Since all our people currently work in Australia, this section is written with that as the default perspective. Some benefits don't make sense in other countries. We will try our best to provide comparable benefits and perks outside Australia as it makes sense, though.
To start with, you naturally (because it's the law) get everything the National Employment Standards entitle you to in terms of leave and conditions. Do yourself a favor and read about it at the Fair Work Ombusdman site.
We monitor industry salaries annually and do our utmost to pay in the top 20%, based on skills and experience, for every position at the company. Salaries are standardised on the Canberra market.
If you are under treatment or recovery for a serious medical condition and are unable to work because of it, work with your management to discuss options. We can offer a small degree of flexibility and extra days on a case-by-case basis. These days are an emergency reserve, separate from your normal personal leave entitlement.
We offer the required leave allowances in Australian law. We considered doing the unlimited leave thing, but it's a major hassle to administer. As far as we're concerned, if you need a couple of extra days, no problem. Just discuss it with us. The period from COB December 24 through the first working day after 1 January is considered shutdown. You're not expected to take leave during this time, and nor are you expected to turn up to work. You still get paid.
We make every effort to work a Monday-Thursday work week during the Australian summer (or wherever your summer is if you're not in Australia). Summer hours run from November 1 to February 29. If you have responsibilities with a client that mean you have to work on a Friday, you are expected to take an alternate day off (usually the following Monday, or we accrue you time-off-in-lieu to a maximum of 10 days if you're stuck on-site). Summer weeks are 4-day work weeks, so when a public holiday occurs over summer, you can take the holiday off or your normal summer day off (but not both). Any additional days off would count as rec leave days.
While this isn’t a formal benefit, we encourage normal, healthy work weeks. We don’t want people working more than 37.5 hours a week in any sustained fashion. We expect that you'll work something between 32 and 36 hours each week. In a crisis, or a once-every-couple-of-years special push, we may require very short-term extended hours, but otherwise, we strongly encourage a 4-5 day week, and 8 hours of sleep a night.
Every three years, employees are eligible to take a one-month-long sabbatical. This is in addition to your long service leave entitlements under Australian law. Just give a heads-up preferably three months in advance, so we can coordinate the workload accordingly. This leave does not accrue like long service leave does - you take it or you don't.
When you welcome a new baby, we encourage you to take up to 26 weeks parental leave, at 100% paid salary. All the other rules and eligibility around parental leave apply as they do under the National Employment Standards.
Just that. More than the base. You nominate your own fund of choice. If you don't have one, we will help you establish one. Our funds of choice are Australian Ethical and Future Super.
We will pay up to $100/month for your gym membership, yoga studio membership, or whatever activity you do to stay in shape. If it’s not organised fitness, that’s okay, too. You can use your allowance to pay for race registrations or even new running shoes. It doesn't accrue, so use it or lose it. Claim it as an expense.
Every month, you can expense up to $100 towards a service or experience as a part of our employee wellbeing program. Stay loose. Like fitness allowance, it doesn't accrue.
Fresh, organic, local fruits and vegetables are great to have on-hand so we'll pay for a local CSA membership for you. It's up to you to find a supplier, and then expense the cost up to $1,000/year. If there's no CSA near you, we'll subsidise your grocery shop at an organic food store.
If you’re interested in taking classes to learn something new or further a skill, we’ll cover $1000 annually. It’s up to you; the point is to learn something that you feel enriches you as a person.
When you donate money to a registered charity, acidlabs will make a matching gift to that charity on your behalf. Divide your donations between as many recipients as you want. We'll match up to $1,000/year per employee. Your charity must be registered. Donate more, and we'll certainly think you're awesome, but we'll only match the first $1,000.
As an alternative, you can do a Volunteer Day for a registered charitable organisation of your choice.
Since you probably work remotely, we want to make sure your home office is comfortable. You can expense up to $1,000 to furnish your home office, every three years.
We will pay up to $100/month for you to use towards renting coworking space in your city. Please make sure you're using a true coworking space that's meant solely for working, not a club or social space.
If you work in Australia, you should carry an acidlabs Amex card in your name. You can use the card for any work-related expenses such as travel, software, or office supplies. Please keep scanned receipts. If you're looking at buying software, check if we already have a license. If you need workshop supplies and such, check on stock as well. If you have any doubts about whether or not to expense something, just ask. When you do buy something with the card, get a receipt! Lodge the purchase in Xero and take a photo of that receipt and attach it. If you can’t use the Amex and have to use a personal card, add it to Xero as an expense to be repaid to you.
We have no expense policy. We trust you to spend money wisely. If you’re booking a flight, you don’t need to buy the cheapest, 2-layover redeye; buy the convenient, well-priced seat. If you’re attending a conference or meeting on behalf of us, we will buy your meals. Just try to stay away from lashing out like a crazy person at dinner. Try to limit conference travel to once or twice a year, and don't extend your hotel stay too far to either side of the conference schedule.
If you have questions about what “spend it wisely” means, just ask!