# **TL;DR: New Leave Policy**
*Our current leave policy has not been adhered to of late, and is not relevant to the company today. Our new policy will give flexibility to all members of the team, allow them to be paid for leave if they prefer, stop people losing leave days from year to year and ensures we are compliant for all of our different international contracts by adopting a rolling bank system of leave*

HackMD URL: https://hackmd.io/pUF1nJl2TxSeaBFaInGF-Q

# **Intro**
***Problem to be solved/ User story***

*The current leave policy is ambiguous and is not actually implemented, while there are discrepancies regarding local regulations. It also results in people losing days from year to year and doesn’t give the flexibility we would like the team to have*

* *Team members lose any days they haven’t taken in their current anniversary year*
* *Team members don’t have the flexibility to be paid for leave instead*
* *There are many doubts and questions from team members about how things work and their local holidays*
* *We have team members on 4 different types of employment contracts + contractors, so a solution to having a blanket policy is not easy*
* *Having contractors in twenty different countries also makes it more difficult to find a balance*
* *Calamari (current time of system) has some limitiations and may no longer be fit for purpose*
* *There is not clear idea on how we want to go forward as a company with regards to leave and time off*
* *There are potentially some team members who are not taking their time off and could be burnt out*
* *The current policy has strict rules on when to give notice for leave which doesn't give the team flexibility*
* *Team members have doubts about different types of time off e.g. PTO, conference time, sick days etc.*

***Define your User/Customer/Consumer***
*The Leave Policy applies to all members of the team*

***How is it currently solved?***
*The current policy is loosely with a lack of clarity for team members, and sometimes on a case by case basis.*

*Team members are given 30 days PTO on their first day at the company and these are renewed on each anniversary date. The policy states that if they are not used they will expire, however this hasn't been actioned and team members still have these on their avaiable Calamari balance.*

*Team members are asked to check with their "team" before requesting leave, and give as much notice as possible before requesting time off.*

*There is some ambiguity regarding manual adjustments for team members whose local contract entitlement is more than 30 days per year.*

***The New Solution***
*When team members join balena, they will be allocated 12 days of leave (paid time off) as a starting point. Then, with each month worked, team members will accumulate 2.5 additional days of leave per month in their “bank” of leave. Team members can accumulate and carry a balance of up to 50 days in their “bank,” beyond which they will stop accumulating any additional days.*

*If a team member does hit the cap of 50 days in their “bank” in a given month, they will be “paid out” for the additional 2.5 days they would have otherwise accumulated that month, at 70% of a normal working day’s salary. This option exists for all full time members of the balena team regardless of their status as an employee or contractor.*

*Team members who have a local contract will have the option to take their local holidays or take leave when they prefer. The new policy covers all local regulations with a few exceptions, and these members of the team will receive manual adjustments on their anniversary date.*

# Implementation
***Proposed Implementation (1 or multiple)***
*Research local regulations for all members of team based in local offices and for contractors to see where we stand with the current policy.*

*Consider all current problem factors and how these can be resolved, e.g.*
* *How to be paid instead of taking time off*
* *How to ensure we meet legal obligations*
* *Can Calamari accomodate our needs?*
* *What type of system can provide flexibility & stop people losing time off year to year*
* *What allowance suits us as a company?*
* *What are similar companies doing at the moment?*

*Create proposal incorporating all of these factors, including a transition period to present to the strategy team*

*After being signed off by the CEO, the policy can begin to be implemented. The new leave system should already be set up on Calamari/ a potential new time off system, and the final policy to be added to the wiki.*

***Migration Plan***
*If the new policy can function on Calamari it will continue to be used at the time off system. If another system is needed, various will need to be tested and tried to discover another which fits our needs more accordingly.*

***Release Plan***
*The new policy should be implemented from around 1-2 months after sign off from the CEO and the release schedule for a specific date.*

*A call should be organised with teamOS, operations, and the strategy team as they will be involved in explaining and managing the new policy. Once this is clear, People Operations will share a copy of the new policy on the release date to then walk through it on an All Hands presentation the same week, also giving the team the opportunity to ask any questions they may have. TeamOS will also be available in the following weeks to answer any other questions that may come up.*

***Resources Need***
*N/A*

***Potential Issues/Risk/Blockers***
*Function of Calamari to address our needs*
*Availability of strategy team to be able to review and discuss proposals*
*Small numbers of local legislations which could create more obstacles*
*Team not on board with changes*
*Not a huge priority compared to other company needs*

# Milestones
* ~~Research local laws for contractors~~
* ~~Establish a thorough understanding of local legislation where have employees~~
* ~~Conduct research on similar companies in the market~~
* ~~Present information to strategy team based on findings~~
* ~~Discuss different ideas and pros/cons of each~~
* ~~Research current leave system capabilities~~
* ~~Gather feedback and present final proposal to strategy team~~
* ~~Identify transition strategy~~
* Sign off from CEO
* Confirm implementation date
* Discussion with Calamari relating to smaller/ non-essential features to be implemented
* Walk through with strategy, teamOS & operations
* Publishing new policy on company Wiki
* All hands presentation with all members of the team~~

**Links & References**

Flowdock thread
https://www.flowdock.com/app/rulemotion/t-specialops/threads/qgfzVUimzHRm6EGxKVK5ERfoUeg

New Policy in full
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16TkoJ6ShlU50xZfwILFSieZu2Ude-wja73a-m9uq2E8/edit#

Planning & regulations sheet
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G8GClFHVBC6Xu1mCA-8fmiLJo7HDvITDUzm3dPlLeVI/edit#gid=836376607

Initial Time off Analysis
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vFGXD1Fdp2IiUMM7myknVTsSMYXRqtKGY-13hHNSP8c/edit#gid=121246692

Initial Spec
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZqefeU6ZoDtUZr6DsbmgCIhDUybFdhcqq46vkTK-MH4/edit

Team members requiring adjustments
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-zhUtTyeMEKy1ilOolfT_d0iqikWE9EhmJ_f_dilHWo/edit#gid=0