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https://github.com/bonusly/un-handbook

Bonusly Employee Un-Handbook
https://github.com/bonusly/un-handbook

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Bonusly Employee Un-Handbook

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README 

        
# Employee Un-Handbook



## Preamble

Ah, the employee handbook. Everyone has had the experience of receiving a weighty tome full of policies, disclosures and legalese on the first day of work. You have to sign a document to attest that you received it. And then you throw it in the recycling bin, unread.



At Bonusly we like to be agile (lowercase 'a') about everything we do. In that spirit, our handbook lays out our values and guiding principles -- in an open-source document that’s easy to read and understand. And because it’s hosted in a public GitHub repo, anyone can view how it changes over time and submit pull requests to update it.



Without further ado, here is the Bonusly Employee Un-Handbook.



## History

The initial version of this un-handbook was created at our first company retreat, when [Bonusly](https://bonus.ly) was a team of seven people. By Q3 2018 we had grown to 22 people, and decided it was time for an update. We spent a half-day soliciting input from the entire team, which the leadership team then synthesized into an updated set of values that was shared with the whole company in November 2018.



Since then, we've continued to evolve this document, with occasional major updates and more frequent small tweaks, corrections, and updates both as a result of internal input as well as pull requests from outside of Bonusly. Thank you to all who have contributed!



We will continue to find ways to solicit feedback and input from the Bonusly community on a regular basis, to ensure that this document scales as we do!



## Table of Contents

1. [What We Believe](#what-we-believe)

2. [Values](#values)

3. [Compensation](#compensation)

4. [Benefits](#benefits)

5. [Time off](#time-off)



## What We Believe

#### At Bonusly, we believe...

 * **People**, working on **teams**, are the primary driver of **business success**.



#### This belief leads us to...

 * Enable high-performing people and teams by delivering an employee engagement and feedback solution that amplifies wins, connects teams, and shares insights.



## Values

They aren't just nice-sounding words on a poster somewhere, but a succinct description of our culture and what it’s like to work here. We use these values to guide our day-to-day activities and decision-making, from how we respond to customer emails to the roles we hire for to the features we build.



* [Trust first and always](#trust-first-and-always)

* [Speak the truth](#speak-the-truth)

* [Raise the bar](#raise-the-bar)

* [Apply common sense](#apply-common-sense)

* [Get it done](#get-it-done)



### Trust first and always

#### Trust is the foundation, given not earned



Trust is the foundation of all our values. And as such, we value it over everything. We believe that trust is given, not earned.



We first have to give trust before receiving it. We assume noble intent in all situations. That means that even if we disagree with someone, we believe that they are coming from a place of goodness.



### Speak the truth

#### Truth enables continuous improvement



With Trust as our foundation, we have the freedom and responsibility to speak openly and candidly about things that can help advance the organization. We are willing to challenge the status quo, ask the difficult questions, state what may not be working and give new perspectives. We express strong opinions without fear, but hold those opinions loosely. We welcome feedback, and give it freely and proactively.



### Raise the bar

#### Challenging the status quo drives excellence



Bonusly, like all startups, is for “pirates & romantics” – people who are constantly, annoyingly, dissatisfied with the status quo. This is the only way that we will succeed: by always imagining how things could be better, and working our tails off to make what we imagine, real.



### Apply common sense

#### Simply solve the right problems



There are infinite problems to solve and infinite approaches to solving them. We will only be successful if we are great at picking the right problems to solve, and the right ways to solve them. Rules and precedents can help, but can also lead you astray. This is hard work that requires reasoning from first principles and focusing on business outcomes.



### Get it done

#### Ultimately, execution is all that matters



Our other values enable us to execute rapidly. Without rapid execution there can be no success. Go get it done.



## Compensation

At Bonusly, we believe compensation should be fair and equitable. We use data to make decisions and take subjectivity out of the compensation process as much as possible, and aim for total compensation to be at or above the market for similar roles at similar companies.  Learn more about our [Compensation Philosophy at Bonusly](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OPYBrKlVRWrlJC6wYl-fkSoLKQOYd01WG3wpVIawJJA/edit?usp=sharing).



## Benefits

### Health/Dental/Vision Insurance

Bonusly offers fully-covered health/dental/vision benefits that are significantly more comprehensive than industry average. Employees can also extend their insurance benefits to their spouse and dependent children. "Spouse" includes partners through marriage, civil union, or registered domestic partnerships.



### Short-term/Long-term Disablity & Life Insurance

Bonusly covers short-term and long-term disability in the event of any potential medical leaves. Life insurance coverage is basic with the option for employees to add on additional voluntary coverage for themselves, a spouse, and children.



### 401k with Employer Matching

Bonusly offers a 401k with employer matching through [Guideline](https://www.guideline.com/). Bonusly matches 100% of the first 3% contributed, and 50% of the next 2% (for a max employer contribution of 4%).



### Professional Development

Bonusly will reimburse approved professional development expenses, up to $1500 per employee per year.



### Wellness

Bonusly will reimburse approved wellness expenses (e.g. gym membership, yoga classes), up to $750 per employee per year.



### Bonusly for Bonusly Employees

We use Bonusly to recognize one another, as well as automate or streamline many other recognition and incentive programs. You can redeem your earnings for gift cards, cash, and charitable donations, and we're always excited about suggestions for new rewards to add to our catalog!



## Time Off

### Vacation

We want you to take the time you need to refresh and recharge. Many startups offer a simple “unlimited vacation” policy. [We view this](http://blog.bonus.ly/unlimited-vacation-is-a-lie/) as lazy policymaking at best and at worst an attempt to subtly discourage employees from taking vacation.



Instead, we set a minimum expected vacation. Our expectation is that everyone will take a **minimum of 2 weeks** (10 days) vacation per year. If you have taken less than two weeks of vacation in a calendar year, expect your manager to talk to you about it.



Can you truly take unlimited vacation? Of course not. You can't expect to take 6 months of paid vacation per year. But, there is also not a hard limit on the number of days off per year that you can take. Between longer vacations and random days off here and there, a typical employee should take enough time off that they are able to sustainably perform their job function at a high level.



Bonusly observes all [US federal holidays](https://www.federalpay.org/holidays), [Native American Heritage Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_Heritage_Day) (Friday after Thanksgiving), and [Indigenous Peoples' Day](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-american-indian/2019/10/11/indigenous-peoples-day-2019/) as paid holidays.



### Parental Leave

We believe that having a great parental leave plan is critical to attracting and retaining top talent who are parents or want to become parents.



We offer 12 weeks paid parental leave, to be taken anytime during your child's first 6 months with you. Also, new parents can bring their immobile infants to work with them. Your new little one is welcome to tag along to work until six months or crawling, whichever comes first. Parental leave is for any new parent whether by birth, adoption, or surrogacy.



*This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.*