Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 7, 2026

1. Information we collect

Account information

When you create an account we collect your name, email address, and password (stored as a one-way hash). You may optionally provide a phone number and company name. If you sign up with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile photo URL from Google's OAuth service; no password is collected in that case.

Booking & payment information

When you book a consultation we record the date, time, duration, timezone, service selected, any notes you provide, and your answers to intake questions set by the consultant. You can book as a guest without creating an account; we collect your name and email address to send the calendar invite.

Payments are processed by Stripe; we store Stripe's transaction identifiers (payment intent ID, session ID, charge ID) so we can reconcile charges and issue refunds. We never receive or store your credit-card number; that stays with Stripe under their own privacy policy.

CRM data (consultants)

Consultants using the Benchwork workspace can store contact records (name, email, job title, company, LinkedIn URL, notes, outreach status), deals, projects, tasks, and time entries. This data is entered manually or imported from Google Contacts with the consultant's explicit consent.

AI assistant

The workspace includes an AI assistant. Messages you send to the assistant and any CRM context it references (contact names, deal values, task titles) are transmitted to Google's Gemini API for processing. When you ask it about your own Google data, that data is sent too: calendar events for the period you asked about, a Google Doc you chose for meeting-notes extraction, or a Drive file you attached to the chat. This happens only in response to your request, to produce the answer you asked for. The assistant may also store short memories of your preferences to improve future responses. Gemini's data handling is governed by Google's Gemini API Terms of Service.

Meeting recordings

Consultants can have a notetaker join their video meetings to record and transcribe them. The notetaker is run by Recall.ai, and transcription is done by ElevenLabs. About a day before a recorded meeting, attendees outside the consultant's team receive an email asking whether they consent to being recorded. If anyone declines, the notetaker does not join that meeting. Recordings and transcripts are visible to the consultant and the teammates who were in the meeting; an attendee who asks for the recording is emailed a link to it.

Assessments

If you complete an assessment on our site, we collect your name, email address, and your responses. Results are used to provide your assessment score and may be used to recommend relevant consulting services.

File uploads

Consultants can upload files (images, documents) to tasks and profiles. Uploaded files are stored on our cloud storage provider (Supabase). We store the file name, type, and size alongside the file itself.

Session data

Our server logs the IP address and browser user-agent string associated with each session for security and debugging purposes.

2. Google user data

Benchwork offers two kinds of Google integration, each with its own consent flow and scopes.

Sign in with Google

When you sign in or register with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile photo via Google's standard OpenID Connect flow. We use this only to create or authenticate your account.

Workspace integration (consultants)

When a consultant connects their Google account in the workspace, we request several OAuth scopes. The consultant sees exactly which permissions they are approving on Google's consent screen.

Non-sensitive scopes

These scopes provide basic account identity and per-file Drive access. They do not require additional verification.

Scope	What we access	Why
openid	A unique account identifier	Associate the Google account with the consultant's Benchwork profile
userinfo.email	The primary email address on the Google account	Identify which Google account is connected; display it in Settings
userinfo.profile	Public profile name and photo	Pre-fill account name and avatar when signing in with Google
drive.file	Individual files the consultant picks via the Google Picker. Google Docs are exported as plain text. We cannot list, search, or browse the consultant's Drive; only files they explicitly select are accessible.	Extract action items from meeting notes, and attach a chosen file to an AI assistant conversation

Sensitive scopes

These scopes access private user data and are subject to Google's verification process.

Scope	What we access	Why
calendar.readonly	Event titles, descriptions, start/end times, organizer email, attendee names and email addresses, and Google Meet links from calendars the consultant selects. Also reads the list of calendars on the account (name, color, access role).	Calculate available booking slots, display upcoming meetings in the workspace dashboard, and surface meeting context (attendees, agenda) for the CRM
calendar.events	Creates, updates, and deletes calendar events. New events include a summary, description, start/end time, timezone, attendee email addresses, and an auto-generated Google Meet link. Updates change the time for rescheduled bookings. Deletions remove cancelled booking events.	Both parties automatically receive a calendar invite with a video-call link when a booking is confirmed, an updated invite on reschedule, and a cancellation notice if cancelled
contacts.readonly	Names, email addresses, job titles, company names, and LinkedIn URLs from the consultant's Google Contacts	Import contacts into the CRM workspace so the consultant doesn't have to re-type them, and fill in a contact's name and title when the consultant adds someone by email
gmail.send	Sends one email from the consultant's Gmail account. We cannot read, search, or list any email.	Send an email the AI assistant drafted, only after the consultant reviews it and clicks Send

Calendar event data is cached locally and refreshed periodically (past 14 days through 60 days ahead). Events that move outside this window are deleted. Contacts are fetched when the consultant starts an import; when the consultant adds a contact by email, we also look up that one address in their Google Contacts. There is no background sync of contacts.

We do not read Gmail (we can only send an email the consultant chose to send), list Google Drive files, or access any Google data beyond the scopes listed above.

Meeting notetaker (Recall.ai)

Turning on auto-record is a separate Google consent with its own, narrower scopes:

Scope	What we access	Why
calendar.events.readonly	Events on the consultant's primary calendar: times, titles, attendees, and video-call links	Find the meetings the notetaker should join
userinfo.email	The email address of the Google account	Confirm which calendar the notetaker is reading

The refresh token from this consent, and only this one, is shared with Recall.ai so its notetaker can read those events and join the meetings. Recall.ai never receives the workspace token above, so it cannot send email, read contacts, or open Drive files. Turning auto-record off, or disconnecting the Google account, removes the calendar from Recall.ai.

3. How we use your information

Provide the service. Display consultant availability, process bookings, generate meeting links, send confirmation and cancellation emails.
CRM functionality. Let consultants manage contacts, deals, and outreach within their workspace.
AI assistant. Process chat messages to answer questions and propose actions within the CRM.
Communication. Send transactional emails: booking confirmations, cancellations, rescheduling notices, consultant-application status, team invitations, and welcome messages. We do not send marketing email.
Security & abuse prevention. Detect unauthorized access, investigate incidents, enforce our terms.

4. Google API Services: Limited Use disclosure

Benchwork's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

In plain language, this means:

We only use Google data for the features described in this policy. Calendar data determines availability, creates booking events, and lets the notetaker find meetings. Contacts data populates the CRM. Drive data is limited to files the user selected. Gmail is used only to send an email the user chose to send.
We transfer Google data to third parties only to provide those features: Recall.ai receives a calendar-only token to run the notetaker, and Google's Gemini API processes data the user asked the AI assistant about. Otherwise we transfer it only as required by law, or as part of a merger/acquisition with equivalent privacy protections.
We do not use Google data for advertising, for training machine-learning models, or for any purpose unrelated to the core product functionality.
Humans may view Google data only when the user has given affirmative consent (e.g., a support request), when necessary for security purposes, or when required by law.

5. Data storage & security

Encryption at rest. Google OAuth tokens (access tokens and refresh tokens) are encrypted in the database using application-level encryption. They are never exposed in API responses.
Encryption in transit. All connections to Benchwork are served over HTTPS/TLS.
Password hashing. User passwords are stored as bcrypt hashes and cannot be retrieved in plain text.
Access control. Google data imported into the CRM is scoped to the consultant who connected the account. Other users and consultants cannot access it.
Private file storage. Files attached to an AI assistant conversation, including files picked from Google Drive, are stored in a private bucket and are only accessible to the consultant who attached them, through links that expire after five minutes.
Token expiry. Google access tokens expire and are refreshed automatically. If a refresh fails, the connection is deactivated and the consultant must reconnect.

6. Data sharing & third parties

We share data only with the third-party services required to operate the platform:

Stripe: payment processing. Receives booking amounts and payer details necessary to charge the card. Governed by Stripe's privacy policy.
Google (Calendar, Contacts, Drive, Gmail): workspace integration. We read and write data through Google's APIs as described in Section 2. Governed by Google's privacy policy.
Google (Gemini API): AI assistant. Chat messages, relevant CRM context, and any Google data you ask the assistant about are sent to Gemini for processing. Governed by Google's Gemini API terms.
Recall.ai: meeting notetaker. Receives a calendar-only Google token (see Section 2) and records the meetings it joins. Governed by Recall.ai's privacy policy.
ElevenLabs: transcription of meeting recordings. Governed by ElevenLabs' privacy policy.
Mailgun: transactional email delivery. Receives recipient email addresses and message content for the emails listed in Section 3.
Supabase: cloud file storage. Stores uploaded files (profile images, task attachments, team logos) and, in a private bucket, files attached to AI assistant conversations.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We do not embed third-party analytics, advertising pixels, or social-media tracking scripts.

7. Data retention

Account data is retained for as long as your account exists.
Booking records are retained indefinitely for financial and legal reporting.
CRM contacts imported from Google are retained until the consultant deletes them. Deleting a contact in Google does not automatically delete the CRM record, because the consultant may have added notes, deal links, or status information that should not be lost.
Google OAuth tokens are deleted when the consultant disconnects the Google account or when the token can no longer be refreshed.
Session logs (IP address, user agent) are retained per the default session lifetime.

You may request deletion of your account and all associated data at any time by contacting us (see Section 12).

8. Your rights & choices

Revoke Google access

You can disconnect your Google account from Benchwork at any time in Settings → Connected Accounts. This deletes the stored tokens immediately and removes the calendar from the Recall.ai notetaker. You can also revoke access from Google's security settings.

Export your data

Delete your account

Contact us to request account deletion. We will remove your personal data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law (e.g., financial transaction records).

EU/EEA residents

If you are located in the European Economic Area, you have additional rights under the GDPR, including the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict processing, data portability, and to object to processing. Contact us to exercise any of these rights.

9. Cookies

Benchwork uses only essential cookies required for the application to function:

A session cookie that keeps you logged in.
A CSRF token cookie that protects form submissions from cross-site request forgery.

We do not use advertising cookies, analytics cookies, or any third-party tracking cookies.

10. Children's privacy

Benchwork is not directed at children under the age of 16 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will delete it.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this privacy policy to reflect changes to our practices or for legal reasons. When we make material changes, we will update the "Effective date" at the top of this page and notify registered users by email.

12. Contact us

If you have questions about this privacy policy, your data, or your rights, contact us at:

Benchwork Email: [email protected]

This policy applies to the Benchwork platform at benchworkhq.com. It does not cover third-party services linked from our site; please review their policies separately.