Employee Orientation Resources

This is a draft of a new or in-progress document, and is likely to have a few people specifically working on it. You may wish to check in on the discussion page to see what the purpose of the document is and who's working on it; then feel free to give this article love and attention if have extra of those things.

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This page is designed to provide new staff members with the resources they need to succeed at Free Geek. There is a large amount of information on this page (and in all of the pages linked to on this page), and it is not intended to be digested all at once. Rather, use this page as a hub for navigating relevant wiki pages and finding the information you need to do your job during your first weeks and months at Free Geek. If you have any questions about what you find here, speak with your supervisor or designated trainer (or ask any staff member who has been around for a while).

Overview of the Organization

Organizational Structure

Org Chart

This document is the standard organizational chart of departments, areas, and workers at Free Geek. It is periodically updated as staff members and structures change. This chart will be helpful in understanding the overall structure of the organization, along with learning who works where.

Definition of a non-profit

Free Geek is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization according to the IRS. What does this mean? Learn more at: Free Geek's status as a nonprofit.

Decision-making

Decision-making Process chart

This document describes the general process for how decisions are made at Free Geek and outlines the basic relationships between the Board of Directors, staff, and all other stakeholders. Keep in mind that not all possible paths for information flow or decision-related actions are printed. Also, note that traditional nonprofits are governed more directly by an Executive Director instead of a Staff Collective; this collaborative management system has been an important aspect of Free Geek since its inception.

Consensus process

Decisions at Free Geek are made using the consensus process. Consensus is a group process in which the input of each group member is considered carefully and the ultimate decision reflects general agreement (not to be confused with majority rule or unanimity rule). It is a good idea to learn about how consensus works as you begin attending meetings and participating in decision-making groups. Consensus is a good page to look at as you start learning about this process; you also might check out the Staff Collective Decision Making Process.

Mission Statement

Free Geek's Mission Statement is: to recycle technology and provide access to computers, the Internet, education and job skills in exchange for community service. This statement serves as a basis for Free Geek programming and decision-making. Additionally, Free Geek and its affiliates (Free Geek Startups around North America) are guided by Free Geek Principles.

Personnel Policies

HR Policies

The following is a list of official policies (and less official guidelines) related to Human Resources. Please note that some policies apply to all employees, whereas others apply to only Collective staff or Non-collective (Bargaining Unit) staff. See your supervisor/designated trainer or the HR administrator (Mark) if you have any questions.

Wages

Benefits (See also Employee Rights and Benefits)

Holiday Policy

Paid Time Off

Call-In Policy

Breaks and Scheduling (See also Oregon Meal and Rest Period Rules)

Logging hours and overtime policy

Standard Weekly Hours

Maternity-Paternity Leave

Collective Workload Policy

Determining Seniority Policy

Employee Class Attendance Policy

Staff Hardware Disbursement Guideline

Reimbursement Policy

Discrimination Compliance Policy

Sexual Harassment Policy

Collective Member Review Policy

Non-Collective Staff Reviews (See also Regular Review Form)

Formal Complaint Procedure

Staff Discipline Policy

Collective Bargaining Agreement

The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is a contract between the Bargaining Unit (all non-collective staff members) and the Management (the Collective), signed July of 2011 and effective until July of 2013. The Bargaining Unit is represented by the Communication Workers of America (CWA), Local 7901, which is generally referred to as the Union. All Bargaining Unit staff hired after the signing of the CBA are required to be dues-paying members of the Union, but can decide how actively they would like to participate in Union activities. All Bargaining Unit staff members, regardless of start date, are protected by the agreements made in the contract. If you have any questions about the Union or the CBA, see a Union shop steward (currently Vagrant, Elizabeth, and Liliana) or the HR administrator (Mark).

Tools of the Trade

Avenues of Communication

Free Geek uses several different systems to communicate and document information. Knowing which system to use and how to use it can be somewhat of an art, but this overview should give you a good sense for what's what. Free Geek prides itself on transparency, so if you're ever in doubt as to whether to communicate or document something, you should probably do it. As usual, if you have any questions, see your supervisor/designated trainer or any staff member who has been around for a while.

Email

All Free Geek staff members (and some interns) have a Free Geek email address ending with ATfreegeekDOTorg. We rely on email heavily to communicate a wide range of information, and it is best to check your email at least once or twice a day.

You can email individual staff members (see Handles for staff emails) or, as is more common, you can email a list. Email lists (see the list of lists here) have been set up for various committees, floor areas, and other groups to facilitate easy sharing of relevant information between the appropriate parties. During your first days here, you should be subscribed to the lists that are relevant to your job description, which will include your floor areas and committees, along with the lists that all staff members are on (such as paidworkers, which includes all staff).

Please review Netiquette at Free Geek, which outlines our guidelines for appropriate email use.

Wiki

The Wiki (aka Freekiwiki) is a tool for collaborative documentation and sharing information among the Free Geek community. Most of the wiki is open to the public for viewing, but you must have a wiki account to edit pages. The Secure Staff Wiki is viewable and editable only by Collective members, as it mostly includes personnel issues and other confidential topics.

All Free Geek staff members are expected to use the wiki to seek information pertinent to their role and will at least occasionally need to edit/update wiki pages. The wiki is a huge and valuable repository of information--there are currently over 2,000 pages--but finding the information that you need and sifting through outdated pages can be a somewhat daunting task.

Some helpful tips:

• Check out Help:Contents for a list of useful help pages.
• Review Freekiwiki best practices for guidelines on how we should be using the wiki.
• Look over Wiki Tutorial (including the source code--just hit "edit") to learn some basic formatting
• If you need to find information and you don't know exactly where it is, use the google search--> "search our wiki" on the side bar; the main search box (also on the side bar) works best if you know the exact wording of a page title.
• Browse Special:Categories to find groupings of pages all related to a particular category.

You should have a training session scheduled with your supervisor/designated trainer in order to learn more about navigating and editing the wiki, but a great way to learn is to dive in and start practicing in the Sandbox.

RT

Talon

Database

Phones

Committees and their meetings