SAFE PERSON
Zeya Wei
What is a Safe Person?
A safe person is someone you could talk to when you or another member of the association faced uncomfortable social interaction in the organisation. The situation can normally be an unwanted behaviour, including but not limited to microaggression, discrimination of any kind, or equity-related measures. By reaching out to a safe person, you have the safe space to express your personal experience without judgement, feel heard, and be supported with empathy.
When you reach out to the safe person, you will have space to explain what you think happened. You will feel validated and partnered. If needed, and depending on the case, the safe person will give options for the next step. In each follow-up step, you will be the person to decide what needs to happen, and you will be advised of the pros and cons of each option.
A safe person will, under no circumstances, bring the details of your case without your consent to an external party, unless there are criminal cases involved and there is a legal duty to report if the known action planned may concern potential risks to public safety. In such cases, you will be informed upfront.
If you decide to escalate given options provided by the safe person, the safe person will first assess if you will be the main object to step forward, where assistance can be provided by the safe person, such as arranging the conversation with the safe person in place and preparing with you for the conversation. The safe person will also assess the risk of secondary harm for you to personally step forward and the nature of the external party to be involved. If this becomes the concern, the safe person will get your consent to speak about the nature of the matter, with your identifiable personal details anonymized, with the party for further suggestions.
Specifically, if the third party in issue is concerned about an equity-related action or policy, the safe person will consult with you to see if direct communication with the Chairperson is possible. If the person in question engages in unwanted behaviour and you want to take a follow-up action, the Safe Person will discuss with you the possibility of speaking anonymously with members of the Advisory Board and bring potential follow-up suggestions with you to proceed, such as a supported conversation with the Chairperson.
Who am I?
I'm Zeya, came to Amsterdam as a 19-year-old girl from remote regions in China, who barely passed the IELTS speaking test to study Economics at UvA. At 27 years old today, I have made life-long friends who are magically also Dutch, been through tasteful workplace culture as an HR, and then gone down a career path in an iNGO. I am personally familiar with equity principles, gender-based bias, micro-aggressions, "your English is so good," or not, comments, and glass/bamboo/whatever ceiling problems.
At work, I resolve team conflicts, job design, and motivation questions, and challenges as a first-time people manager. At home and work, I identify myself as a cisgender female with bisexual orientation and a stable relationship with a cisgender female. After all, I am neurodivergent, diagnosed at 24 years old. I may just know a bit of your struggle.
The rule of thumb in such a situation is: when you don't know if you should talk to me, maybe you should. Please hesitate on doubting yourself and not on what will happen after, because that will be my job together with your help ;)