# Vacation Policy
FlowForge has a unlimited time off policy. Taking vacation is encouraged for all team members. To prevent an undefined number of vacation days to start a race to the bottom, we recommend each team member to take a minimum of 25 days a year, and at least 5 days a quarter.
# Logging time off
When taking more than 3 days off consecutively, tell (don't ask) your manager. This ensure scheduling of work and operations continue to run smoothly without you. When taking over 2 weeks of consecutively seek approval from your manager.
Before you can take time off you should always:
- Log your time off in BambooHR
- Add an 'Out of office' appointment in your personal Google Calendar, and decline all meetings automatically.
# Sick leave
Sick leave, or having limited availibility is not recorded currently. Keep your manager updated on your health, and let them know what FlowForge can do for you to aid in your recovery.
# Parental Leave
If you live in a country where a statutory Parental Leave benefit is available, you will be required to claim statutory Parental Leave pay (if you are eligible).
Any employee can take up to 6-weeks if they wish without requiring manager approval. We recommend a minimum of 4 weeks, but recognise it's a personal choice to make. Further leave can be requested, but should be discussed with your manager.
If you live in a country that offers statuatory leave longer than this, then FlowForge will abide by this.
# Expenses
The company will cover any reasonable work-related expense, including ensuring you have the equipment (laptop/monitor/accessories) you need to do the job. As an all-remote company, we meet via Zoom. As such, we will cover the cost of a good webcam/microphone/lighting arrangement.
The general rule is: treat it like your own money - seek good value and use common sense. If you do require any equipment, talk to your manager to discuss options.
There are two ways of spending company money - either using a company credit card, or through reimbursement.
# Company Credit Card
We use Brex to provide cards to the team. They are, by default, virtual Mastercards, although there is an option to get a physical card sent out.
All expenses on Brex require a memo to be submitted with details on what the expense is for. All expenses for $25 or more require a receipt to be uploaded. Attaching a receipt to an expense can be done through their web UI, forwarding receipts through email, or through Slack. For a full explanation, please read their docs.
# Reimbursement
If you use your own means to purchase something that ought to be covered by the company, you can claim back the money through work.pilot.co/expenses.
- Create a new expense by clicking Add new expense
- Enter a description, category, price and attach an invoice, then click Add new expense
- This expense will now appear in your "Unreported expenses" list
- Apply a check against the expense in your "Unreported expenses" list then click Create expense report
- Fill out the description fields then click Send expense report
# Asset purchases over $500
Any asset purchase over $500 (laptops, devices etc) needs to be centrally recorded. This is done in a Google Sheet kept in a drive shared with the Finance team that is not generally accessible. Send details of the purchase to the CEO or CTO so it can be recorded.
# Education & Conferences
Continual professional development is very important, and FlowForge will support you in any activities you wish to undertake. Speak to your manager if you have particular material you would like to study, or an event you would like to attend. FlowForge will help cover reasonable costs associated with the activity
- such as travel and ticket fees.
# Software Licenses
Licenses and software assets can be purchased for third-party software will be useful for particular tasks, efforts and processes at FlowForge.
If you are seeking a license of software that we do not currently use, put together a short summary as to the costs associated with the licenses and describe the value that the software would provide. If it would modify the way in which the company operates, then the best place to present this is as a PR to the Handbook. With approval from the CEO and CTO you can proceed with the acquisition of the licenses.
When seeking an additional license for existing software we pay for, file an issue in the flowforge/admin project to request it to be provisioned with a justification on the expenditure. Assign this issue to the CEO or CTO.
# Zoom
When your role at FlowForge requires you to have calls with external parties, a Zoom pro license can be requested by opening an issue to provision you one in the flowforge/admin GitHub project. Assign this issue to the CTO or CEO, who will provision it for you.
# Workspace & Location
As an all remote company we don't have offices. It is envisaged that most people will work from their home the majority of the time. Equipment & Furniture required for a home workspace should be discussed with your manager as part of the hiring process. The company covering certain costs, such as broadband can have tax implications depending on your local legislation. You should consult an independent advisor in your location for your particular situation.
# Coworking space allowance
If you want to occasionally use a separate workspace to your home, the company will cover up to $100 a month in charges for renting a desk in a co-working space on an ad-hoc basis.
If you want to work from a rented co-working space full time this should be discussed with your manager.