FAQ on employment policies
1. Everyone is treated the same.
There are no exceptions to the employee handbook or negotiated deals for new hires. We all live and play by the same rules.
This is why we eliminated sales commissions and any other preferential compensation. Everyone also has the same vacation plan.
2. We assume you’re an adult.
The Employee Handbook is there to cover the rules — but the less we need it, the better. In general, we assume you’ll manage yourself and make reasonable, responsible choices.
If you do good work in your own way, we don’t care how you do it. You’ll work how you work best, you’ll have flexible hours, you’ll spend what you need. (This does not include telecommuting. We still need you around, live-and-in-person, the majority of the time.)
If you’re a screw-up, the specific rules don’t matter because we’ll get rid of you.
3. Time off is good for you.
We close the office for 8 official days plus the last week of the year. On top of that, you get 12 vacation days and accumulate more each year.
- You don’t need to ask permission to take time off — just go.
- We want you to use your vacation days — so you lose them at the end of the year if you don’t use them.
- Every employee has 12 sick days. Do not come to work sick and infect the rest of us. We’ll send you home. We assume you have the common sense to understand the severe impact you will have on a small office if you infect your colleagues.
- Do not work at home when you’re sick. Spend the day getting better. (We don’t want your half-done-while-sick work anyway.) This isn’t optional.
4. Work hours are flexible.
Give us a good week and work hard. Other than that, we don’t care which hours you work. Most of us start early and leave early, and the office is usually empty after 5:30. We rarely work weekends.
Whether you’re a slacker or a performer, the specific hours don’t matter either way. It’s what you deliver.
5. Bonuses and profit sharing.
The whole company will be part of a company-wide bonus program in 2012. It’ll be a group program where we all get a share of a common pool that rewards increased revenue and decreased costs.
We have an open-books policy and all financials (except payroll) are shared with everyone.
6. Read a lot, please.
We support your personal and professional development with an unlimited budget for business books and magazines. We’ll also give you an $80 eBook reader subsidy.
Everyone gets subscriptions for Inc., Fast Company, and Wired.
7. Benefits.
- 401(k) plan, but no matching
- $50/month gym subsidy
- $50/month smartphone subsidy (you have to get your own phone and plan)
- Great health plan. We pay 90% of the employee costs. You can add family coverage at your own expense.
8. You choose your career path.
Everyone has their own spot on the org chart. In a business this small, it’s hard to move up — because we only have a few layers. But you’re at the top of your own pyramid — you can build a department underneath you. As you deliver more and show leadership, you’ll need help. People will start working for you, and we’ll get you the team you need. You can take this as far as you want.
Or… if you love your job, there’s no pressure to become a manager. You can continue to do what you love to do, while still growing professionally (and earning more money).
9. How to get a promotion.
You decide how fast and how far you want to go. We’re growing fast, so there will be senior roles and more responsibility when you’re ready. We’ll give you lots of chances to take on new projects and challenges.
Your advancement is self-paced. Show us that you’ve mastered 1) the tools, 2) the general industry knowledge, and 3) the specific knowledge and skills necessary to do the job you want. When you do, we’ll give you the chance to try something new.
What won’t work is expecting advancement because of seniority — we don’t reward people for doing the same thing; we reward them for growing. Don’t expect to learn a new job after you get promoted — show us that you’ve been developing the skills necessary for the next role and we’ll give you the chance to use them.
10. You always know where you stand.
We don’t believe in a formal annual review. We give frequent feedback — good and bad. We also give promotions and raises when they are earned, as often as you earn them, instead of waiting for some arbitrary date.
11. Travel.
Travel is exhausting but necessary. We try to minimize it.
Every year we produce 8 conferences around the country and we have a staff retreat in Chicago and Austin. Most staff go to most of these (new staff are required to). We rotate who attends to spread out the fun and work. We also encourage staff to extend their visits and take some vacations in the cities we’re visiting.
Other than that, we rarely require travel. We don’t often go to conferences, make in-person sales calls, or anything else that puts us on the road.
