distribution and/or locations, and organizational structures/reporting relationships;
demographic information related to the employees of our client companies, including, but not limited to, job titles, job roles, age, gender and individual performance levels;
demographic information such as basic personal details, education & professional experience & affiliations, family, lifestyle & social circumstances, basic HR details and employee performance which provides our clients with an outsourced service;
compensation information related to the operations of our client companies, including, but not limited to, plan documents, pay structures/ranges and plan design, eligibility and metrics;
compensation information related to the employees of our client companies, including, but not limited to, base salaries, allowances, bonuses, and long-term cash and equity incentives; or
other relevant information that may be needed to perform our work, such as occupation, language, zip code, area code, location, and the time zone.

We will not collect any sensitive Personal Information unless this is strictly required. Sensitive Personal Information includes a number of types of information relating to: race or ethnic origin; political opinions; religious or other similar beliefs; trade union membership; physical or mental health; sexual life.

Where Customer provides Personal Information to us about third party individuals, where appropriate, Customer should provide these individuals with a copy of this Notice or ensure they are otherwise made aware of how their Personal Information will be used by us.

Information we collect from your employer.

We may receive information about you from your employer, such as your name, job title, salary history, and other compensation-related information, if your employer has purchased our Services for its business. If your employer is a BetterComp Customer, you can learn directly from your employer about what information it shares with us, which will vary based on the particular Service used.

Information we collect over our Website, mobile applications, and social media.

We may ask you for Personal Information, such as name and contact information, when you register for events, request services, manage accounts, access various content and features, or directly visit our websites. (For purposes of this Policy, "Website" includes our mobile applications.)

In some instances, we automatically collect certain types of information when you visit our website and through e-mails that we may exchange. Automated technologies may include the use of web server logs to collect IP addresses, "cookies", and web beacons.

Social Media.

You can engage with us through social media sites or through features such as plug-ins or applications on our website that integrate with social media sites. You may also choose to link your account with us to third party social media sites. When you link your account or engage with us on or through third party social media sites, plug-ins, or applications, you may allow us to have ongoing access to certain information from your social media account (e.g., name, e-mail address, photo, gender, birthday, the posts or the 'likes' you make).

Content you post.

If you post information when you interact with our website through social media sites, plug-ins, or other applications, depending on your privacy settings, this information may become public on the Internet. You can control what information you share through privacy settings available on some social media sites. For more information about how you can customize your privacy settings and how third-party social media sites handle your Personal Information, please refer to their privacy help guides, privacy notices and terms of use.

Mobile devices.

If you access our website on your mobile telephone or mobile device, we may also collect your unique device identifier and mobile device IP address, as well as information about your device's operating system, mobile carrier and your location information. We may also ask you to consent to providing your mobile phone number (for example, so that we can send you push notifications).

D. When and how do we collect your Personal Information?

We collect Personal Information at the following times and in the following ways:

when you inquire about the products and/or services we offer;
when you procure products and/or services from us and/or become a client or Customer;
when we perform services for our clients/Customers, including, but not limited to, collecting compensation survey inputs and making consulting-related data requests;
when you register with or use any of our websites or mobile applications;
when you visit any of our office sites or register for/attend any of our events;
when we source Personal Information from our business partners, subsidiaries and third-parties;
when you engage with us over social media;
when you contact us with a complaint or a request;
from government entities;
from service providers (i.e., companies who are assisting us in fulfilling our contracts and carrying out our business, such as to perform mailings or to provide customer service); or
from other sources, such as public databases, joint marketing partners, social media platforms (including from people with whom you are friends or otherwise connected) and from other third parties.

E. Web Based Sources of Personal Information we use:

The Website may employ one or more of the following technologies to capture Personal Information such as IP addresses:

Cookies.

Cookies are small bits of data stored locally by a browser that save information and helps the hosting website identify the user upon subsequent visits. Cookies are uniquely assigned to the users' computer and may only be read by a web server located within the domain that originally issued the cookie.

Cookies generally assist users by performing certain functions such as saving passwords and personal preferences for a website. Persistent cookies are stored for a set length of time determined by the web server when it passes the cookie on to the browser and are used to store information between visits to a site. Per-session cookies are used to store information only within a single session and are only cached while a user is visiting the web server that issues the per-session cookie. Per- session cookies are deleted from the cache when the user closes the session. Most browsers allow users to specify whether they would like to accept or decline cookies. Declining use of cookies in conjunction with the Websites or the Service may hinder performance and negatively impact the user experience. Use of cookies or similar technologies by BetterComp's advertisers is not covered by this Privacy Policy and BetterComp does not have access or control over any such cookies or similar technologies.

Clear Gifs

BetterComp and its partners may also employ clear gifs (a.k.a. Web Beacons/Web Bugs), that help BetterComp better manage content on the Websites and in the Service by informing BetterComp what content is effective. Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of Web users. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user's computer hard drive, clear gifs are embedded invisibly on Web pages and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.

Log files

BetterComp gathers certain information about a visitor's visit, access, and use of the Websites and/or Service and stores such information in log files. This information includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and click stream data. BetterComp may use this information which does not identify individual users, to analyze trends, to administer the Websites and the Service, to track visitors' movements around the Websites and the Service and to gather demographic information about our visitor base as a whole.

Payment Information

If you purchase a subscription to the Service or purchase any other product or service from BetterComp, BetterComp may collect and process your payment information, including credit card numbers and billing information, using third party service providers which are PCI-compliant.

F. How does BetterComp use the Personal Information collected and what is the legal basis for such use?

The following is a summary of the purposes for which we use Personal Information together with the legal basis for collecting such information.

Performing services for our Customers.

We process Personal Information which our Customers provide to us to perform the Service. This may impact you, for example, where you are the employee or prospective employee of our Customer. The precise purposes for which your Personal Information is processed will be determined by the scope and specification of our client engagement, and by applicable laws, regulatory guidance, and professional standards. It is the obligation of our Customer to ensure that you understand that your Personal Information will be disclosed to BetterComp.

Administering our client engagements.

We process Personal Information about our Customers and the employees of our Customers to:

carry out "Know Your Client" checks and screenings prior to starting a new engagement;
carry out client communications, services, billing, and administration;
complete client projects;
secure client feedback;
respond to client complaints and requests;
create marketing materials such as white papers, case studies, and social media content; or
contacting and marketing to our clients.

We also process Personal Information about our clients/prospective clients and employees of our clients/prospective clients to:

contact our prospects and clients in relation to current, future, and proposed engagements;
send our prospects and clients newsletters, know-how, promotional material, and other marketing communications; or
invite our prospects and clients to events (and arrange and administer those events).

Conducting data analytics.

We are an innovative business, which relies on developing sophisticated products and services by drawing on our experience from prior engagements. We are not concerned with an analysis of identifiable individuals, and we take steps to ensure that your rights and the legitimacy of our activities are ensured through the use of aggregated, anonymized or otherwise de-identified data.

The categories of information we use to conduct data analytics include:

Basic personal details, education & professional experience & affiliations, family, lifestyle & social circumstances, basic HR details and employee performance.
Job titles, job roles, age, gender, and individual performance levels.
Compensation information related to the employees of our client companies, including, but not limited to, base salaries, allowances, bonuses, and long-term cash and equity incentives.
Other relevant information that may be needed to perform our work, such as occupation, language, zip code, area code, location, and time zone.

If we wish to use your Personal Information for a purpose which is not compatible with the purpose for which it was collected for, we will generally request your consent. In all cases, we balance our legal use of your Personal Information with your interests, rights, and freedoms in accordance with applicable laws and regulations to make sure that your Personal Information is not subject to unnecessary risk.

Legal basis.

All processing (i.e. use) of your Personal Information is justified by a "lawful basis" for processing. In the majority of cases, processing will be justified on the basis that:

the processing is in our legitimate commercial interests, subject to your interests and fundamental rights (e.g. where we use Personal Information provided to us by our clients/Customers to deliver our services, and that processing is not necessary in relation to a contract to which you are a party); or
the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, or to take steps (at your request) to enter into a contract (e.g. where we help an employer to fulfil an obligation to you under an employment contract in relation to the delivery of employee benefits); or
the processing is necessary for us to comply with a relevant legal obligation (e.g. where we are required to collect certain information about our clients/Customers for tax or accounting purposes, or where we are required to make disclosures to courts or regulators).

In limited circumstances, we will use your consent as the basis for processing your Personal Information, for example, where we are required to obtain your prior consent in order to send you marketing communications.

Before collecting and/or using any special categories of Personal Information, or criminal record data, we will establish a lawful basis which will allow us to use that information. This basis will typically be:

your consent;
establishment, exercise, or defense by us or third parties of legal claims; or
specific exemption provided for under applicable laws.

We do not directly provide services and/or products to children (minors under the age of 16), and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children.

G. Does BetterComp disclose Personal Information to Third Parties and for what purposes?

Yes. From time to time, BetterComp may disclose Personal Information to other non-BetterComp entities, such as our business partners. Except as described in this Privacy Policy, BetterComp will only do so with your prior consent. BetterComp may disclose your Personal Information to third parties for the following reasons:

to third party service providers such as entities providing customer service, email delivery, auditing, hosting our Websites and other services;
if we are obliged to disclose your Personal Information under applicable law or regulation, which may include laws outside your country of residence;
in order to enforce or apply our Websites’ terms of use, or to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of BetterComp, our clients, affiliates or other parties;
subject to applicable laws, to respond to requests from courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies, and other public and government authorities, which may include such authorities outside your country of residence;
in connection with the planning, due diligence and implementation of commercial transactions, including a reorganization, merger, sale of all or a portion of our assets, a joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings)—in such cases, your Personal Information will be transferred to the acquiring entity;
in accordance with the separate terms and conditions of use that may apply to you or with your explicit consent; and
we may share information which does not identify and is not linked or linkable to a particular individual (i.e. anonymized, aggregated or de-identified information) with third parties for research, marketing, analytics and other

We request all external third-party service providers to implement and apply security safeguards to ensure the privacy and security of your Personal Information. These third parties are contractually obligated to observe confidentiality restrictions and to use any Personal Information we share with them or which they collect on our behalf solely for the purpose of providing the contracted service to us.

H. Social Media and Third-Party Sites on BetterComp Website

The Website contains links to third party sites that are not owned or controlled by BetterComp, including links to social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. The Website may also contain various social media tools, integrations, or widgets such as the Facebook Like button. These third-party sites and social media tools are hosted and provided by third parties. Please be aware that BetterComp is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites or social media tools. BetterComp encourages you to be aware when you visit any third-party site or use any social media tools and to read the privacy statements of each and every third-party site you visit. This Privacy Policy applies only to the Website and the Service. All third-party sites and social media tools are governed by the privacy policy of the third-party that provides such site or tool.

I. No International Transfers of Personal Information.

BetterComp is located and headquartered in the United States (U.S.) and our Website and Services are hosted in the U.S. BetterComp does not transfer Personal Information outside the United States.

J. Children’s Personal Information Not Collected

The Website and Services are not directed to individuals under the age of sixteen (16), and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from minors under the age of 16.

K. Use of Service Providers.

BetterComp may employ other companies, individuals, or consultants to provide services to users, Customers, and prospects. You agree that BetterComp may share your Personal Information with such service providers in order to provide information, products, and/or services to you. For example, BetterComp may use such service providers to host data and information, send and receive emails, analyze data, provide marketing assistance, process credit card payments, and provide customer service. BetterComp does not transfer Personal Information to service providers located outside the United States. Where a BetterComp service provider’s services involve Personal Information, such services shall be performed by the BetterComp service provider within the United States. BetterComp will ensure that all such service providers adhere to privacy, security, and data handling practices at least as protective as BetterComp's own privacy, security, and data handling practices. However, there is no guarantee that your data will not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards.

L. Security Protocols for the Protection of Personal Information

BetterComp uses reasonable physical, administrative, and technical safeguards to help protect Personal Information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure. BetterComp also requires its suppliers implement measures to protect such information from unauthorized access, use, and disclosure. However, there is no guarantee that your data will not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards.

M. Individual Privacy Rights

Data protection laws vary among countries, with some providing more protection than others. Subject to certain exemptions, and in some cases, particularly if you reside in a jurisdiction with applicable data protection laws, dependent upon the processing activity we are undertaking, you have certain rights in relation to your Personal Information.

Right to access.

You may have the right to access Personal Information which we hold about you.

Right to rectification.

You may have the right to request us to correct your Personal Information where it is inaccurate or out of date.

Right to be forgotten (Right to erasure).

You may have the right under certain circumstances to have your Personal Information erased. Your information can only be erased if your Personal Information is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, and we have no other legal ground for processing the Personal Information.

Right to restrict processing.

You may have the right to restrict the processing of your Personal Information, but only where:

its accuracy is contested, to allow us to verify its accuracy;
the processing is unlawful, but you do not want it erased;
it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, but we still need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
you have exercised the right to object, and verification of overriding grounds is pending.

Right to data portability.

You may have the right to data portability, which requires us to provide Personal Information to you or another company (as controller) in a commonly used, machine readable format, but only where the processing of that information is based on (i) consent; or (ii) the performance of a contract to which you are a party.

Right to object to processing.

You may have the right to object to the processing of your Personal Information at any time, but only where that processing has our legitimate interests as its legal basis. If you raise an objection, we have an opportunity to demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate interests which override your rights and freedoms. We do not sell your Personal Information without your prior consent.

California Residents

California residents have certain privacy rights under California law. California residents have the right to request information about the types of Personal Information we collect, from where we collect it, and with whom we share it. California residents also have the right to request that we delete their Personal Information. We will respond to such requests without discriminating against you for exercising these rights. To exercise these rights, California residents can make a request by emailing security@bettercomp.com. When making a request, please include in your message to us “CCPA Request.”

In this Privacy Policy, we have disclosed the categories of Personal Information we have collected in the last 12 months, from where we have received this Personal Information, why we collect it, and with whom we have shared Personal Information.

Exercising your privacy rights.

You can exercise your rights by contacting us at security@bettercomp.com. Subject to legal and other permissible considerations, we will make every reasonable effort to honor your request promptly or inform you if we require further information in order to fulfil your request.

To verify your identity, please be prepared to submit the following information: your name, zip or postal code, and date of birth. We may ask you for additional information to confirm your identity and for security purposes, before acting on the request. We reserve the right to charge a fee where permitted by law, for instance if your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

N. Retention of Personal Information.

How long we retain your Personal Information depends on the purpose for which it was obtained and its nature. We will keep your Personal Information for no more than the time required to fulfil the purposes described in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is permitted by applicable laws.

In specific circumstances we may store your Personal Information for longer periods of time so that we have an accurate record of your dealings with us in the event of any complaints or challenges, or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation relating to your Personal Information or dealings.

We have implemented appropriate measures to ensure your Personal Information is securely destroyed in a timely and consistent manner when no longer required.

O. Choice of Law, Jurisdiction and Venue.

BetterComp is located and headquartered in the United States (U.S.) and our Website and Services are hosted in the U.S. If you are visiting the Website or providing information from a country outside of the U.S. with laws governing data protection, collection, or use that may differ from U.S. laws, note that you are transferring your data to the U.S., which may have different data protection laws.

By providing us your personal data through your use of the Website or Service, you consent to:

use of your personal data as described in this Privacy Policy;
your personal data being transferred to the U.S.;
the access, use, storage, and other processing of your personal data in the U.S.; and
any dispute arising under this Privacy Policy shall be decided in the courts located in Contra Costa County, in the State of California, United States of America, applying California state law or U.S. federal law, as appropriate. Such courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction and shall be the sole venue for such dispute.

P. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will post the current version on this site, and we will revise the version date located at the bottom of this page.

We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy so that you will be aware of our privacy practices.

Q. Contact Us

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact BetterComp at security@bettercomp.com or by calling +1 415-289-9825.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on September 9, 2021.