From FreekiWiki

Introduction

The staff handbook will be a collection of the essential policies and procedures we expect a staff member to be aware of. The online version will be the most up to date, but if needed we should be able to print out a hard copy for new staff members to formally agree to when they are hired.

Advances on payroll to staff members

Policy

Body that set the policy(s) on [lists.freegeek_meeting_Minutes Date Adopted].

There is no guarantee that Free Geek will be able to give an advance to a staff member, however we recognize that there will occasionally be a need for an advance.

• Advances should be cleared through the C7 committee.
• An advance should not exceed forty percent of the amount the worker normally receives in a paycheck (before taxes).
• Advances should not be routinely given out over several consecutive months.
• In no circumstances will an advance be given out if the C7 committee believes there will not be enough funds to cover the advance and the normal cash flow needs of Free Geek.
• If the total amount owed exceeds forty percent of the worker's normal paycheck (before taxes) or if there has been no payment in a three month period, then C7 will arrange for automatic deductions that would pay off the debt within a year's time.
• Staff may get paid early: A staff member may receive an advance for up to her whole paycheck if it is paid back with her next paycheck.

Arriving Late and Cancellations

Policy

This is a long standing policy, set by the staff collective prior to 2005.

If the day that the staff member needs off or will be coming in late is the first time he/she knows or communicates about it, then the following procedure should be followed. The goal is to get the information to the people who will be most affected, if not the entire staff.

Do enough of the below so that you know the whole staff will be aware of your absence/lateness. Of course, if you've suffered a concussion and therefore can't get to a phone or email, we'll understand. Just do what you can.

• Send an email to staff AT freegeek DOT org
• Phone the front desk 503.232.9350 x221
• Try to make phone contact with a staff member by way of his/her cell phone

If phone contact is made with a non-absent staff member, the non-absentee must send an email to the staff list (if this hasn't already been done) and tell other staff at Free Geek, especially the front desk staff, as soon as possible.

Collective Member Review Policy

Purpose

The HR committee realizes that feedback is an integral part of making sure individuals in the collective are working in line with the mission and principles of Free Geek and therefore doing useful work. Many collective members have said that they would greatly appreciate such feedback. The committee therefore has decided to implement collective member reviews. The purpose of collective member reviews is to:

• Help collective members align themselves with the expectations that are placed on them,
• Assist collective members to acheive the self- and group-given goals for their positions,
• Give a forum for feedback on individual collective members, and
• Where appropriate, assist the collective in deciding whether to accept a probationary worker into the group.

If a member of the collective has difficulties with another, he or she should speak to the individual in person first if at all possible. The review should not, in most cases, serve as the first notification of problems.

The review should be a forum in which the person being reviewed is recognized for his or her successes as well as offered guidance from the rest of the collective on how to do things differently for the betterment of the organization. It's the responsibility of the review panel to take into account time constraints, skill level, interests, etc. when suggesting improvements. The review panel should work together with the reviewee to create a practical, reachable set of goals for him or her. These goals should be as specific as possible and should include the reviewee's own goals as well as those from the rest of the collective.

Procedure

Timeline

All regular collective members receive reviews every year-and-a-half. All reviews which are slated to happen during a given quarter of the year will happen in quick succession, so that we can get them done with quickly. This way, the HR committee won't be constantly plagued with the oversight of reviews. This gives us a review schedule such that we'll perform reviews in:

January (Winter)

April (Spring)

July (Summer) and

October (Fall)

In a given quarter, each review should occur within about a week of the other reviews. So, if there are three reviews scheduled for July, they should be given once a week for three weeks. Also, since the reviews happen so closely together, one Review Panel will be chosen to conduct all the reviews for that quarter.

General

• All collective/probationary members must fill out review forms for each other collective/probationary member.
• The HR committee can call for a review at any time.
• Anyone can come to the HR committee and suggest a review of any collective member (even for themselves).
• If an HR committee member has a review called for them by another collective member, he or she may not participate in choosing the review panel.
• HR committee nominates 2-3 people to comprise the Review Panel for the quarter and the staff collective OKs it. The Panel will generally be made of those who work closely with the reviewees. The HR committee may need to shuffle some reviews around a little so that no one is on the review panel for his or her own review.
• After the review panel has been chosen, it conducts the rest of the reviews for the quarter, including emailing out forms (located on ryukin), tallying them, performing the sit-down review with the reviewee, recording new goals that have been set, and other exciting and intriguing tasks. To see the full breakdown of the responsibilities of the review panel, see the page on that subject.
• After each review has been completed, the review panel will report to staff at the next staff collective meeting. If the reviewee is a probationary member, the staff will then decide whether to accept them into the collective, ask them to leave, or keep them as a probationary member.
• 2 to 3 month after a review HR will meet with the reviewee and go over the progress in achieving the goals set during the review

Probationary Members of the Collective

When we hire someone into the collective, they are a 'Probationary Collective Member' first. A 'Full Member' is a collective member that has passed through the 6 month probationary period and the collective has agreed to grant full member status. The probationary member's initial 3 months will help the collective get to know them a little better. At 3 months an informal review will occur to check in with the probationary member, convey staff's feeling about their performance, and set goals for the probationary review at 6 months. The probationary member will also have a 'Buddy', someone to do check-ins with, ask questions of, and generally help them through the acculturation process (see Orienting New Staff Members for more info on the steps we take to acculturate new collective members). Then, at 6 months, they'll receive a review. When the review panel reports on the review at the next staff meeting, the staff collective will decide whether to:

• Let the probationary member into the collective,
• Terminate the probationary member, or
• Give the probationary member a 3-month extension to work out issues that arose in the review.
  • If the probationary member is given a 3-month exttension, the HR committee will assign a Resolution Committee to the probationary member.

If the collective decides to extend the probationary period, another review will be given 3 months later, or approximately 9 months from the original date of hire. The review panel will again report to the collective, which will decide whether to:

• Let the probationary member into the collective or
• Terminate them.

Note that if, after their 6- or 9-month review, we terminate a probationary member, we don't expect that we'd want them to stay on for a transitional period (we also wouldn't expect that they'd want to!). In the end, though, we'll deal with this situation on a case-by-case basis.

When an individual enters the collective, they will receive a review every year-and-a-half starting from their initial hire date.

Confirmation Process

At the staff meeting following the 6- or 9- month review of a probationary collective member, we'll do the following:

• The entire collective listens to the report from the review panel
• The reviewee then leaves the room so the collective can speak unhindered about how to proceed
• When granting a probationary member full status, the collective must come to consensus in order to move forward. If the collective cannot come to consensus the probationary member is not granted full status and his/her employment must be terminated.

Converting Interns to Collective Members

Policy

At the Council meeting September 15, 2004

An existing non-collective worker may be moved directly into a collective position that's sufficiently similar to their current work without going through a lengthy, biased hiring process if the collective can reach a unanimous decision (no stand asides).

notes

Context

The staff collective would like to be able to (in certain circumstances) move an intern or another paid person from a position outside the collective into the collective without going through an open hiring process. For example, Kathie and Marlin both started at Free Geek through the SMS program and (before we had a hiring policy) we decided to include them in the collective, rather than leave them hanging while we went through an open hiring process. The same might apply to interns paid by Free Geek.

We recognize that this could open us up to some scenarios we'd rather avoid, so we'd like the Council to help us formulate a policy on these matters.

The conversation in staff so far has hit several points, among them:

• We would want every member of the collective to be unanimously behind (consensus with no stand asides) having the person in the collective.
• We don't want to create a system that could become open to "nepotism" or whatever -- that is people's friends can slip in under the radar by becoming an intern and then "just sort of" tranisition to full staff members.
• We don't want to leave good solid candidates for a job hanging when they are already doing the job and have support of the current collective and the Free Geek community at large.
• We do want to outreach to diverse communities and fresh perspectives as needed.
• The current hiring process for a collective member tends to be more rigorous and usually wider open than for an internship position. This makes it easier for us to hire interns that are often people who need to build up a resume and have proven themselves as volunteers but we don't expect to qualify for a collective level position. We think that's a good thing (the ability to hire people who need to build up a resume), since there's no other place for them on the Free Geek staff, and we don't want that good thing to go away.

So taking all that (and more I'm sure) into account, what kind of policy can we create?

Determining Seniority Policy

Policy

This policy was proposed by a subcommittee of Geiner, Kathie, and Richard, posted to the staff email list, and then discussed and agreed upon at the weekly staff meeting on April 16, 2004.

Seniority is defined using a 'who started working as a paid collective member earliest' criteria.

If a worker ceases working at Free Geek for a period of more than one year, that worker loses their seniority. If they are re-hired within one year's time, their seniority remains intact.

Note

(Another twist we considered would have been to limit the number of times a person can be gone for up to a year without losing seniority. For example, we could have said it can only be allowed to happen once. The full staff has not talked about this yet, but could implement policy regarding it in the future.)

Current Ordering of Seniority

(in order of hire date)

1. Richard Seymour -- That Man Behind the Curtain
2. Kathie Hitchcock -- Reception Coordinator
3. Dave Haskins -- Production Co-coordinator
4. Liane Kocka -- Recycling Coordinator 1
5. Michael Westwind -- Technical Support Coordinator
6. Alison Briggs -- Volunteer Trainer/Coordinator
7. Jeff Robinson -- Laptop Production Coordinator
8. Luiz Sudbrack -- Store Coordinator
9. Matteo Bell -- Production Co-coordinator
10. Sergio Garcia -- Online Sales Coordinator
11. Laurel Bates -- Education Coordinator
12. Mary Kate Watson -- Office Coordinator
13. Ian Young -- Production Coordinator
14. Darryl Kan -- Recycling Coordinator 2

Free Geek Structure

Free Geek is governed by its workers and volunteers. It's a complicated place and there are numerous working groups and committees involved. Here's a rundown in a nutshell

Programs

These directly work to fulfill the mission of Free Geek. Some have meetings or associated email lists and queues in RT.

• Adoption Program - Work 24 hours, earn a computer
• Build Program - Learn to build computers, keep the 6th you assemble
• Gapsters - Computers intended for free internet access which we supply to coffee shops & other public places.
• Hardware Grants - Grants out computers and other hardware to non-profits
• Thrift Store - Reuses (in the form of sales) many inexpensive gizmos and a few fancy ones, too.

The Big Three

decision-making and work-doing bodies

Board of Directors

The board is responsible for fiscal and legal oversight of the organization. It is made up of people elected by the Community Council.

Community Council

The council is open to all volunteers, staff, and other interested community member. It looks at the long term picture of Free Geek and sets general policy. It coordinates policy making between the various working groups as needed. (See the Founding Document of the Council for more details on the scope of the council.)

Staff Collective

The staff collective is responsible for day to day operations and is made up of hired staff members.

Working Groups

Groups are volunteer driven and are designed to support the various programs at Free Geek. They tend to meet after hours and have associated email lists and queues in RT.

ASS

Volunteer system administration

<ass AT freegeek DOT org>

Coders

Volunteer programmers

<coders AT freegeek DOT org>>

Core

Volunteers working in the day to day operations of Free Geek. ("The Core" is more of a descriptive term than a cohesive working group.)

<core AT freegeek DOT org>>

Hardware Grants

Volunteers helping to distribute hardware to organizations (apart from the Build and Adoption programs).

<grants AT freegeek DOT org>

Community Builders

In charge of room use, tabling, relations with neighbors, and networking with other organizations.

<commies AT freegeek DOT org>

PR

In charge of media outreach & relations, ads & marketing, the main Free Geek website, and corporate donations solicitation

<pr AT freegeek DOT org> OR, if someone from the media is asking, then <press AT freegeek DOT org>

Inreach

In charge of tours, volunteer rewards, core breakfast, front desk, public email addresses (like Volunteer@ and Info@), and large donation thank you notes.

<inreach AT freegeek DOT org>

Events

In charge of Free Geek parties and festivals, like Geek Prom, Geek Fair, and the holiday party.

<events AT freegeek DOT org>

Optimization and Priorities group

A Council workgroup which discusses what we're already doing and how we can do it better, compares proposals for expansion, & helps people turn their ideas into reality.

Standing Staff Committees

These standing committees of the Staff Collective are designed to oversee all the areas of Free Geek, implementing policies that are set by other groups and making policy suggestions to those other groups. Each committee has a mailing list and a queue in RT. Standing committees are ongoing. Ad hoc committees are temporary.

Standing Action Committee

Mission: Building and equipment security, staff and volunteer safety, supply, waste removal, and the sale of scrap material.

Programs: Recycling, receiving, maintenance and design of the physical plant, building security, general safety, relationships with neighbors.

Current Staff Members: Darryl, Ian, Liane, Matteo, Sergio

Email: action at freegeek.org

Standing C7 Committee

Mission: The standing committee structure, liaison with board and council especially regarding policy development, financial considerations.

Programs: Policy development, load balancing of the committees, liaison with Free Geek Community Council and Free Geek Board of Directors, nominations to the various committees, proposals concerning changes to the committee structure itself; volunteer and staff scheduling; accounting and financial oversight.

Current Staff Members: Ali, Mary Kate, Dave, Michael, Richard

Email: c7 at freegeek.org

Ad Hoc Events Committee

Mission:

Programs: In charge of major Free Geek parties and festivals, like Geek Prom, Geek Fair, and the holiday party. Meets seasonally, as needed. Generally, monthly for a few months before an event, then every other week, then weekly, then freak out right before the event.

Current Staff Members: Ali, Jacob, Kevin, Luiz, Laurel, Mary Kate, Sophia

Email: events at freegeek.org

Standing HR Committee

Mission: Provides oversight for those areas of Free Geek pertaining to the health and well being of volunteers and staff.

Programs: Human resources, volunteer and staff discipline, procedures regarding theft from Free Geek, mediation between conflicting parties, staff and intern reviews, health care and benefits packages, employee manual, oversee the hiring process.

Current Staff Members: Ali, Dave, Laurel, Michael, Richard

Email: hr at freegeek.org

Standing Inreach Committee

Mission:

Programs: In charge of tours, volunteer rewards, core breakfast, front desk, public email addresses (like Volunteer@ and Info@), and large donation thank you notes. In charge of room use, tabling, relations with neighbors, and networking with other organizations.

Current Staff Members: Ali, Jacob, Kathie, Laurel, Mary Kate

Email: inreach at freegeek.org

Standing Knowledge Bees Committee

Mission: Facilitating access to information through documentation, training and support.

Programs: Education, documentation, liaison with Distro group, technical support, Free Geek library.

Current Staff Members: Laurel, Liane, Michael

Email: grok at freegeek.org

Standing PR Committee;

Mission:

Programs: In charge of media outreach & relations, ads & marketing, the main Free Geek website, fundraising, grants, membership development, tabling, networking with other organizations, and corporate donations solicitation. Also oversees fundraising, grants, and membership development.

Current Staff Members: Ali, Dave, Jeff, Kevin, Laurel

Email: pr at freegeek.org

Standing Propagation Committee

Mission: Outreach to organizations to promote reuse of hardware and use of Free and Open Source Software.

Current Staff Members:

Programs: Liaison with Free Geek startups (the replication of Free Geek elsewhere), liaison with GAP volunteers, Hardware Grants.

Current Staff Members: Ian, Matteo, Richard, Vagrant

Email: propagation at freegeek.org

Standing Reuse Committee

Mission: The testing, building, refurbishing, and sales of reusable equipment.

Programs: Freekbox, storebox, grantbox production, build, laptops, testing maintenance and development; retail sales, eBay sales; printer refurbishing and sales; locate, evaluation, and put oddball hardware into reuse; wholesale or bulk sales of to-be-recycled parts.

Current Staff Members: Dave, Ian, Jeff, Luiz, Matteo, Sergio

Email: reuse at freegeek.org

Standing Technocrats Committee

Mission: The selection or creation, maintenance, and technical security of hardware and software used at or installed by Free Geek.

Programs: Liaison with Coders group, liaison with ASS group, liaison with Distro group, selection of software commonly used at Free Geek, computer security, technical infrastructure.

Current Staff Members: Lantz, Michael, Richard, Vagrant

Email: technocrats at freegeek.org

Ad Hoc Staff Committees

From time to time, there are also ad hoc committees that meet while needed before disbanding. Examples of this would be:

Interview committee

Recommended by HR and approved by the collective to interview people applying for paid staff positions

Resolution Committee.

Recommended by HR and approved by the collective to bring to resolution issues that could result in the termination of a staff member if not dealt with.

Review Panel

Recommended by HR and approved by the collective to coordinate reviews of collective members.

Hiring Policy

http://lists.freegeek.org/pipermail/council/2003-April/000474.html

1. Priorities -- The Council work group Optimus Prime formulates hiring strategy and policy, including setting priorities about which positions should get filled first.
2. Job Description and Criteria -- The Council discusses positions as they come up, reviewing and developing jobs descriptions and the criteria for hiring people to fill positions.
3. Implementation -- The Staff then implements Council policy and does the actual hiring.

(Note: We also discussed the reality that there are different kinds of vacancies. In some cases, people are already working at Free Geek either unpaid positions or positions paid from outside sources. If the "new" position simply amounts to a change in funding, an actual hiring process may not be needed, but this gives rise to new complications. For instance, there may be more than one person in the Free Geek community who can do the job, so an internal process is still needed).

The staff has developed a Hiring Checklist as a procedure to implement the above policy.

Locks

Policy

• HR committee on December 20, 2006
• Staff amended this to cover paid interns on March 28, 2008

After hours when there's no event or meeting only authorized keyholders can be in the building. A keyholder can make instance by instance exceptions to this rule, providing keyholder stays in building and is responsible for those persons. Such exceptions should be reported to the staff list for review.

Notes

To Receive a Key

• All staff collective members should have keys
• Paid interns are granted keys as needed
• Core volunteers who need a key must first
  • be approved by staff via staff meeting
  • oriented to closing procedures
  • added to the locks list
  • Introduced to every-one via the locks list.

Purging the locks list

The combination or locks may be changed when we suspect security has been breached. When the locks or the combination is changed, everyone will be removed from the locks list and re-added as they make it known they need access (and if necessary, are re-approved).

History

We used to have a combination lock box with a key inside, now we issue keys.

See also

• Keyholders
• Residence Policy

Paid Internship Policy

Policy

This was approved at the Free Geek staff meeting of May 21, 2004. based upon an ad hoc committee report and policy proposal. The Staff Categories policy enacted in March 2007 changed things a bit.

It's noteworthy that, prior to March, 2007, the term "Exploratory Interns" was used in the place of "Exploratory Workers", and these workers were considered another type of paid intern. Just to help you through all that older documentation.

Definition of Paid Internship

• Paid, or Job Experience Interships are designed to help people learn skills and gain some resume quality experience.
• Paid Interns are paid hourly. Unlike Staff Collective members, they do not receive health care, vacation, sick, retirement, or holiday benefits.
• Paid Interns, along with other staff and key volunteers make up Core.

Duration of Internship

Paid Internships are limited to six months with a review mid term.

• We set Paid Internships to a maximum length of six months, with a 3 month review. However, if necessary, the collective can decide to extend the internship once for specific period not to exceed three months. This option should be rarely used.
• The internships are limited to a single term because we want to extend the opportunity for a paid internship at Free Geek to as many of our community members as possible.

Expectations for Paid Internships

• Job Experience Interns are expected to work on the day to day functions in the area to which they are assigned, including training volunteers in that area if appropriate.
• Collective Members, by contrast, are expected to understand how the various areas of Free Geek interact and work on the long term goals of the areas to which they are assigned.
• It's a good idea for paid interns to take on a project towards the end of his/her internship. This project could be created during the intern's review. The skills, aptitudes, and personality of the intern should help determine the shape of the project.

(NOTE: This does not preclude interns from working on the longer term goals. It is simply out of the scope of expectations for the internship job descriptions.)

Becoming a Collective Member

Free Geek always holds an open hiring process for collective positions, even if a prospective collective member is already an intern. However, there a mechanism for circumventing that in exceptional cases.

Changing Between Types of Worker

If we change a Job Experience Internship into an Exploratory Position, or vice versa, we will go through a standard hiring process, including developing and posting a new job description.

Notes

Related policies

• Converting Interns to Collective Members
• Staff Categories

Hiring Paid Interns

Paid intern hiring committees should keep in mind that we're hiring for "aptitude, not experience". This should be reflected in all facets of the hiring process, including hiring criteria, interview questions, and thinning, and candidate choice.

Receiving and depositing money

The jobs of receiving money for Free Geek, recording it in the books (or accounting software), and depositing that money should be split between at least two separate people. Under normal circumstances:

• The C7 committee designates who on staff can receive money and who can do the books.
• The CT committee recommends to the board who can deposit the money.
• C7 should design appropriate procedures for tracking money that comes in.
• The person receiving the money (receiver) is responsible for following procedure, recording the amount and other information, and putting the money in a secure location.
• The person doing the books (bookkeeper) is responsible for following procedure and correctly entering the transactions in the books (or accounting software).
• The person depositing the money is responsible for getting the money safely to the bank and reporting the deposit information to the bookkeeper.

It is likely that the receiver and the bookkeeper will be the same person. If a check comes in the mail it should be given to a receiver. Front Desk and Thrift Store staff must be able to be receivers.

Resolution Committee

Initial thoughts on how a resolution committee could work. These are off the top of my head, may be incomplete, and I reserve the right to change my mind on all this.

1. A resolution committee (RC) is composed of members of the staff collective selected by the Human Resources committee (HR) when a problem or group of related problems involving a staff member arises and reach(es) a critical level.

   (I think we should add something about the membership of the RC: it should have a mix of people: those most involved in the situation, plus one or two members from outside the situation. -- Shawn)

   • The procedure for establishing a Resolution Committee:
     • HR committee recommends that a Resolution Committee be set up and suggests the committee's make-up; HR also suggests the scope of the Resolution Committee.
     • The staff collective discusses these recommendations and approves them or something.
2. An RC is always created within the framework of the current grievance and discipline policy as agreed to by the staff collective. This policy is not outlined here, but must be followed by the RC. (This would include documentation of incidents, warnings, meeting professional goals, etc.)
3. An RC is charged with the task of resolving the problem(s). The RC's first duty is to specify the scope of the problem(s) and communicate that to the staff collective and any others are likely to be directly affected by the problem. The staff collective should raise any concerns, including changes in scope and the appropriateness of the RC's formation at the first available opportunity. The staff collective may require the HR to dissolve the RC, re-form it, or adjust its scope.
4. An RC is empowered to communicate with all other groups, committees, and individuals at Free Geek for the purpose of investigating the problems within its defined scope.
5. An RC must propose a recommended strategy for resolving the problem as quickly as possible and in the best interests of Free Geek as a whole. This strategy should be outlined in specific steps that can be implemented to address the problem.
6. The RC may put items on agendas of any group at Free Geek in order to bring the problem(s) to resolution. These items should be dealt with by those groups as items with a high degree of importance.
7. An RC may recommend to the staff collective that a staff member be terminated. In this case, the reason for termination must be specifically described and the decision must be considered by the whole staff collective. The person under consideration for termination must be able to speak, but is not allowed to block the decision of the larger group. The person under consideration for termination may choose a representative, either a third party or another member of the staff collective to speak on his or her behalf as well.
8. An RC must report on its findings in writing to the staff collective and any others are likely to be directly affected by the problem.
9. An RC is automatically dissolved when its recommended strategy is proposed, items have been placed on the appropriate groups' agendas, and its written report has been provided to the staff collective.

(What if the issue happens again? New RC? Perhaps it dissolves after a set amount of time? -- Shawn)

Staff Categories

In general staff means anyone who is paid by Free Geek to work at Free Geek. (Note: often when people use the term "staff" they use it as shorthand for "staff collective".)

Workers that get paid through outside agencies (i.e. paid job training programs) and volunteers (even volunteer interns and core volunteers) are not considered staff.

Collective positions

This is the group of people who are hired on a long term basis to oversee all the day to day work at Free Geek. While each member has areas of specific responsibility, each member also takes responsibility on some level for the whole thing. That is, while other staff members can say "not my department -- go bug someone else", collective members have to at least know where to direct issues, and ultimately deal with them if needed. Collective positions are salaried and come with benefits (health care, paid holidays, vacation/sick days, and 401(b).)

Probationary collective members vs. full collective members

Collective members have a six month probationary period, after which they are full collective members. During the probationary period the individual and the collective need to decide if the person is a good match for the position and the collective. When figuring out how long someone has been in the collective we go by the date they were hired into the collective (not the date they gained full status).

There are some concrete duties that all collective members share:

• a collective member must serve on at least one of the Standing Staff Committees. (A full time member serves on two of these committees.)
• a collective member attends and participates in staff meetings, including rotating through the facilitator and scribe roles.
• a collective member takes responsibility for overarching management of organization.
• a collective member has to deal with volunteer complaints and discipline problems as they arise, rather than pass them off to someone else.
• a collective member participates in peer reviews of other staff and collective members.
• a collective member coordinates volunteers as an expected part of their job.

Paid internships

Interns are staff members that work for a limited amount of time in a targeted area. These positions are aimed at people needing job skills, for example young people right out of high school or college. Interns are usually part time workers, and they usually work for about six months. Interns are paid an hourly wage. Being an intern at Free Geek does not lead to a position in the staff collective.

Exploratory positions

Exploratory positions are paid positions that are set up so we can try out a new program and see if it merits a new collective position, an internship, or something else. Workers in these positions are paid an hourly wage.

Substitutes

Substitutes are people that fill in when the schedule has gaps in it due to staff members leaving, getting sick, or taking vacation or leave. There is no guarantee of work continuing or regular work. Substitutes are paid an hourly wage.

Committed non-collective positions

Committed non-collective staff members are paid to work at least 24 hours per week and have negotiated a commitment to work at Free Geek for at least one year with the staff collective. These positions are paid an hourly wage. They receive a week's paid time off (for vacation and sick days) per year, and receive Free Geek subsidized health care benefits.

Nothers

There have been other staff positions than those listed above. For example we have had "contract workers" cover many of the duties of build coordinator, tech support coordinator, and printer coordinator in the past. These people are paid an hourly wage.

Issues, solutions, and ideas

Ideally, a worker collective is an egalitarian group of people where everyone has equal access to decision making. There are limits to how pure we can be with this ethic, however. For instance, we need substitute coverage that is by nature very part time and sporadic, and it's impractical to bring all substitutes, however temporary their status, into the collective.

Another issue arises when someone who contributes well to Free Geek but does not want to take on the added responsibilities that go with being in the collective. Too many people like that fosters a situation where the collective shrinks in size to the point where it's a small group of managers compared to a larger pool of workers, even though no one in the collective wanted that to happen!

We can impose limits that force us to keep things relatively non-hierarchical, however. One idea is to impose ratios.

Minimum hours floor

Another area that some worker collectives develop policy around is how many hours a collective member must work in order to remain in the collective. For instance, anyone working less than twenty hours per week might be dropped from the collective, as remaining in the collective requires a certain amount of commitment in terms of hours. (20 hours is an arbitrary figure. People's Coop uses the 28 hours and is currently making exceptions for two people.)

See Also

The staff collective has approved a Staff Ratios proposal that uses these definitions.

Staff Discipline Policy

Scope

This policy addresses problems with Free Geek staff collective members that affect Free Geek as an organization.

This should include escalating steps designed to deal with problems before they get out of hand, and if necessary, bring problems to a satisfactory and fair resolution without trampling on anyone's rights.

The intention of this policy is to solve problems by working directly with collective members in a humane way.

When does this apply?

The following actions are examples of what might bring the staff discipline policy into play. It isn't a complete list.

• Job performance.
• Repeated tardiness or absence, especially without adequate warning.
• Stealing.
• Violation of Free Geek policy.
• Physical or verbal abuse towards another staff member or volunteer.
• Illegal activities.
• Bringing firearms onto the premises.
• Falsely stating or making claims of injuries or illness.
• Sexual harassment.

Note about avoiding conflict on a grand scale: reviews and individual-to-individual.

One-on-One

Less formal talk between the disciplinee and another staff collective member. This might happen a few times. In serious cases, this step can be skipped.

Formal Meeting

Small group of people that documents what has already happened, including a summary of informal and one-one-discussions that have transpired. Formal Staff Discipline Meeting Procedures are followed. This step might happen a few times.

Written Agreement

If the situation requires it a written agreement will be produced by the formal meeting. This is an agreement with the disciplinee about how to rectify the problems. A hard copy must include the date and be signed by the disciplinee and a representative of the formal meeting.

Resolution Committee

A resolution committee is a formal committee whose makeup is suggested by HR but finalized upon by the staff collective. This commitee has the power to suggest termination and put items on the agendas of any Free Geek meeting in order to see that the problems get resolved.

See the Resolution Committee page for details on how a resolution committee works.

Action by Whole Collective

• An RC may recommend to the staff collective that a staff member be terminated. In this case, the reason for termination must be specifically described and the decision must be considered by the whole staff collective. The person under consideration for termination must be able to speak, but is not allowed to block the decision of the larger group. The person under consideration for termination may choose a representative, either a third party or another member of the staff collective to speak on his or her behalf as well.

Leftover notes snippet

First thing Resolution Committee would do is state why we're in the place we're in: legitimate or no?

1. Talk to the person to raise issues and get their side of the story.
2. Talk to the person as a delegation of the HR committee and create a written agreement.
3. Form a resolution committee to deal with the issue and consider termination of the staff member.

Staff Vacation Policies

Policy

Approved at a staff meeting April 4, 2008.

Rate of Accrual

Collective members accrue sick and vacation time at the rate of 3.6 weeks per year. This is a straight fraction of every hour paid that currently works out to 0.0692 hours for each hour worked. There is no difference between sick and vacation time in terms of accounting.

Taking hours before they have accrued

Collective members must have already accrued their vacation hours prior to taking the vacation time. However, the collective member should be allowed to take sick time in advance when necessary for actual sickness or otherwise approved by the collective. (For instance in the case of a family emergency, the collective could allow the worker to take time not yet earned.)

Non collective members

Non collective members do not receive sick or vacation benefits.

Limits on vacation accrual

• Staff collective members earning vacation time must take that vacation within two years of having earned it.
• Unused vacation time that exceeds that limit must be scheduled or will be lost to the collective member.

Notification

Workers should use common sense in announcing general vacation plans as far in advance as is possible within reason.

Workers must request vacation time in advance with the specific times they will be away from work clearly stated. This should be done on the staff mailing list and at a staff meeting. All requests should be posted to the staff calendar as soon as feasible.

If there is enough lead time, discussion should take place at a staff collective meeting, rather than on the staff list.

Approval

The staff collective can grant or deny specific vacation requests. When denying a vacation the collective must clearly state the reason for denial. The collective must make efforts to accommodate any worker asking for vacation providing the worker has accrued the hours required for the vacation and gave a reasonable amount of notice. However, the collective may set a maximum number of staff allowed to be away simultaneously (on vacation or otherwise). The current number is 2. If a vacation request would cause more than that number to be away at the same time, then the request will be denied unless overruled after discussion at a staff collective meeting.

In the event that workers want overlapping vacations, the staff may determine that there is a conflict and will need to decide which worker may take the vacation. In that event the following procedure must be followed:

• First, the contending workers should be asked to try to work out the conflict.
• If the conflict cannot be resolved, the staff should grant vacation using the following priority:
  • Already approved requests receive the highest priority.
  • If neither request has yet been approved, the worker with the most seniority receives the next highest priority.
  • In the event that two workers have equal seniority, the vacation will be decided by a coin toss.

Payment to exiting staff members

• If a staff member is owed vacation time when he or she resigns, is laid off, or is otherwise terminated the amount of vacation time owed shall be calculated and reported to the staff member, and the amount shall be included in their final paycheck.

Vacation procedures

(This is a list of steps that can be taken to ensure the above policy is followed.)

• Staff collective members will tell their paid interns about these policies (as will the intern's buddy).
• It is the responsibility of each collective member to review this and schedule vacation time before reaching the maximum accumulation. Available hours accrued appear on pay check stubs and in the payroll reports.
• Upon hiring a new collective member, their maximum accrual amount will be reported to them.
• The HR committee will review all collective members accumulated vacation time owed at least twice per year and notify all collective members that are approaching their maximum.

Old staff vacation policies

The following policies were superseded when we adopt the above text.

Asking for vacation

The process for getting vaction days approved

Limits on Vacation Accrual

How much vacation can staff members build up?

Retroactive Vacation Credit

What about the folks that were working here before we had a vacation policy?

Who do we invoice?

Policy

Anyone can be invoiced. We currently don't check credit. We encourage people to pay via cash, check, or credit/debit card rather than us invoicing them.

This was decided at a C7 meeting on October 14.

How do we invoice them?

See the procedure for Invoicing Donors.

Writing Checks

When a check needs to be written one staff member, approved by the C7 committee, should write the check and record it in the books, and a second staff member, authorized by the board, should sign the check. This ensures that at least two people on staff know why a check was written.

Technical notes on adding policies to the handbook

We can include all relevant pages in a single document without duplication using the following syntax:

=Staff Discipline Policy=
{{:Staff Discipline Policy}}

Most if not all included pages are Policy pages. The Policy pages should all have a simular format. If a page you are including is not a policy page, then see if you can format it in a simular way.