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30 changes: 30 additions & 0 deletions README.md
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# Basecamp Employee Handbook

For over 10 years, we didn’t have a handbook. In those 10 years, when a new person joined the company, they were expected to figure things out for themselves. But when we grew from a company of 10, 20, 30 employees to a company of over
50, our “introduction by immersion” style stopped working. New hires felt lost and isolated, and
their first weeks or even months on the job were stressful because of it. It can be unnerving to join any company, but perhaps Basecamp in particular, given how different some of our practices are. There’s as much to unlearn as there is to learn. Prior to this handbook, navigating that path was both somewhat random and almost entirely oral. For a company that prides itself on clarity and writing, that just wasn’t right.

So, this is where we’ll try to share what’s worth knowing about Basecamp the company, our culture, our process, and our history. It’s a guide to understanding what people are talking about when they call for “judo” (redefining a hard problem into an easy one), whether it’s okay to take your vacation when you’ve only been with us for a month (yes), what a meet-up is and why we call it an eat-up (hint: food.. lots of food), and hopefully everything in-between.

This handbook also offers us an opportunity to clarify who we actually are as a company. What do we stand for? How should we work? Codifying those beliefs into a handbook make them tangible and, most importantly, editable. Making the company our best product is a guiding principle, but we can’t easily improve what we haven’t articulated. So whatever version of this handbook you’re reading, you can be sure it’s not the last. Please do help keep it up to date! And by up to
date, we're not just talking about misspellings and team changes. It’s just as much “we say we’re about X, but what we’re really doing is Y”. So many of these employee handbook projects turn out to be ideal-case prescriptions rather than real-world descriptions. They cover all the ways people should act, not the ways they actually do. That’s a sham. Let’s not write a handbook like that. Let’s keep it honest.

If you’re reading this just after joining the company, it’s particularly on you, actually. It’s harder for us slowly boiled frogs who’ve been with Basecamp for a while to spot the broken ways. Please take advantage of that glorious, shiny ignorance of being new, and question things.

## Sections
* [Basecamp Is You](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/basecamp-is-you.md)
* [What We Stand For](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/what-we-stand-for.md)
* [What Influenced Us](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/what-influenced-us.md)
* [Vocabulary](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/vocabulary.md)
* [Product Histories](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/product-histories.md)
* [Who Does What?](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/orgchart.md)
* [Where We Work](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/where-we-work.md)
* [Benefits & Perks](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/benefits-and-perks.md)
* [Getting Started](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/getting-started.md)
* [How We Work](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/how-we-work.md)
* [Our Rituals](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/our-rituals.md)
* [Making a Career](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/making-a-career.md)
* [Our Internal Systems](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/our-internal-systems.md)
* [A Note About Moonlighting](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/moonlighting.md)
* [International Travel Guide](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/international-travel-guide.md)
* [FAQ](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/faq.md)
11 changes: 11 additions & 0 deletions basecamp-is-you.md
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# Basecamp Is You

Everyone working at Basecamp represents Basecamp. When a customer gets a response from Merissa on support, Merissa is Basecamp. When a customer reads a tweet by Eron that our systems are down, Eron is Basecamp. In those situations, all the other stuff we do to cultivate our best image is secondary. What’s right in front of someone in a time of need is what they’ll remember.

That’s what we mean when we say marketing is everyone’s responsibility, and that it pays to spend the time to recognize that. This means avoiding the [bullshit of outage language](https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1528-the-bullshit-of-outage-language) and [bending our policies, not just lending your ears](https://signalvnoise.com/posts/3513-when-empathy-becomes-insulting). It means taking the time to get the writing right and consider how you’d feel if you were on the other side of the interaction.

It also means that you’re strongly encouraged to help share your thoughts, experiences, and learnings on [Signal v Noise](https://m.signalvnoise.com), our blog. The vast majority of our customers come from word of mouth and much of that word comes from people in our audience. This is an audience we’ve been educating and entertaining for 17 years and counting, and your voice is part of us now, whether you like it or not! Tell us and our audience what you have to say!

This goes for tools and techniques as much as it goes for prose. Basecamp not only tries to out- teach the competition, but also out-share and out- collaborate. We’re prolific open source contributors through Ruby on Rails, Trix, Turbolinks, Pow, and many other projects. Extracting the common infrastructure that others could use as well is satisfying, important work, and we should continue to do that.

It's also worth mentioning that joining Basecamp can be all-consuming. We've seen it happen. You dig Basecamp, so you feel pressure to contribute, maybe overwhelmingly so. The people who work here are some of the best and brightest in our industry, so the self-imposed burden to be exceptional is real. But here's the thing: stop it. Settle in. We're glad you love this job because we all do too, but at the end of the day it's a job. Do your best work, collaborate with your team, write, read, learn, and then turn off your computer and play with your dog. We'll all be better for it.
98 changes: 98 additions & 0 deletions benefits-and-perks.md
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# Benefits & Perks

Since the majority of Basecamp employees work in the US, this section is written with that as the default. Some benefits don't make sense in other countries, like private health insurance in other first-world countries with a well-functioning, national health care system. We will try our best to provide comparable benefits and perks outside the US as it makes sense, though.

## Benefits

### Health Insurance

Health insurance is provided in the US via Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO. The company pays 75% of the premium and the employee pays the other 25%. Open enrollment is in November every year. Marriages and domestic partnerships are covered equally.

#### Employee-portion of medical insurance premium per pay period

* Employee-only medical coverage: $52.99
* Employee-partner medical coverage: $122.43
* Employee-child(ren) medical coverage: $118.47
* Employee-family medical coverage: $187.90

#### Employee-portion of dental insurance premium per pay period

* Employee-only dental coverage: $5.95
* Employee-partner dental coverage: $12.58
* Employee-child(ren) dental coverage: $15.08
* Employee-family dental coverage: $23.40

#### Vision

* Basecamp doesn't offer vision insurance, but our medical insurance plan gives us discounts on eye exams, glasses, and contact lenses.

#### Flexible Spending Account (FSA)

The FSA is an account where you can set aside pre-tax money for out-of-pocket medical expenses, such as prescriptions, over-the-counter medicine, vision care, etc. You have to decide up front how much money you want to put in the account, and the max is $2,400/year. There is a separate type of FSA for dependent care (child or elder care), and the max for that plan is $5,000/year. This is an entirely optional program; if you don't think you'll use it, you need not sign up.

### Vacations & Holidays

Basecamp offers 3 weeks of paid vacation, a few extra personal days to use at your discretion, and the standard national holidays every year. This is a guideline, so if you need a couple extra days, no problem. We don’t track your days off; we use the honor system. Just make sure to check with your team before taking any extended absence, so they’re not left in the lurch.

### Summer Hours

During summer, we work 4-day work weeks, aka "summer hours". Summer hours are in effect from May 1 through August 31 each year. (An employee who've just been hired may have to complete a training program per their team lead to be eligible).

### Sabbatical

Every three years, employees are eligible to take a one-month-long sabbatical. Just give a heads-up preferably three months in advance, so we can coordinate the work-load accordingly.

### Parental Leave

When you welcome a new child (birthed or adopted), Basecamp encourages you to take up to 16 weeks leave for primary caregivers and up to 6 weeks leave as secondary caregiver at 100% paid salary. You may also choose to take an additional 8 weeks leave unpaid. Note that this does not guarantee your employment. We're simply keeping your job open for an additional 8 weeks, unless your position becomes redundant.

### 401K Retirement Plan

Our 401K is through Vanguard. Basecamp matches dollar-for-dollar up to 6% of your salary that you contribute to the plan. For instance, an employee who earns $100,000 can contribute any amount towards the 401K, however Basecamp will only match the first 6% or $6,000/year of those contributions. You are eligible to enroll in the 401K plan with your first paycheck.

### Employee Liquidity Pool

If Basecamp is ever sold or part of an IPO, tenured employees will be eligible to receive a portion of 5% of the value of the company. That 5% would be divided into units, based on the number of employees we have at the time. People who were Basecampers for less than 1 year would receive 0 units, someone employed 1 year would receive 1 unit, and so on, until you're fully vested at 5 years for 5 units.

## Perks

### Fitness Allowance

Basecamp will pay up to $100/month for your gym membership, yoga studio membership, or whatever activity you do to stay in shape. If it's not organized fitness, that's okay, too. You can use your stipend to pay for race registrations or even new outdoor running shoes. The only catch is that you can't "save up" your stipend. Sorry, but no saving 9 months worth of fitness benefit, and buying a new bike; this benefit is meant to promote regular activity for you.

### Massage Allowance

Every month, you can expense up to $100 towards a massage, as part of Basecamp's health and wellness benefits package.

### Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Allowance

Fresh, organic, local fruits and vegetables are great to have on-hand, so we'd also like to offer a CSA membership to you. Finding a local provider will be up to you, but you can expense the cost of a seasonal or annual CSA share as an employee benefit, up to $1,000/year.

### Continuing Education Allowance

If you're interested in taking classes that you feel improve you professionally or personally, you have a $1,000 annual stipend to do so (annual = a 12 month period, not necessarily 2017 or 2018). Some people take classes directly related to their career, while some take photography lessons or learn a musical instrument. It's up to you; the point is to learn something that you feel enriches you as a person and employee.

### Matching Charitable Gifts

When you donate money to a qualified charity, Basecamp will make a matching gift to that charity on your behalf. Basecamp will match up to $2000 per year, per employee. If you donate to more than one organization annually, that's okay! For example, if I give $1000/year to the Red Cross and $1000/year to NPR, Basecamp will match both donations, dollar for dollar. If you donate more than $2000/year, you are officially awesome, but Basecamp will only match $2,000 of your awesomeness.

### Basecamp Holiday Gift

Every year, at the end of the year, Basecamp generally gives a thank-you gift to the employees. Employees who have been at Basecamp for one year or less get one gift (last year: a night on the town in his/her hometown), and longer tenured employees get a more elaborate gift (last year: a paid vacation). We switch up the delivery of these every year, so you're always in for a nice surprise.

## Practical assistance

### Home Office Set-up

Since you work remotely, we want to make sure your home office is comfortable. You can expense up to $1,000 to furnish your home office, every three years.

### Coworking Space Stipend

Basecamp will pay up to $100/month for you to use towards renting coworking space in your city. Please make sure you're using a true coworking space that's meant solely for working, not a club or social space.

### Expense Account

If you work in the US, you should carry a Basecamp American Express card in your name. You can
use the card for any work-related expenses, such as travel, software, or office supplies. If you have any doubts about whether or not to expense something, just ask. When you do buy something with the card, get a receipt! Take a photo of that receipt, and send the photo to 37receipts@gmail.com. If you can’t use the Amex and have to use a personal card, send the receipt directly to Andrea for reimbursement.

Basecamp has no expense policy. We trust our employees to spend money wisely. If you’re booking a flight, you don’t need to buy the cheapest, 2-layover redeye; buy the convenient, well-priced seat. If you’re attending a conference on behalf of Basecamp, sure, Basecamp will buy your meals. Just try to stay away from caviar and champagne at dinner (okay, maybe once if you have a killer day to celebrate). If you have questions about what “spend it wisely” means, just ask!
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# Frequently Asked Questions

## Where should I report a bug?

Basecamp 3 is currently the only product that we're actively fixing functionality bugs on. If you find a bug in Basecamp 3, please add a new todo to the Awaiting Triage todolist in [BC3: Bugs](https://3.basecamp.com/2914079/buckets/564667/todosets/80120962). It's a good idea to try to do a quick search first to see if your bug has already been reported, but better to report something twice than not at all.

## This handbook is the best thing ever written, thank you Basecamp, for bringing it into my life. But how do I update it?

[Right here!](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook)
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# Getting Started

## Expectations
Getting started at Basecamp can be overwhelming. There are a lot of little details, a number of big tasks, you're learning a new job and new coworkers, and you're likely doing all these things while working remotely. Your Basecamp buddy, your Ops bud- dy, and your manager are all here to help. If you don't know how to set up your machine (or *why* you're setting up something on your machine!), please ask. There is no set time period for most training periods, but most people are up to speed in about 3 months.

## Your Buddy
Usually when you start a new job in an office, it's clear who does what. Chris sets up your desk and gives you your new red Swingline stapler. Abbi in HR explains your benefits package. Your cubemate Ilana is right next to you, and she can tell you who to ask about payroll. In a remote company, it's a little less clear. Even when you know [who does what](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/orgchart.md), it's still nice to have a work buddy to ping when you don't know where to turn. So we set up a Basecamp Buddy system. When you start, you'll be assigned a buddy. They'll introduce themselves, and they're totally willing to point you in the right direction when you need it. Of course, everyone is available to help, but it's nice to have a dedicated best work friend.

## Setting Up Your Machine
Your buddy helps you with day-to-day questions you might have, but someone on our Ops team will help you set up all the accounts you need to work at Basecamp. Before you start, Andrea will order you a new laptop with the specs you request and any accessories you need, like an external keyboard, mouse, or monitor. Your manager will set up a Basecamp dedicated to your onboarding called "Welcome, [your name]!". When you start, you'll have access to that Basecamp. In it, you'll see to-dos linking to accounts or services that you need to set up -- an external hard drive, 2FA for various accounts, Dropbox, and private wi-fi to name a few. You'll also see things that your Ops buddy or manager need to set up -- Basecamp (obvi),
Jabber, Github, and Queenbee, among a whole list of other things. Don't worry if you don't know what some of these services are. Your Ops buddy or your Basecamp buddy can help you through it.

If you have a specific training schedule or training milestones to complete, that will go into your Welcome Basecamp too.

We have a very stringent and specific security protocol, which we then monitor using [Shipshape](https://github.com/basecamp/shipshape/). [Here's a list](https://github.com/basecamp/shipshape/wiki) of what we require and, just as importantly, why we require it!

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@E36lewis
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Didn't you guys buy Highrise back?

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