Here are the new and revised guidelines for HR processes and making our daily work in the office as effective and productive for everyone as it can be. These are not rules but guidelines, they’re meant to give some direction about the practicalities of working at Kinder and are aimed at helping you be the Kindest teammate that you can be! :)

Daily Guidelines

Why:

The purpose of the dailys is two-fold.

• For your teammates to see what you’re doing and to check that you’re not both working on the same thing or maybe to offer some assistance. Even if the rest of the Kinder Office doesn’t understand specifically what you’re writing (for example coding/technical language) certainly your direct teammates will know what it means.

• For the management team and those doing project managing to get a better idea of what stage everyone is at in their various projects.

Process:

1. Add your to do’s to the #daily channel in the morning, ideally, within an hour of starting your day.

2. Then share what you actually ended up doing at the end of the day right before you finish working.

3. The morning daily indicates what you intend to work on, while the evening daily communicates what you actually did.

Advice:

Instead of just writing down the broad project that you’re working on. Try and write down the specific tasks that you’ll be tackling for the day.

Be as specific as possible, but don’t worry if you end up doing something completely different. That’s why we have the end of the day dailies.

More reasons to keep up with your dailies (courtesy of Linsey):

“You might wonder, why would I share my daily to-do list with the rest of the Kinder crew? And why in god's name would I ever let anyone know if I actually accomplished anything I said I would?

Accountability can be a b*tch, we all know that. The transparency hype is totes overrated. It is true that a daily may seem schoolish, but with our (arguably) flexible work hours or the option to work remotely, there is no way to know for sure if someone else is also riding that awesome wave of spontaneous creativity today. Working on your projects in isolation is the way to go for some of us, and your daily is the perfect opportunity to let everyone know you are socially checking out and unavailable for wishy-washy chit-chat. But honestly, you are not a radio (just sending, no receiving)!  You also like to know what everyone else is up to, and who you can reach when you are in a pinch.

Most would agree this is all fairly helpful. But why does it feel like we have to clock out at the end of the day with our accomplishments? Really, because we do, and it is sound practice when you do not want others to repeat the work you just wrapped up. Its a quick and easy way to update all relevant stakeholders on the current status of your projects.”

- Linsey Groot

Extra - Example of Daily:

Start of the Day:

Working From Home Guidelines

Why:

In an ideal world, we’d like to have everyone in the office as much as possible because it is easier to work together, to share ideas and to communicate with one another on shared projects when we’re all in the same room! However, that’s not always possible. Which is why we have the option to work from home on occasion.

Generally speaking, working from home should be the exception and not the rule. As you will see in the ‘advice’ section, it’s an option to be used at your discretion.  

Working from home can sometimes be an effective way of getting deep work done and cut out all regular office distractions. We’re asking you to be honest with yourself. Do you really get more work done in a remote location or at home than in the office? If so, keep up the good work! If not, find out how to optimise working from the office (and don’t hesitate to ask for help to get there).

Process:

1. Decide to work from home after checking in with the rest of your team and at least a week in advance. (of course in emergency situations that’s not possible).

2. Post in your daily that you’re working from home and why. If you know in advance add it onto your Google Calendar entry.

3. Let Shona know (so that she can keep her team admin up-to-date).

4. Make sure that you keep everyone who needs to be informed up to date and be approachable via Slack and/or WhatsApp.

Advice:

The name of the game is consciousness! Basically, make the decision to work from home consciously, and have a good reason for doing so. We need you to be responsible with your choices, we're a startup and need everybody really on top of their game, delivering high-quality work and taking ownership in our development.

We understand that learning where and how you work most effectively is a trial and error process. To help you make the decision here are some guidelines/rules of thumb:

• Don’t work from home simply because you are expecting a delivery or have an appointment.

• Do, whenever possible, schedule deliveries or appointments on your day off. You can always have packages delivered to TQ!

• If you’re feeling just a little sick, come to the office for a bit first and see how you feel. The change of scenery, taking in some fresh air, and having your colleagues around you might just be the distraction you need to feel better. (Of course, if you have a long commute coming into the office for only a few hours might not make much sense - this is where your judgment and conscious decision making comes in.)

• Do work from home if there is some kind of emergency such a plumbing troubles, or if you’re feeling well enough to work but are contagious to others.

• Of course, we understand there will always be exceptions to these guidelines.

• A few such exceptions can be period cramps (which can be really physically debilitating) or for example not being able to leave the toilet for more than 10 minutes. You probably feel fine mentally, but might not be able to move from your spot physically. This is why we love laptops! Wrap yourself in hot water bottles or camp out in your powder room with all the essentials to get some deep work done.

Holiday Guidelines

Why:

We want a happy and productive team which means we want a well-rested team! We want you to take enough time off to reload and recharge so you can be at your prime when working. In order to be productive and produce high-quality work, getting enough rest is just as important as hard work. The well known on and off switch :)

Process:

For every full working year, based on a full-time position and a contract with a specified amount of hours, you’re entitled to 20 vacation days (So working 32 hours, for example, gets you 16 days), excluding national holidays. Of course, if you also want to work on the national holidays then you are welcome to do so! 

If you have a zero-hour contract, vacation days and holiday pay are already included in your hourly wage. So if you don’t work because you’re taking a vacation, you don’t count the hours.

1. Discuss your holiday dates with the rest of your team.

2. Once the team agrees to them you can discuss them with the Operations Team (Shona).

3. Once they have been agreed by the Operations Team they will put the dates on the Google Calendar & keep track of them.

Advice:

• When booking your holiday dates, the sooner the better! The more warning we have the easier planning and project management becomes.

• Make sure there is always someone from your team working (if your team consists of more than one person ;) )

• At the busiest times of the year, we’re aiming to have as few people as possible away on holiday. For example, if we’re having an event, such as our Kinder Conversations we’d aim not to have anyone away on holiday.

Extra -  National holidays:
These are the days you have off, without having to use your vacation days:

First Christmas day (Tuesday the 25th of December 2018)
Second Christmas day (Wednesday the 26th of December 2018)
New Year’s Day (Tuesday the 1st of January 2019)
Kingsday (Saturday the 27th of April 2019)

* Please note that you don’t have to worry about needing to use your vacation days for religious holidays. They are not on our standard list of official holidays as we can’t account for every holy day of every religion, but you can always come and talk to Laura about taking these days off.