The Helpline

Wellspring is a full-service People & Culture management consulting firm serving mission-driven organizations across North America. 

We empower your leadership to create psychologically safe and equitable workplace cultures, improve employee engagement, increase retention, and drive exceptional performance.

When you submit an inquiry through our Helpline webform, a certified Wellspring Provider will review your submission and respond to you using your preferred contact information within 1 business day.

If your Helpline submission requires more than a simple and straightforward answer to a question via email, our providers will connect with our Wellspring HR Business Partners Team to help service any ongoing needs you may have.

Employees will also have the option of submitting anonymous reports or questions. However, please keep in mind that the comprehensiveness of Wellspring’s support and the applicability of our providers’ consulting depends heavily on the context you are able to provide when submitting a Helpline report or inquiry.

We understand that some employee concerns occasionally require long-term support. Wellspring providers excel at making informed referrals to additional resources and support systems that will help meet your needs.

In cases that require our team to address more serious challenges in your workplace, Wellspring is equipped to provide technical assistance through our HR Business Partner Services and long-term Equity Coaching programs. Through these secondary services, we provide our partners with opportunities to improve their competency in cultivating equitable and inclusive workplaces and address serious concerns related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging with qualified Human Resources professionals.

Wellspring Providers and our HR Business Partner services have collaborated to support employees and employers confronting a wide variety of inquiries and reports related to equity, inclusion, and belonging. We created a list to provide some examples of cases we have helped resolve with resources, support, and policy intervention.

Keep in mind that this list is not exhaustive. If you believe that sharing an inquiry or report could improve inclusivity or create more equitable operations at your organization, you should feel free to use the Helpline for that purpose.

Here are some examples of how our clients have used the Helpline in the last two years to resolve challenges or questions about DEI in the workplace:

• Reports of microaggressions or racially charged behavior or commentary in both interpersonal and online settings.
• Reports of civil rights violations and/or the creation of hostile work environments (such as the direction of racial epithets at individuals in the workplace)
• Reports of sexual harassment, as well as inappropriate or unwanted romantic advances
• Reports of misgendering
• Reports of an outing of an employee’s sexual orientation
• Questions about how to deal with the abuse of power dynamics, particularly in situations where someone with greater authority insults or abuses someone with less authority in the workplace
• Questions about how to have difficult conversations about race, gender identity, and ageism in the workplace
• Questions about how to have difficult conversations about favoritism and nepotism in the workplace

When you submit an inquiry to the Helpline, you may provide personal information (e.g. name, email address, phone number), and therefore your submission can be linked back to this information. While we will protect your personal reports and inquiries, the connection between your submission and the contact information you provide will be known to Wellspring.

We will also provide you with an option to submit an anonymous report, which will mask contact information that is submitted from Wellspring Providers. Please note that submitting an anonymous report will limit Wellspring's ability to respond to the report appropriately in the case that the matter needs to be escalated with your employer.

The terms of our Confidentiality Agreement prevent Wellspring from sharing any identifying information about your Helpline submission, except in cases in which any number of the following four circumstances occur:

1. Your inquiry illustrates behavior that could potentially violate labor rights or anti-discrimination laws.
2. You request that you would voluntarily like for Wellspring to assist you in filing a formal report of workplace misconduct or harassment with the appropriate officers of the organization at which you are employed.
3. You express that you are considering hurting yourself or others, or know of someone who is seriously considering hurting themselves or others.
4. You agree to allow Wellspring to make a referral to a healthcare provider on your behalf.

These circumstances are rare. But if they do occur, Wellspring will work closely with you to share the appropriate information with Wellspring’s Human Resources Business Partner Services and, if necessary, the appropriate Human Resources leaders of your organization and/or any other mandated authorities.

Wellspring will continue to honor strict confidentiality for all submissions, even if a matter must be escalated.

We also have a duty to warn you, as the source of a report, before you share any information. Our Providers will provide you with a disclaimer before responding to your submission. For example, we will let you know that should you describe any illegal activity, such as a violation of labor laws, we are mandated reporters of such violations. 

In a case where it is necessary to escalate your report, Wellspring will continue to take every possible step to ensure that your confidentiality is protected but we will not always be able to guarantee your anonymity.

You can count on Wellspring’s Senior Certified Human Resources professionals.

Any reports or questions which may need to be escalated and resolved by your employer will be supported by Wellspring’s wealth of Human Resources experience across a wide variety of global industries, which has been certified by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Our Human Resources subject matter experts have supported multinational institutions with tens of thousands of full-time employees, national nonprofit organizations, and start-ups building their first teams.

We know how to ensure that your organization supports your needs as an employee and respects you as a member of their community. Wellspring couples our HR leadership expertise with our capacity to provide advanced DEI support to ensure that your employer can respond to cultural, ethical, and equitable issues in the workplace.

Wellspring’s Providers specialize as DEI coaches and certified practitioners. While some of Wellspring’s Providers are licensed behavioral health professionals, such licensure is not a requirement for Wellspring certification. When working with an employee, a Wellspring Provider will occasionally conclude that the employee might be well-served by addressing the impact of a reported issue within a culturally responsive, therapeutic environment with certified mental health professionals who meet behavioral health provider standards as set forth by the state and federal statutes.

If this is the case, or if an employee requests a reference to such a professional, as part of our helpdesk protocol, our team of Providers will be encouraged to make sound referrals to an approved list of mental health providers in your local region, especially with practitioners who are able to provide effective mental health care services to people who share a racial, ethnic, or cultural affinity.

We look forward to serving your community and contributing to a workplace environment that protects and promotes the principles of equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Please let us know if you have any questions about Wellspring or our Helpline services by contacting us at [email protected].