Leave Policy

Intro

The balena paid leave policy is designed to give team members control and flexibility over managing their time off to meet their needs, enhance productivity and achieve a good work/life balance. It should be easy to understand, simple for team members to manage, and flexible for different preferences.

Whilst we have a parental leave policy for team members who are expecting a new addition to their family, and a sick & emergency leave policy for days when you are not able to work due to illness or family emergencies, we have also adopted an unlimited leave policy.

Glossary

Leave: paid time off taken at a time that the team member chooses.

Parental Leave: 12 weeks (60 days) leave given to expecting parents. (Full parental leave policy found here)

Sick & Emergency Leave: days which can be taken for when you're ill or need to attend to family matters etc. (Full Sick & Emergency leave policy found here)

Team Members: all members of the team at balena.

Employees: team members with employment contracts in UK/US/Greece.

Substitute (cover): Briefed team member with visibility of your work, and/or who has been coordinated with to step in if something comes up relevant to your work while you are away.(details within ‘Notes’).

At-a-glance (summary)

• There is no limit to the number of days you can use.
• Leave requests are auto-approved.
• When requesting more than 2 consecutive days you are required to assign a substitute (cover).
• In order to take more than 2 weeks (10 working days) within 3 calendar months (consecutive or spread out) you'll need to make People Operations aware.
• You need to request leave in advance, equal to (at least) the number of days of leave you are planning to take.

Why unlimited leave?

Our intent is that all team members feel empowered to take the amount of leave they need in order to stay productive, but most importantly healthy.

What is unlimited leave?

Unlimited paid leave means that instead of giving a limited set number of days per month/year to each team member, there is no upper limit to the number of days someone can take within a calendar year. We have, however, added a caveat of suggested minimum usage by everyone. This optional minimum use limit has been set to negate any insecurities or reluctance team members may have on using this policy whilst also ensuring we actively encourage the team members to use the leave to meet their needs. The team’s current average for 2021 and 2022 stood at 22 days per year. We suggest 20 days off annually as a recommended minimum.

Who is eligible?

All team members are eligible for unlimited leave from the day they join the team!

What can the unlimited leave be used for?

The leave is yours, to use as you see fit. You can use it for vacation, get the mental boost you need to get your head back in the game, attend a wedding or any other personal matters that might require you to take time off from work. There is no difference in the use of unlimited leave and regular leave.

How does our Unlimited leave policy work?

Detailed Guidelines

• Minimum: For the benefit of each team member, we strongly suggest everyone takes at least 4 working weeks (20 days) of leave every year
• When a team member requests more than 2 days of consecutive leave it is their responsibility to arrange cover. The team member who will be covering should be assigned as the substitute within Calamari. This requirement is aimed at assuring that all work that cannot be delayed is dealt with and to eliminate any blockers for other team members. For circumstances wherein a team member is unable to find cover please do reach out to People Operations.
• To take more than 2 weeks (10 days) within 3 calendar months (consecutive or spread out) you'll need People Operations approval. This general rule will still allow team members to take up to 40 days per year without special approval but at the same time help us regulate edge cases.
• We do not consider recurring leave patterns as best practice and all recurring leave patterns must be pre-agreed with People Operations, Strategy or Leadership and will be considered on a case by case basis. Below is a non-exhaustive list of examples:

   * Taking leave on a specific day every week or every second week and so forth
   * 1-2 days every week or every second week 
   * 2 weeks every second month
   * First week of every month
• Leave duration: While there is no limit on how many consecutive days someone can take, we do ask that team members be mindful of their work and other team members. If you are unsure whether you should go ahead and take the intended leave or not please contact Leadership, Strategy Group or People Operations.
• Future adjustments: We will periodically review this policy and we would appreciate your feedback to inform any future adjustments (i.e. make sure we all take the time off that we need to, address any unforeseen issues and/or edge cases, etc.)

Notice period

• Team members are responsible for making sure they are appropriately covered during their leave, notifying their team in advance (and People Operations, Strategy or Leadership if appropriate) equal to (at least) the number of days of leave they are planning to take. If the team member is leading a call or is a maintainer, we ask that you make sure there is adequate cover before taking time off. As best practice, arrange for cover, let the relevant people know and book your leave 1 week in advance for weekday support, and 2 weeks in advance for devops weekend rotations.
• For peak leave periods (i.e. holidays, summer breaks, etc.), as much notice as possible being given will help the team plan ahead. Requests of 10 business days or more may need to be discussed prior to the request being made in order to ensure sufficient coverage.
• By default, leave requests will be “auto-approved” and a notification will be sent to the relevant People Operations members. Team members are responsible for communicating their upcoming leave with the rest of the team.

Bank holidays

• Team members are expected to selfserve leave, regardless of the nature (business days, bank holidays, local public holidays etc.). It is the responsibility of team members to request and take their local public holidays as leave.

Additional leave beyond policy

• Team members who want to take extended unpaid leave should discuss this with a member of the Leadership group. Unpaid leave will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Notes

• Unlimited leave should not be used instead of sick & emergency leave policy or parental leave policy. Please ensure you use Sick & Emergency leave and Parental Leave when you need to.
• Choosing a substitute or cover: Your cover can be a team member with visibility of your work, and/or who you have coordinated with in order to step in if something relevant to your work comes up, while you are away. The cover should have visibility and be able to inform the rest of the team of your work if need be (i.e. paused work, work they are continuing on your behalf if applicable, etc.) This is not meant to be a massive effort to bring someone up to speed around all of your work but to promote communication which is crucial to remove any blockers for the team or for product work and projects that are ongoing while you are away.
• If there is any additional local legislation for employees that is not covered by the balena policy, we will of course honor that.

How to request leave?

A guide to booking time off using Calamari can be found here.