###Table of Contents
- Expectations for Employees & Members
- A Note on Part-Time Employees
- Expectations for Contractors
- Membership Code of Conduct
- Money
- Salaries
- Performance Reviews & Raises
- Bonuses / Patronage Dividends
- Justworks
- Invoicing Protocol for Contractors
- Communications & Operations
- Dojo4 email address
- Dojo4 email lists
- Status emails
- Tracking time
- Payment Structure
- Dojo4 avatar and gravatar
- Google calendar
- Redmine
- Flowdock
- Github
- 1Password
- Regular Meetings
- Daily standup
- Friday standup
- Org dev
- Weekly project check-in meeting
- Performance check-ins
- Core hours
- Being a project lead
- Communications & Ops for Contractors
- Environmental Policy
- Non-Discrimination Policy
- Family-Friendly Workplace Manifesto
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- Discriminatory Harassment
- Grievance Resolution
- Disciplinary Procedures
- Collective Bargaining Policy
- Child Labor and Forced/Compulsory Labor Policy
- Whistleblower Policy
- Ethical Marketing & Client Engagement Policy
- Benefits
- Health Insurance
- Paid Leave
- PTO
- Unpaid Time Off
- PTO at Termination
- Paid Holidays
- Parental Leave for the birth / adoption of a child
- Paternity Leave
- Maternity Leave
- Professional Financial Advising
- Professional Development
- Technology Benefits
- Food & Drink
- Boxcar Coffee - Yay!
- Friday lunch
- Beer & Snacks
- Agreements
- Contract
- Acknowledgement
All Dojo4 employees, members and contractors are expected to behave ethically and with integrity in their relationship with Dojo4 colleagues, clients, finances and communications. If an interaction or piece of information is specified as confidential, Dojo4 employees, members and contractors are expected to respect that confidentiality. Dojo4 employees, members and contractors are expected to invest in Dojo4 relationships by communicating honestly and being willing to have difficult conversations. Honesty, humor, kindness and respect for one another are key to the success of Dojo4 and integral to being Dojo4 a employee, member or contractor.
The amount, value and quality of your work:
- Produce excellent work product befitting a professional in your field.
- Work mostly (>60% of your time) on projects that we can bill for.
- Your integration with Dojo4:
- Participate in established processes; work to improve them if they need improvement.
- Be available instantly when you are working (by smartphone, IM, and Flowdock).
- Bring a computer that is secure, up-to-date, functional, and installed with all the tools that you require to do your job.
Your demeanor:
- Try to make everyone’s job easier and more fun. Take things off of your coworker’s plates. Smile.
- Be generous with your help.
- Treat everyone who encounters Dojo4 with respect and kindness.
Your professional initiative:
- Take responsibility for your own professional development -- seek opportunities to grow your skills and make better work product.
- Help find potential clients for Dojo4: Look for opportunities to talk about Dojo4, invite people to discuss projects with us.
- Take ownership of your work and deliver it to the satisfaction of its budgetary stakeholders.
- Contribute to internal projects.
- Make things and put them in the public domain. Talk about them.
As outlined in the Membership Agreement (https://github.com/Dojo4/policy/edit/master/co-op/membership_agreement), Dojo4 members recognizes the unique and important position s/he/it holds as a member of the cooperative and will: strive to maintain and support the mission of the cooperative and its surrounding community; carry and represent her/him/itself and the cooperative with fairness and respect, both within and external to the community; and adhere to the cooperative’s rules, guidelines, policies and code of conduct, as applicable.
All of the above expectations apply to part-time Dojo4 employees, save that the number of hours you are expected to spend on Dojo4 work and the details of your compensation--including eligible benefits--will be stipulated in your unique contract.
The Dojo4 family has always been comprised of independent self-starters who hold themselves to a high degree of excellence in their field and stand out as creatives and creative problem solvers. We aim to make Dojo4 a home-away-from-home for our subcontractors and are always open to feedback as to how we can best organize our work flows and environment to facilitate productive relationships throughout our team. All Dojo4 employees, members and contractors are expected to behave ethically and with integrity in their relationship with Dojo4 colleagues, clients, finances and communications. If an interaction or piece of information is specified as confidential, Dojo4 employees, members and contractors are expected to respect that confidentiality. Dojo4 employees, members and contractors are expected to invest in Dojo4 relationships by communicating honestly and being willing to have difficult conversations. Honesty, humor, kindness and respect for one another are key to the success of Dojo4 and integral to being Dojo4 a employee, member or contractor.
We extend to you an unlimited coffee tab at the inimitable Boxcar, because caffeinated contractors are happy contractors. There are several other benefits described in this handbook Dojo4 extends to our subcontractor family:
- Professional financial advising
- Chair massage for those tense shoulders of yours
- Free lunch every Friday
In exchange for these benefits and the timely payment of all your invoices, we ask that you:
- Produce excellent work product befitting a professional in your field.
- Own the projects that you work on. At Dojo4 there is a very thin management layer- that means that you will be relating directly with clients, and are expected to keep the health of the whole project in mind and fully own its success (and challenges).
- Participate in established Dojo4 processes; work to improve them if they need improvement. Some of these are status emails, Flowdock, Redmine, standups, and Github. (see Communications & Ops for Contractors)
- Always send a status email to status@Dojo4.com (see Status Emails) on every day that you are putting in time on a Dojo4 project.
- Standups (see Daily standup and Friday standup) are not mandatory but provide a nice cadence to the workday and are a helpful way of touching base with the rest of the Dojo4 team. If you are remote, you can join at https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/Dojo4.com/standup?authuser=0.
- Always keep transparency of process and repeatablility production as a rule of thumb. If you disappeared, your work should not disappear with you- i.e. make sure it is in Redmine & Github, not in email, unshared Google docs or any other non-transparent format.
- Be available instantly when you are working (by smartphone, IM, and Flowdock).
- Try to make everyone’s job easier and more fun. Take things off of your coworker’s plates. Smile.
- Be generous with your help.
- Treat everyone who encounters Dojo4 with respect and kindness.
- Review Dojo4’s People & Environmental policies in this handbook and conduct yourself accordingly when acting as a member of Dojo4.
- Help find potential clients for Dojo4: Look for opportunities to talk about Dojo4, invite people to discuss projects with us.
- Take ownership of your work and deliver it to the satisfaction of its budgetary stakeholders.
Dojo4 values human beings very much and one of the hallmarks of working here is that you know that your compensation is one of our highest priorities. We aren’t striving to create massive profits by keeping your salaries low--quite the opposite! We strive to run a profitable business so that we can all get paid very well. Towards this end, we encourage everyone to participate in selling Dojo4 to prospective clients, and to maximize your efficiency on every job. The stronger Dojo4 is, the stronger your salary can be.
Dojo4 does not have a formalized process for reviews and raises. Generally, raises are offered when resources are available and performance warrants. Please don’t be shy to ask the partners for a raise if you feel you deserve one and it has not yet been offered.
Performance reviews are, informally, a part of daily activity at Dojo4 in the form of code reviews. However, more formal reviews (including peer-to-peer feedback) will be given at least annually and/or as needed. If you would like a formal review outside of a regularly scheduled review process, please ask and we’ll get it on the calendar.
The profitability of Dojo4 is totally dependent on the quality and quantity of work we deliver every month. Annually, Dojo4’s managers will review our financial performance; if possible, Dojo4 will pay out Patronage Dividends to all members according to profits and individual time contributions. As per the Dojo4 cooperative Bylaws (https://github.com/Dojo4/policy/blob/master/co-op/bylaws), Members shall be entitled to receive variable, non-cumulative annual dividends out of the net earnings of the Cooperative available therefor. The target dividend rate shall be 5%, which shall not be guaranteed, and shall be declared and distributed in the sole discretion of the Board.
Dojo4 uses a PEO (professional employer organization) called Justworks to manage general HR data and run payroll. As part of your onboarding you will receive emails from Justworks asking you to create your own private login and provide information that will be used for your I9, W4 (or 1099) and direct deposit. These systems will enable us to pay you via direct deposit, as well as give you access to your health insurance and other HR topics.
Dojo4 contractors will be onboarded using our contracting and HR systems: concordnow.com and Justworks. We use these systems for legal, tax and payment purposes. Contractor payments are all processed through Justworks, though you can choose to receive either a check or direct deposit.
All contractor hours are attached to tickets in Redmine. Tracking your time this way replaces the need for you to invoice Dojo4. We simply run reports for each pay period (the 15th and last day of the month) and pay you for the hours you have logged since our last pay period. If you find yourself in urgent need of a payment in between our scheduled dates, just be in touch with Jetha Marek, Operations Manager, directly.
The protocol for billables are:
- anything you are specifically asked to do for Dojo4 is billable - i.e. meetings, standups and internal projects - general conversations at Dojo4 or through Dojo4 channels are not.
- only work assigned to you through a project ticket and general time that you are asked to spend on Dojo4 activities is billable.
- if the work assigned to you through project ticket took significantly longer than the project lead estimated, please note why in Redmine.
- Dojo4 reserves the right not to pay for shoddy or slow work, but will always work with contractors to find a fair outcome in outstanding circumstances.
Please see “Time tracking” below for further instructions on how to track time in Redmine.
In keeping with the expectations we have of one another at Dojo4, below are outlined some of the things that allow us to keep things running smoothly, empower each other to get good work done, have maximal fun, and not have to micromanage one another. Please learn and use these systems. You can bring any questions you might have to Corey.
You will report directly to Corey Kohn, CEO, but you can expect to field frequent requests from any of Dojo4’s managers and partners, and from any of Dojo4’s other employees. Each of us serves the others.
You will be given a Dojo4 email address. Please use this address for internal and client correspondence. That said, we endeavor to keep our inboxes as empty as possible by using tools outlined below such as Redmine and Flowdock.
When you receive your Dojo4 email address, you will be added to the nuclear@Dojo4.com email list. Any email written to that address will be received by everyone else at Dojo4. There are a few other lists, as well, that you will be added to on an as needed basis.
Everyone at Dojo4 also belongs to the status@Dojo4.com email list. Please write to this address every morning no later than 11am with your status in the subject heading. This email will be received by each person at Dojo4 and is meant to act as a status report / mini-standup so that each person gets a general sense of what everyone else is doing that day and what the basic structure of their schedule is for the day. You’ll get a sense of the content and style by seeing other people’s status messages. It is important that everyone writes in a status message early-ish in the day: it allows us to avoid having to have unnecessary meetings, micromanagement, and allows us to help each other with one another’s work load.
Please track your real time spent on Dojo4 projects everyday. This includes client and internal projects.
Rules of thumb for tracking your time:
- Record your time spent on each project at least daily, if not throughout the day.
- Round up to the nearest quarter or half hour, whatever makes the most sense for you.
- Employees (not contractors) should track the time you spend on internal projects, as well as client projects.
- Log the real hours you spend; do not adjust your hours anticipating some outcome. Work with Dojo4’s business team to handle any disconnect between hours and value. You may use whatever system you prefer to track time, but in order for it to be payable, it must be recorded in Redmine.
Here’s how you do it :
- you can log time on either a specific ticket (generally preferable) or on a project
- if you are logging time on a ticket, you do it from righthand side of the ticket view
- if what you were working on spans specific tickets, you can log it on the project in the righthand column of the project overview
- you can also see details and run reports from here about how much time has been spent on the project and each ticket to-date
- all time logged on tickets and sub projects rolls up into the main project - this way you can also easily see what time you (or anyone else) has put in on a particular project or over a particular time span by running an Overall Spent Time report with any filter you need
- the same goes for time tracking on Dojo4 internal projects or tasks, such as meetings - if there is a specific ticket for your work, please track your time under that ticket, otherwise track it under the general Dojo4 project- and as with all projects, please ALWAYS include a short description of your work in the comment field.
- If you are a Dojo4 co-op member, please record non-billable hours spent on Dojo4 internal work / projects as Patronage (Activity).
####Payment Structure
- For co-op members, Dojo4 uses a base salary model with additional hours paid at a different rate.
- The base salary is for 24 billable and 3 non-billable hours per pay period. (Each pay period is one half of a month.) The base salary hours are paid at $60. These hours are paid to each member every pay period, whether or not they have been worked by that member. Base salary hours that go unworked in a pay period must be made up by that member by the end of the current calendar year.
- Hours worked over the 27 base salary hours are paid out at $140/hour.
- The CEO and Operations Director are paid a salary, to be reviewed by co-op members once per calendar year.
- The CTO is paid hourly according the the base salary model, however they are paid equally for billable and non-billable hours, as long as their non-billable hours do not exceed their billable hours in a calendar year. Any overage of non-billable hours will need to be negotiated with the CEO or will not be paid out.
As soon as we can, we’ll have someone create a Dojo4 avatar for you. It’ll show up on the website, on the projects site, and anywhere else gravatars are linked to email addresses. Please sign up for gravatar with your Dojo4 email address, and add this avatar. (You can also create a new address in an existing gravatar account).
Please open a google calendar subscription under your Dojo4 email address and share this calendar with everyone else at Dojo4. Please name the calendar your first and last name. With shared calendars we are all able to see each other’s basic schedules and able to plan around each other in that way. Please use this google calendar to invite people to meetings and manage your Dojo4 appointments and other times you may be unavailable. You should also add the calendar “Dojo Four” to your calendar so that you can see general office happenings.
Redmine is an open-source, flexible project management web application. Written using Ruby on Rails framework, it is cross-platform and cross-database. You will be given access to projects.
We use Redmine for:
- project support
- flexible issue tracking system
- client communication
- time tracking
Dojo4 uses Flowdock to communicate with each other throughout the day. Please be sure to be in Flowdock during working hours and whenever you are doing Dojo4 work.
If for some reason you are a programmer without a Github account, please get one now. As a designer, it’s well worth considering getting one, as well. Please use Github to commit code on a daily basis.
A note on our software development environment: Almost everyone at Dojo4 touches code at some point, and people who touch code at Dojo4 use a standardized coding environment. Individual environmental differences from the standard environment cannot be allowed to get in the way of work we do, so you should either be really good at managing your environment on your own time, or, better yet, use the same environment as the rest of us. We use OSX, generally; Github for source code management; RVM for Rails version management; Homebrew for OSX package management; and more. We don’t care what text editor you use. Ask us for help getting set up when you join the team.
All Dojo4 credentials are kept 1Password. If you do not already have an account, the Operations Manager will help you get one set up. Please ask for the master password to get in. You should be able to find anything you need in 1Password. If you need to change or add any credentials for Dojo4 or project operations, please be sure to record them in there. Use judiciously and share only with other Dojo4 employees. Any misuse of the information in 1Password are grounds for immediate dismissal and eternal self-recrimination.
Daily standups happen every weekday at noon. Everyone at the dojo stands up, generally in a circle, and gives a quick summary of what they are working on that day(s). Participants include both employees and contractors. It’s a chance for everyone to find out what everyone else is working on and where they may want/need to sync further. If you are not onsite, please use the Google Hangout (use this address: https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/Dojo4.com/standup?authuser=0 ) to join the meeting.
The Dojo4 weekly standup happens promptly every Friday at 12:00pm and rarely takes more than 15-20 minutes. Our weekly standup is meant to allow us to gain a better understanding of the people we work with and what is important to them. We spend endless hours and emails relating the practical details of our work projects to each other, but it is rare that we get a chance to relate to each other in a genuine and candid way about what may (or may not) be meaningful to us. Granting a little time to cultivating that understanding with each other can feel incalculably more valuable to each other and the health of our business than any other way that we could spend 15 minutes ‘meeting’. There is also a chance at the end of the standup to make any general announcement (e.g. taking an upcoming vacation? or having a baby? this is a good time to let everyone know).
Our weekly standups look something like this: The standup starts with everyone doing a bow and a clap, and ends with the reverse (clap then bow). We start with a minute or two of quiet, allowing everyone to slow down a little and arrive. A different person brings a question every week, that each person then has a chance to answer.
The guidelines for the standup are:
- speak from the heart
- listen completely
- don’t think about or decide what you are going to say while someone else is talking
- say only what needs to be said
- don’t withhold from saying something that needs to be said
- it is not necessary to speak
- don’t talk while someone else is talking
- each person goes only once
- anything said during the standup is confidential
There’s a ‘talking piece’ in the middle that each person can pick up and hold if they are inspired to say something. Who is going to bring the question the following week is decided at the end of each standup. Announcements are made by anyone who has one. We end with a clap and a bow.
Many of Dojo4’s contributors like having a regularly scheduled opportunity to check in and hear how they’re doing, whether there is anything they can do better, and offer their own feedback for Dojo4’s managers. We want that, too! Please schedule these at a sane interval with the manager you want to talk with.
You may be asked if you’d like to take on the role of ‘project lead’ on a particular project. In most cases, this is completely optional. If you are interested in this type of position, please make yourself familiar with the responsibilities of the role. Please see https://github.com/Dojo4/Dojo4/blob/master/docs/manifestos/being-a-lead.md.
- Please always use a Dojo4 email address and gravatar (if you don’t already have one, ask and we’ll get one to you) when interacting directly with clients.
- Time tracking - use Redmine on a daily basis for all hours you want to be paid for (see above for details).
- Daily status emails - If you are working on a project (or were assigned work that it turns out you cannot do that day) please send in a status email as the first thing you do in your work day.
- Github - Please use Github to commit code on a daily basis.
- Redmine - Please use Redmine for project support, flexible issue tracking, client communication and of course, time tracking.
- Flowdock - Please use Flowdock for Dojo4 communications throughout the day.
- be aware of threads adn use those to streamline communication
- easily monitor Redmine activity streaming into Flowdock
- easily monitor commits through Github streaming into Flowdock
- some email streams can be monitored here, too
- Sekrets - As per the subcontractor agreement: "SUBCONTRACTOR shall not disclose CLIENT or Dojo4 proprietary information and the contents or nature of the project outside of Dojo4 and CLIENT personnel and/or SUBCONTRACTORs on the project team." All info in the sekrets is proprietary information. Misuse of Sekrets will result in incarceration into a self-inflicted ethical hell or permanent assignment as a low-life pariah, or both.
- Google calendar- As a courtesy to our friends and team members at Dojo4, please share a regularly updated google calendar with them using your Dojo4 address. It is helpful if that calendar shares your name, i.e. “Corey Kohn.”
- Meetings: Daily standup- Please feel join us for standup, either in person or by Google Hangout if you are working on a Dojo4 project.
- Friday standup and lunch - All friends and family of Dojo4 are invited for Friday standup and a "catered" lunch that day. If you think you'll be there, please let Corey know by that morning so that she order lunch.
- Org Dev - if we're not currently hosting organizational development sessions and you think they'd be helpful, please let us know and we'll make it happen.
Dojo4 considers environmentally intelligent practices to be an organizational priority. Simply because Dojo4 is in the business of virtual production does not mean that our impact on the environment is only a virtual reality. We recognize that the manufacturing of computer equipment is currently a toxic and resource-heavy industry, and also that data centers are one of the biggest power users today. According to a New York Times investigative report, “Worldwide, digital warehouses use about 30 billion watts of electricity, roughly equivalent to the output of 30 nuclear power plants....Data centers in the United States account for one-quarter to one-third of that load.”
Dojo4 is committed to being aware of the extent of our environmental impact, and to mitigating it in whatever ways possible, both through how we run our business here in Boulder, Colorado and how we advocate for industry-wide eco-friendly changes.
- We voluntarily pay higher electricity rates to ensure that our office is 100% wind-powered.
- We operate with minimal computer equipment.
- We don’t print things unless we absolutely must.
- We prioritize the environment in our purchase choices (of office supplies, etc.).
- We do not use toxic chemicals for cleaning our office or in our garden beds.
- We are centrally located in downtown Boulder, enabling most of our employees to walk or bike to work year-round, which they do. We are also able to avoid air travel most of the time.
- We primarily drink beer, because we understand that water is a precious resource not to be wasted.
This is only an excerpt of our full environmental policy. To experience its full glory, go to https://github.com/dojo4/policy/blob/master/environmental_policy.md or https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J6NCPSMNqXU8tAcYvVW1nDsdZIdeJNL6T86xwE5nbuQ/edit?usp=sharing.
It is the policy and commitment of Dojo4 that it does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, color, sex, national origin, physical or mental ability, sexual orientation or religion.
In that being parents or caretakers, having a family, is something that we should be able to celebrate and have pride in at work, we declare this Family-Friendly Workplace Manifesto. Having a family provides joy, and challenge. It should not be something that anyone feels the need to hide, justify, explain away or be embarrassed about.
Parents and other caretakers have the right conditions to be some of our most valuable co-workers and employees, because:
- they have no choice but to be used to and conditioned for hard work and a relentless schedule
- they have a lot at stake and are likely to be working not necessarily for themselves but for the greater welfare of their families
- their home lives emphasize the need for clear decision-making, collaboration and the inescapable need to be able to play well with others
Because of this, family-friendly workplaces have the potential to be more profitable, effective and efficient workplaces. A workplace that values families, is a happier, more realistic and more sustainable workplace. It is more likely to retain good employees. It is more likely to generate good will, a resource that can be drawn on when it is needed most.
To engender a family-friendly work place, we declare the following...
- We recognize that life happens. Recurrent sickness, snow days, school holidays, child-care fails, school and doctors appointments, and emergencies of all kinds are part of the fabric of life and cannot be disappeared. The work will be made up another time.
- Having children (and dogs!) in the workplace, from time to time, makes it a richer place. Small beings may be distracting, but it is good for our co-workers to know our families and our families to know our coworkers. It provides potential role models for our children. It provides potential humor and playfulness for our co-workers. And sometimes it is just best, in the big picture, to have our children with us rather than the drain on logistical resources that it would take to figure out where else they can be.
- We acknowledge that there is undue burden on single parents, financial disadvantaged parents, parents or caretakers of those with special needs, breast-feeding mothers and parents of sleep-depriving infants. Acknowledging this does not imply a lower standard of expectation but allows for the understanding of a different set of demands.
- A healthy family demands a different schedule than is available to most single people. Work and meetings scheduled at the last minute or during the time needed to get children off to daycare/school or during dinner or bedtime are not necessarily going to be doable or productive for parents. A workplace that supports flexible schedules and the ability to work remotely will optimize and capitalize on the good work that parents/caretakers have to offer. We now live in a world that offers many tools for productive, asynchronous team work - we will take advantage of them to support a healthier, more inclusive and more generative workplace.
- Providing paid parental leave is imperative to the structure of a family-friendly workplace.
Dojo4 is committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity and does not discriminate in the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment on account of race, age, color, sex, national origin, physical or mental ability, sexual orientation or religion or otherwise as may be prohibited by federal and state law.
Any employee, client or volunteer who believes that she/he/they or any other affiliate of Dojo4 has been discriminated against is strongly encouraged to report this concern promptly to the CEO or other Dojo4 co-op member.
Harassment or intimidation of an employee, client or guest, because of that person’s race, age, color, sex, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation or religion is specifically prohibited and may be grounds for termination. Harassment and intimidation includes abusive or threatening language or behavior. Dojo4 is committed to maintaining a workplace that is free of any such harassment and will not tolerate discrimination against employees, clients, volunteers or guests. Issues of discriminatory treatment, harassment, or intimidation on any of these bases should immediately be reported to the CEO and, if substantiated, prompt action will be taken.
If as an employee or contractor to Dojo4, you have a grievance, please follow these guidelines:
- Whenever possible use an informal process before entering into the formal process of filing a grievance. Talking face-to-face and from the heart is the first step.
- If an informal resolution is not effective, start the formal grievance procedure by putting your grievance into writing.
- Present your written grievance to a Dojo4 co-op member.
- A face-to-face meeting will be arranged within 3 days of the formal presentation of the written grievance.
- Either party may arrange for a third-party to be present. Each party must approve the choice of the third-party.
- The meeting will be used to establish the facts and have all parties agree on a resolution.
- Any resolution will be presented to all parties in writing.
- All grievances will be treated with absolutely confidential except between owners of Dojo4, or with legal authorities, should the complaint address criminal activity.
In the event that a disciplinary issue is recognized with a member or contractor, the following steps will be taken:
- The attempt at addressing the issue will be informal and will involve direct conversation between an owner(s) of Dojo4 and the employee.
- If the informal conversation is not deemed effective, the a member or contractor will receive a written statement from the owners of Dojo4, outlining the problem.
- A face-to-face meeting will be arranged within 3 days of having the problem expressed in writing.
- Either party may arrange for a third-party to be present. Each party must approve the choice of the third-party.
- The meeting will be used to establish the facts and have all parties agree on a resolution.
- Any resolution will be presented to all parties in writing.
- All disciplinary action will be treated with absolutely confidential except between owners of Dojo4, or with legal authorities, should the complaint address criminal activity.
- Whether or not an effective resolution is found, the owners of Dojo4 reserve the right to terminate employment of any member or contractor, at any time, with just cause.
Dojo4 recognizes and supports the rights of workers, individual and unionized. The decision by a Dojo4 member or contractor to enter into a collective bargaining agreement is governed by federal laws. Dojo4 takes no position on such agreements and neither encourages nor discourages them, but will recognize and respect such agreements as entered into by any Dojo4 member or contractor.
Dojo4 is committed business practices and relationships that restrict and avoid employment to those age 15 or older, or the local minimum employment age, or the mandatory school age, whichever is higher. To this effect we commit to avoid using products, tools and resources, or fostering business relationships, that make use of child labor or any forced labor or exploitative working conditions. Dojo4’s policy on Child Labor and Forced Labor is based on International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions and national laws, and recognizes regional and cultural differences.
Dojo4 requires directors, members, employees and contractors to observe high standards of business and personal ethics in the conduct of their duties and responsibilities. As representatives of the Dojo4, we must practice honesty and integrity in fulfilling our responsibilities and comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
This Whistleblower Policy is intended to encourage and enable members and others to raise serious concerns internally so that Dojo4 can address and correct inappropriate conduct and actions. It is the responsibility of all board members, directors, members, employees and contractors to report concerns about violations of Dojo4’s code of ethics or suspected violations of law or regulations that govern Dojo4’s operations.
It is contrary to the values of Dojo4 for anyone to retaliate against any board members, directors, members, employees or contractors who in good faith reports an ethics violation, or a suspected violation of law, such as a complaint of discrimination, or suspected fraud, or suspected violation of any regulation governing the operations of Dojo4. A board member, director, member, employee or contractor who retaliates against someone who has reported a violation in good faith is subject to discipline up to and including termination of employment and membership.
Dojo4 has an open door policy and suggests that members and contractors share their questions, concerns, suggestions or complaints with each other and the CEO. If you are not comfortable speaking with the CEO or you are not satisfied with the CEO’s response, you are encouraged to speak with assembled membership of the cooperative and/or the Board of Directors. The CEO is required to report complaints or concerns about suspected ethical and legal violations in writing to the Dojo4’s assembled membership, who have the responsibility to investigate all reported complaints.
At Dojo4 we strive to understand problems before proposing solutions.
It is rare that we'll work with a client to build what they came in the door asking for. When someone comes to us with a solution, we always push back in order to more comprehensively understand the problem they are trying to solve. We ask why they might have arrived at a particular solution and dig into what other solutions might exist. Our team works to understand the business problem behind a proposed technical solution and the brand and ethos behind a particular set of visual messaging.(See: https://Dojo4.com/work/services/product_articulation)
The Dojo4 policy on ethical marketing and consumer engagement is designed to reflect the operating principles of our business:
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Trust - We are committed to showing up as we are - that means that we do not misrepresent ourselves, our accomplishments, skills, experience nor intentions. We take each other at our word and expect the same from our clients. Since trust is the currency we’ve built our business upon, we selectively work with clients who are willing to collaborate to identify genuine solutions, who value the professional opinions of the team they select, and are happy to pay for these services.
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Value - We are devoted to the integrity of the work we produce, at the expense of making money. We are steadfast in recommending what we believe to the best route rather than one that will be most lucrative for Dojo4.
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Transparency - Radical transparency is baked into the ‘how, why and what’ of all of our work at Dojo4. We are committed to be transparent in our reasoning, language, product and finances. We adhere to the Principles of the Open Source Way (see: https://opensource.com/open-source-way): “Whether we're developing software or solving a business problem, we all have access to the information and materials necessary for doing our best work. And when these materials are accessible, we can build upon each other's ideas and discoveries. We can make more effective decisions and understand how decisions affect us.”
In terms of privacy and representation, as outlined in our written client agreements, we ensure that information disseminated by our company is, to the best of our knowledge, both accurate and factual, and only refers to other persons or organizations in our marketing material if the consent of that person or organization has been obtained.
Dojo4 offers its members and employees and their dependants access to any of the plans offered through Justworks, starting on the 1st of the month following hire. A full description of the health plan can be downloaded. Dojo4 will pay 50% of monthly premiums for full- or part-time members / employees their dependants. To apply for this coverage, the operations manager will put you in contact with our account manager at Justworks. Vision and dental are options you may choose to add to your plan.
Dojo4’s employee benefits include paid time off (PTO) - see payment structure. See We also offer some paid parental leave.
In some cases (lengthy illness or extended break from work), you may need to take more time off than your accrued PTO allows. In such cases, please discuss your situation with a managing director. Unpaid leave is a possibility, but it depends on many factors beyond the scope of this document. No unpaid leave will be granted until accrued PTO is exhausted.
You will be paid for all accrued PTO remaining when you leave the company. You will not be paid out for upcoming holidays. You will be expected to work any remaining hours owed to Dojo4 according to the Payment Structure.
In rare cases, one of Dojo4’s partners may ask you to work during a shop closure. Those days will be reimbursed with PTO. In all other cases, enjoy a day off.
Shop closure days are: New Year's Day (if on a weekday) 4th of July (if on a weekday) Memorial Day Labor Day Thanksgiving Day Friday following Thanksgiving Day Dec. 25th - Dec. 31st
Parental leave after the birth of a child has been shown to cultivate significant benefits for the early development and health of a newborn. Supporting healthy families, and fostering equilibrium between home and work life, is integral to the success of Dojo4, as a business and a culture. As such, Dojo4 provides various benefits for paternity and maternity leave associated with the birth or adoption of a child by a Dojo4 employee. These benefits extend to co-parents of any gender, sexual orientation or marital status.
The time-off offered is outlined below, but in each case there may be differences depending on the nature of your particular job and circumstances. Inevitably various questions will arise according to your situation: will my specific job still be there when I return? how will Dojo4 fill my shoes while I'm gone? what if I want to go to permanent part-time after my baby is born? if i go to unpaid time, is my job still guaranteed? for how long?
Since Dojo4 is a small company, with each employee filling a unique role, the answers to these questions will vary according to each circumstance. Please talk to us (the partners) about what you need and want in terms of having a new addition to your family. Dojo4 will do its best in each situation to help support a healthy and sustainable family / work balance.
To qualify for Paternity Leave you must be an employee, working at least 30 hours/week. You must be taking the time off to support the mother or carer for the baby and intend to be fully involved in the child's upbringing. Rights to Paternity Leave are extra to your normal PTO allowance.
To qualify for Paternity Leave, you must be employed by Dojo4 for at least 26 weeks by either the 15th week before the week that the baby is due or the end of the week you are notified you are matched with the child you are adopting
You must also be either the:
- biological father of the child
- mother's partner
- child's adopter
- partner of the child's adopter
Dojo4 will pay 100% of your regular salary for the first two weeks after the baby is born or adopted. Additional paid time off can be taken out of your normal PTO allowance, either consecutively or on a part-time basis. Unpaid leave may also be an option and should be discussed with the partners of Dojo4.
To qualify for Maternity Leave you must be an employee, working at least 30 hours/week. You must be taking the time off to care of yourself and your newborn or adopted child. Rights to Maternity Leave are extra to your normal PTO allowance.
To qualify for Maternity Leave, you must be employed by Dojo4 for at least 26 weeks by either the 15th week before the week that the baby is due or the end of the week you are notified you are matched with the child you are adopting
You must also be either the:
- biological mother of the child
- child's adopter
Dojo4 will cover the first two weeks of your leave at 100% of your salary after the baby is born or adopted. After that, as a Dojo4 employee you are covered by our short-term disability insurance policy which will cover 60% of your weekly salary up to $1,000 for up to 8 weeks. Dojo4 will cover the remaining 40% for the next 4 consecutive weeks, and 20% for the next 2 consecutive weeks. Additional paid time off can be taken out of your normal PTO allowance, either consecutively or on a part-time basis. Unpaid leave may also be an option and should be discussed with the partners of Dojo4.
If you were already pregnant at the time you were first employed at Dojo4, you may not qualify for Dojo4 paid maternity leave benefits, however as a Dojo4 employee, your short-term disability insurance will cover 60% of your weekly salary up to $1,000 for up 2 weeks and your normal PTO allowance can also be applied at will.
To help you select the best life insurance policy (should you choose to adopt one) as well as to answer any other investment-related financial questions you may have, Dojo4 will offer you up to two hours of individual consulting time with Highlander Wealth.
Ongoing education, training and participation in learning communities is encouraged and supported at Dojo4. If you are a full-time employee, Dojo4 will help you attend job related conferences or trainings when financially possible. Wonder if a particular event is job-related? Just ask.
Dojo4 wants you to love your technology and have computers and phones that work. Each Dojo4 member is granted access to lease a computer for their own use. These computers are traded out for newer models every two years.
Boxcar Coffee - Yay! Dojo4 has a tab at the inimitable and delicious Boxcar Coffee Roasters at 1825 Pearl St. Get yourself a coffee on us every day of the week! Just tell the barista that you are with Dojo4.
We almost always order take out from a local downtown restaurant for the team on Fridays so that we can enjoy a meal together after Friday standup.
We’re not making any promises, but we find that providing a few cold ones and something to munch on greatly increases attendance at important meetings like org dev. Be there or be thirsty!
Contract You will be invited to join a contract through concordnow.com. You will have to sign up for a free account in order to be able to read and electronically sign your subcontractor or employee agreement with Dojo4. By joining your contract in concordnow.com, there will also be the opportunity to negotiate, in writing, any particular adjustments to your agreement.
All our cooperative legal contracts are open-sourced here: https://github.com/dojo4/policy/tree/master/co-op Our contractor agreement is open-sourced here: https://github.com/dojo4/policy/blob/master/contractor_agreement Our Master Services Agreement for client work is open-sourced here: https://github.com/dojo4/policy/blob/master/general_services_agreement Our Scope of Work / Engagement Agreement for client work is open-sourced here: https://github.com/dojo4/policy/blob/master/SOW_agreement
By signing your employment contract you acknowledge that you will adhere to both the content of the employment contract as well as the content of this Employee Handbook and any other orientation materials you received.