28 | We believe people should enjoy a healthy balance between their work and personal life. Time with family, 29 | loved ones, and friends is important. With this in mind, we don’t expect team members to work more than 40 30 | hours during a typical week. We all hold ourselves to this idea, even our CEO. 31 |
32 |28 | Every Tuesday morning our team gathers together to enjoy delicious breakfast tacos from an assortment of 29 | local restaurants and food trucks. 30 |
31 | 32 |33 | If you have allergies or dietary restrictions, let the person in charge of ordering the tacos know so that 34 | we can accommodate those. 35 |
36 |28 | Like many tech companies, we have a relaxed dress code. We do not require or expect traditional business 29 | attire of any sort. T-shirts, shorts, and athletic wear are frequently worn by our team members. 30 |
31 | 32 |33 | With that said though, we expect all employees to dress in a way that’s not unprofessional, tacky, or 34 | excessively distracting. Please do not wear clothing that is revealing, falling apart, noticeably dirty, or 35 | unnecessarily disruptive. 36 |
37 |28 | Your employment is at-will. This means that you are free to terminate your employment at any time, with or 29 | without cause and the company has a right to terminate your employment at any time as well, with or without 30 | cause. No one in the company other than the CEO has the authority to alter your at-will status or to enter 31 | into any agreement for employment for a specified period of time or to make any agreement contrary to this 32 | policy. Only the CEO may do so, and only in a written agreement signed by both the CEO and you. 33 |
34 |28 | All employees are encouraged to take a lunch break during the day. Generally, your offer letter will state 29 | the number of hours you’re expected to work weekly. Lunch breaks will not count toward that amount of time. 30 | Some other notes about lunch breaks: 31 |
32 | 33 |28 | We employ cutting edge tools and current industry best practices wherever it makes sense. Although it’s 29 | often a delicate balance between endlessly adopting new tech and capitalizing on established processes, we 30 | recognize the value of working in modern tech stacks and regularly take time to eliminate technical debt. 31 |
32 | 33 |34 | We also invest heavily in designing efficient workflows company-wide. This is especially true for our 35 | engineering teams, for whom we’ve abstracted away nearly all of the DevOps processes that typically burden 36 | development speed. 37 |
38 |28 | We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate against qualified employees or applicants 29 | because of race, color, religion, veteran status, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy status, gender, age, 30 | marital status, parental status, mental or physical disability, medical condition, physical appearance, 31 | political affiliation, or any other characteristics protected by law. When necessary, our company will 32 | reasonably accommodate employees and applicants with disabilities if the person is otherwise qualified to 33 | safely perform all of the essential functions of the position. 34 |
35 |28 | On the first Friday of each month, we gather together for a free meal. It’s a time to foster camaraderie, 29 | build friendships, and grow stronger as a team. 30 |
31 | 32 |33 | If you have allergies or dietary restrictions, let the person in charge of ordering the food know so that we 34 | can accommodate those. 35 |
36 | 37 |38 | If the first Friday happens to fall on a company observed holiday, we’ll reschedule for a different date. 39 |
40 | 41 |44 | Unlike a typical lunch break, count the time we spend gathering for free-lunch Fridays toward the 45 | time you’ve worked that day. 46 |
47 |28 | Like with most other companies, all employees are required to sign a PIIAA contract. You’ll be asked to do 29 | this on or before your start date. Loosely speaking, this type of document accomplishes two things: 30 |
31 | 32 |40 | Because the document has quite a bit of formatting, it’s better to view the agreement as a PDF here: 41 | PIIAA Agreement. 42 |
43 |28 | All team members are paid semi-monthly on the 15th and last day of the month. Your pay will arrive via 29 | direct deposit and you’ll receive confirmation each week via email from our payroll provider. All applicable 30 | taxes will automatically be withheld, along with certain payroll deductions like retirement fund 31 | contributions. 32 |
33 | 34 |35 | If a payday falls on a weekend or bank holiday, the payday will occur on the closest business day leading up 36 | to the normal payday 37 | (e.g., if the 15th was a Sunday, the direct deposit would arrive on the 13th.) 38 |
39 | 40 |41 | You can log into our payroll provider’s website at any time to see a history of previous pay periods, view 42 | details about each payment, update your contact information, change where direct deposits are sent, and 43 | more. 44 |
45 |28 | If you’re feeling under the weather, you should first know that we hope you feel better soon! If you are 29 | experiencing symptoms of a contagious disease, we ask that you either take time off or work from home until 30 | at least 24 hours after those alleviate. Note: our 31 | remote work policy would still apply if you choose to 32 | work from home. In particular, your symptoms should not prevent you from being as productive as when you’re 33 | feeling well; if they do, please take time off instead. 34 |
35 | 36 |37 | If you test positive for a contagious disease but are not experiencing symptoms, we ask that you work from 38 | home for as long as the CDC recommends for that particular disease. Out of courtesy to others, if you have 39 | reason to suspect that you’ve had significant exposure to a testable contagious disease (e.g., COVID-19, the 40 | flu, strep throat, etc.), we recommend scheduling a test. 41 |
42 |28 | I acknowledge I have received access to the Sparksuite Employee Handbook, have read it, and understand its 29 | provisions. I further understand that if I have a question, I am obligated to ask the person I report to for 30 | clarification of any provisions in the Employee Handbook. 31 |
32 | 33 |34 | I further understand that the statements contained in the handbook do not create any contractual or other 35 | legal obligations of employment. I also understand that Sparksuite may at any time modify, rescind, or 36 | revise any policy, benefit, or practice described in the handbook, except for its policy of at-will 37 | employment. 38 |
39 | 40 |41 | Date: 42 | __________________________________________ 43 |
44 | 45 |46 | Signature: 47 | __________________________________________ 48 |
49 | 50 |51 | Printed Name: 52 | __________________________________________ 53 |
54 |28 | Sparksuite is able to provide a unique company culture, combining the best parts of an exciting startup with 29 | the best parts of a mature company. We move quickly and utilize the latest technologies. Our 30 | office environment is one of the best in the city. We set ambitious 31 | goals and strive to disrupt the industries we enter. Everyone on the team is passionate about the work we 32 | do, and we grow closer through frequent team outings. 33 |
34 | 35 |36 | But unlike a startup, we offer the stability of a mature, profitable company that’s been around since 2009. 37 | Further, we have no investors to answer to. As such, our team is free to focus on producing amazing work 38 | while enjoying a healthy work-life balance. 39 |
40 | 41 |44 | To catch a glimpse into our company culture, 45 | follow us on Instagram! 48 |
49 |28 | All full-time and part-time employees, regardless of gender, can opt to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid new 29 | parent leave. This time is typically used for the new parent to welcome the new child or children into their 30 | home, but can also be used near the end of pregnancy for medical reasons. 31 |
32 | 33 |36 | An employee is considered a new parent four weeks before the birth of a biological child, upon adoption of a 37 | child, or upon receiving a foster child. The 12 weeks must be used within 1 year of the birth, adoption, or 38 | placement (respectively) of the new child. The leave can be taken consecutively or intermittently as needed. 39 | Since new parent leave is a form of unpaid time off, you can learn about how it works and its impacts on the 40 | unpaid time off page. 41 |
42 | 43 |46 | New parent leave can be used by notifying the person you report to as early as reasonably possible and 47 | gaining approval. Under normal circumstances, at least several weeks notice is expected. 48 |
49 |28 | We’ve partnered with a high-tech, ultra low-fee provider to manage our employees’ 401(k)s. Their platform 29 | and customer support are just as focused on transparency and clarity as we are. This makes it easy for you 30 | to manage your investment fund and goals and ensures you have the greatest amount available at retirement. 31 | In addition, we offer exceptional company matching to incentivize our employees to save for retirement. 32 |
33 | 34 |37 | To encourage long-term savings, we’ll match your 401(k) contributions dollar-for-dollar up to 4% of your 38 | salary. This begins with your first paycheck. 39 |
40 | 41 |All funds contributed to your 401(k), including company matching, are 100% immediately vested.
44 | 45 |48 | When hired, you’ll automatically be enrolled for a 401(k) with a default contribution of 4%. You can adjust 49 | your contribution amount at any time via our 401(k) provider’s online interface. The desired amount will be 50 | withdrawn from your paycheck and contributed directly to your investment fund. 51 |
52 |28 | Our policies regarding drugs, alcohol, and weapons are designed to promote a safe and productive work 29 | environment for all employees. They’re also designed to maintain a positive image of our company and our 30 | employees. 31 |
32 | 33 |34 | Because these are relatively serious subject matters, employees who violate any of these policies risk 35 | immediate termination and law enforcement intervention. 36 |
37 | 38 |41 | Under no circumstances may an employee use, buy, sell, or distribute illegal drugs, whether at work or not. 42 |
43 | 44 |47 | Alcoholic beverages may be allowed in the office for select occasions; in which case, team members are 48 | expected to drink responsibly and in moderation. However, our office will be presumed dry unless otherwise 49 | indicated by a team member with authority to make exceptions to this policy. 50 |
51 | 52 |55 | Weapons are not permitted in the office under any circumstances, with the exception of small pocket knives 56 | (blades under 3") and mace. Among other things, prohibited weapons include firearms, swords, fireworks, 57 | explosives, tasers, or anything that could easily be construed as a weapon given the environment. 58 |
59 |28 | Employees receive paid time off for the holidays listed below. If a holiday falls on a weekend, that holiday 29 | is observed on the closest business day. 30 |
31 | 32 || Holiday | 36 |Observed | 37 |
|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | 43 |January 1st | 44 |
| Easter Monday | 48 |Day after Easter | 49 |
| Memorial Day | 53 |Last Monday in May | 54 |
| Juneteenth | 58 |June 19th | 59 |
| Independence Day | 63 |July 4th | 64 |
| Labor Day | 68 |First Monday in September | 69 |
| Thanksgiving | 73 |Fourth Thursday in November | 74 |
| Thanksgiving Friday | 78 |Day after Thanksgiving | 79 |
| Christmas Eve | 83 |December 24th | 84 |
| Christmas Day | 88 |December 25th | 89 |
94 | Note: If Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday (causing two business days to be equally close), it will be 96 | observed on the day after Christmas. Likewise, if Christmas Day falls on a Saturday, it will be observed 97 | on the following Monday. 99 |
100 |28 | Before diving into this section, it’s important to realize that we place substantial trust in our employees 29 | and therefore respect employee privacy as much as we can. 30 |
31 | 32 |33 | To protect our company, though, we need to make it clear that employees do not have a right to privacy 34 | within the workplace. This includes our offices, any company owned property that you use (e.g., desk, 35 | storage, laptop, etc.), company provided online accounts and services (e.g., email, code repositories, file 36 | sharing services, etc.), and other items of this nature. With this in mind, we reserve the right to search 37 | these at any time, without warning, to ensure compliance with our policies, including those that cover 38 | employee safety, workplace violence, harassment, theft, and possession of prohibited items. 39 |
40 | 41 |44 | Company provided email and internet are not being actively monitored by anyone, but because they are company 45 | resources that are managed according to company policy, you should not expect privacy from either. Our 46 | company has both the ability and the right to look at employee usage for both in order to protect employee 47 | safety and wellbeing, as well as company property and interests. 48 |
49 | 50 |51 | Email messages (including attachments) sent and received from a company email address are the property of 52 | our company. We reserve the right to access, monitor, read, and/or copy email messages at any time, for any 53 | reason. You should not expect privacy for any email you send using your company email, including messages 54 | that you consider to be personal or label with a designation such as “Personal” or “Private.” 55 |
56 | 57 |58 | We reserve the right to monitor employee use of the internet at any time. You should not expect that your 59 | use of the internet—including but not limited to the sites you visit, the amount of time you spend online, 60 | and the communications you have—will be private. 61 |
62 |28 | Team members are free to choose the start & end times that work best for them each day! All full-time team 29 | members are free to begin each day between 7am-10am and finish each day between 4pm-7pm after completing 8 30 | hours of work. 31 | 32 | Part-time team members will be given different windows and a different number of hours per workday; these 33 | details will be made clear in any part-time job opening / offer letter. 34 | 35 |
36 | 37 |38 | The start & end times you choose can change day by day, and you don’t need to let anyone know when you plan 39 | to arrive or leave each day (as long as it’s within the windows described above). Need to come in later one 40 | day and earlier the next? Go for it! 41 |
42 | 43 |44 | Team members also have the flexibility to take breaks as desired throughout the day. To ensure our team can 45 | collaborate efficiently, significant breaks should be avoided between 10am-4pm, aside from a reasonable 46 | lunch break. However, periodic small breaks during this time are encouraged—whether it’s to enjoy a cup of 47 | coffee, grab a snack, go for a walk, or challenge a teammate to a quick game of ping pong or cornhole. Since 48 | breaks don’t count toward the amount of time worked each day, each team member is entrusted with the ability 49 | to manage their time according to their own individual preferences for how they work best. 50 |
51 | 52 |53 | On the off chance a more significant break (typically anything over an hour) needs to be taken during your 54 | workday, just be sure to communicate this with your manager in advance so that they’re aware. These types of 55 | breaks should be rare but are permitted without taking PTO as long as it doesn’t interfere with your ability 56 | to complete a full workday and it doesn’t impede your ability to perform the responsibilities of your role. 57 |
58 | 59 |60 | Employees generally still have access to the office outside of the 7-7 working window, but working outside 61 | of these hours should be reserved for extreme circumstances (like a software outage that needs immediate 62 | attention). However, feel free to enjoy the games or game tables at the office anytime with friends + 63 | family! 64 |
65 |28 | Although we’ve taken steps to prevent the loss of certain utilities (e.g., 29 | redundant power and internet), in the rare event that the office is 30 | without power, internet, or water for a designated consecutive amount of time, we have established protocols 31 | for partial- and full-office closures. 32 |
33 | 34 |35 | In many ways, an office closure is like any other unexpected circumstance, where a team member may choose to 36 | work remotely or take time off—whichever meets their needs best. However, unlike other unexpected 37 | circumstances, working remotely on a day when the office is partially or fully closed won’t consume a remote 38 | day. 39 |
40 | 41 |44 | While we understand that during a partial closure the office environment won’t be ideal, we allow team 45 | members to optionally work from the office because we recognize that it may still be their best available 46 | option if they want to avoid using time off. A partial closure occurs when the office loses power for 1 hour 47 | or more, as long as backup power is not exhausted. 48 |
49 | 50 |The office is unavailable to team members during a full closure, which occurs when the office…
53 | 54 |Team members will be notified via Slack when the status of the office is changed.
63 | 64 |67 | Our company attempts to monitor utilities at our office within reason; however, we recognize that we may not 68 | be aware of issues right away (or at all), and that some situations may be widespread (e.g., natural 69 | disasters) and therefore limit our company’s awareness. To help us out, if you notice a utility issue at our 70 | office, please let the appropriate team member know right away. 71 |
72 | 73 |74 | We’ve designed our policies to accommodate all types of unexpected events by affording a great deal of 75 | flexibility through remote work, paid time off, and unpaid time off. Because our benefits and perks already 76 | account for these types of unexpected events, in the rare event of an office closure, additional benefits or 77 | perks will not be granted. 78 |
79 |28 | We strive to retain team members for a long time, so as a fun way of showing off how long you’ve worked in 29 | the Sparksuite family, we gift team members with desirable company swag after crossing various work 30 | anniversary milestones. Plus, we dish these products out at all-hands meetings so the whole team can 31 | celebrate together! These are meant to be mementos, not the reason team members stick around—that’s 32 | accomplished in 33 | other ways. Here’s our current lineup of company swag: 39 |
40 | 41 |28 | We want our team to be happy and refreshed, and to maintain a healthy work-life balance, so every employee 29 | earns generous paid time off that can be used freely for vacations and adventures, time with loved ones, 30 | appointments, sick days, jury duty, and just about anything else. This is in addition to company observed 31 | holidays. 32 |
33 | 34 |37 | You’ll earn a specific amount of paid time off each year based on your current work anniversary, as shown in 38 | the table below: 39 |
40 | 41 || Work anniversary | 45 |Paid time off, per year | 46 |
|---|---|
| Before 2-year anniversary | 52 |3 weeks | 53 |
| After 2-year anniversary | 57 |3.5 weeks | 58 |
| After 4-year anniversary | 62 |4 weeks | 63 |
68 | The amount you earn is converted to hours (where 1 week equals 40 hours for full-time employees or the 69 | number of hours you work in a week for part-time employees) and then divided by the number of pay periods 70 | per year to determine the amount you earn each pay period. 71 |
72 | 73 |74 | For example, let’s say you’re full-time and currently earning three weeks of paid time off each year (120 75 | hours). Assuming a semi-monthly pay period, that equates to 5 hours of paid time off each pay period. 76 |77 | 78 |
79 | Accrued paid time off rolls over from year-to-year; however, you can only accumulate a maximum of 4 weeks of 80 | paid time off at any given time (we want you to take advantage of it!). 81 |
82 | 83 |84 | New employees will begin accruing paid time off during their first full pay period. Newly hired employees 85 | will begin with three days of paid time off to help out in the event something unexpected comes up early 86 | into their employment. 87 |
88 | 89 |92 | Paid time off can be used by notifying the person you report to as early as reasonably possible and gaining 93 | approval. Different reasons for requesting time off will naturally have different expectations for how early 94 | you’re able to send notification. 95 |
96 | 97 |98 | If you need to request time off for part (not all) of the day, you should include the time(s) you will be 99 | out in your time off request, in the “notes” field. 100 |
101 | 102 |103 | It’s preferred that you don’t dip too low into your paid time off balance, to ensure you can cover 104 | unexpected time off (like illness). 105 |
106 | 107 |Any unused PTO balance will be paid out with the final paycheck if an employee leaves the company.
110 |28 | We want to maximize flexibility for our team, so in addition to our paid time off policy—including company 29 | observed holidays—team members have the option to take unpaid time off. However, because we provide ample 30 | paid time off along with flexible remote work opportunities, we hope that needing to rely on unpaid time off 31 | is a rare occurrence. 32 |
33 | 34 |35 | Our unpaid time off policy is designed to be flexible enough to accommodate both short- and long-term 36 | situations. We utilize a two-bucket design to make the approval process more efficient for smaller and more 37 | infrequent requests, and to give team members more discretion over these requests, while still accommodating 38 | larger or more frequent requests. 39 |
40 | 41 |44 | Each team member has access to two unpaid time off buckets in our payroll system—one uses an accrual system 45 | with a more streamlined approval process and the other is subject to more careful review. 46 |
47 | 48 |49 | Each team member will accrue 2 weeks of unpaid time off each year in their “quick review” bucket. This 50 | accrued unpaid time off rolls over from year-to-year; however, you can only accumulate a maximum of 2 weeks 51 | of this unpaid time off at any given time. New employees will begin accruing this unpaid time off during 52 | their first full pay period. 53 |
54 | 55 |56 | For needs that exceed your “quick review” accrual balance, we also offer a “more review” bucket. Requests 57 | submitted through this bucket are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by your manager alongside the people ops 58 | team. 59 |
60 | 61 |62 | During unpaid time off, health benefits will continue; 63 | here’s how 69 | missed benefit deductions are caught up. 70 |
71 | 72 |75 | Unpaid time off can be used by notifying the person you report to as early as reasonably possible and 76 | gaining approval. Different reasons for requesting time off will naturally have different expectations for 77 | how early you’re able to send notification. You do not need to exhaust your PTO bucket before using UTO; 78 | however, you must exhaust your “quick review” bucket in order to use unpaid time off from your “more review” 79 | bucket. 80 |
81 | 82 |83 | If you need to request time off for part (not all) of the day, you should include the time(s) you will be 84 | out in your time off request, in the “notes” field. 85 |
86 | 87 |90 | Using unpaid time off delays your work anniversary (by the amount of unpaid time off that has been taken) 91 | for the purposes of determining annual raises, 92 | anniversary swag, and 93 | paid time off accruals. Similarly, the amount of PTO you accrue 94 | in a pay period is reduced in proportion to the amount of unpaid time off that was taken in that pay period. 95 |
96 |28 | To promote a healthy work-life balance, all full-time team members can work remotely up to 2 days each week, 29 | with extra remote days available to accommodate unexpected situations (details below). Each team member has 30 | full control over when they choose to use their remote days—no approval or advance notice needed. 31 | 32 | Part-time team members may not be eligible for remote work due to in-office needs; this detail will be 33 | made clear in any part-time job opening / offer letter. 34 | 35 |
36 | 37 |40 | Full-time team members accrue one extra remote day on the first day of each quarter, up to a balance of 10 41 | extra remote days. You can use these extra remote days to work remotely more than twice in a week. While 42 | it’s up to each team member to decide how and when to use their extra remote days, we recommend reserving 43 | these for unexpected situations. 44 |
45 | 46 |49 | Full-time team members have the opportunity to earn half of an extra remote day in order to replenish a low 50 | balance. When you have fewer than 3 extra remote days in your balance, this half extra remote day can be 51 | earned by working 5 full days (i.e., without time off) entirely from the office within one workweek, and it 52 | will be added to your balance on the following Wednesday. 53 |
54 | 55 |58 | If needed, you can work part of the day from the office and part of the day remotely. This counts as a 59 | remote day, so you’ll need to have a remote day available to do this. If you need to switch your work 60 | location, just be sure to inform your manager in advance and update your work location status. 61 |
62 | 63 |66 | Be sure to choose and/or create a working environment that is suitable for productive work. This would 67 | include: 68 |
69 | 70 |78 | When choosing which days to work remotely, take into consideration your commitments and responsibilities, 79 | like whether you have meetings, company-wide events, etc. Be sure to notify team members who may be impacted 80 | by you working remotely that day. 81 |
82 | 83 |84 | Working remotely generally requires more effort to ensure it’s effective and productive. It will take extra 85 | work to ensure you’re still collaborating well with your teammates and exceeding their expectations. At the 86 | end of the day, your teammates are counting on you just as much as when you’re at the office. 87 |
88 | 89 |92 | As a tech company, much of our work can be performed from anywhere. Yet, we’ve found that we’re more 93 | collaborative and productive as a team when working from a co-located environment. Plus, working in-person 94 | with fellow team members fosters a stronger team culture and more meaningful connections. 95 |
96 | 97 |98 | To make co-located working the best possible experience, we’ve invested heavily into creating one of the 99 | most enjoyable office environments around, with plenty of snacks, indoor/outdoor break areas, ample private 100 | offices, stellar coffee, standing desks, and so much more. Our office was designed with team member feedback 101 | to be a place people genuinely want to work from. 102 |
103 |28 | In the summer of 2021, we moved into HQ v2, an office that’s radically different from our company’s first 29 | location. Driven by feedback from our team, and designed in partnership with a talented architecture firm, 30 | this second iteration of our company’s headquarters has been crafted to be an ideal working environment for 31 | team members. We’ve invested a significant amount of time, energy, and capital into every facet of the space 32 | to foster productive & enjoyable work. 33 |
34 | 35 |38 | Located a few minutes from the junction of I-45 and the Grand Parkway, on the border of The Woodlands, our 39 | office is situated in a newly-constructed office park with plenty of space to roam when the weather’s nice. 40 | There’s more than enough free parking just steps from our front doors. The office park features free Tesla 41 | chargers, several green space areas, and modern architecture. 42 |
43 | 44 |45 | During the day, our office is flooded with natural light that permeates every area of the building thanks to 46 | ample use of exterior and interior glass. When the weather’s nice, we open the large all-glass garage door 47 | and enjoy the covered balconies on the second floor. Yard games and sports can be played in the green space 48 | behind our building. 49 |
50 | 51 |52 | The interior of our office is filled with beautiful and fun architecture, numerous private offices, 53 | collaborative areas, places to relax and watch TV, individual restrooms, a large break room, soft upbeat 54 | music, greenery, a ping pong table, a treadmill desk, and more. 55 |
56 | 57 |60 | All team members are equipped with a workstation designed to foster productivity and success. Everyone works 61 | at their own programmable standing desk with built-in USB chargers. Tucked under the desk you’ll have a 62 | personal, locking cabinet for storage. 63 |
64 | 65 |66 | For tech hardware, we provide cutting-edge MacBook Pros with dual or triple high-end 4K monitors. We’ll also 67 | provide your choice of keyboard, mouse, mousepad, etc. along with any other gadgets or supplies you need 68 | (like cables, test devices, notepads, sticky notes, etc.). 69 |
70 | 71 |72 | In addition, most team members are assigned a lockable private office for quiet, focused working. Each 73 | private office is equipped with a personal Sonos speaker for listening to whatever you please. 74 |
75 | 76 |79 | We keep our break room stocked with various snacks like granola bars, nuts, fruit bars, jerky, chips, 80 | fruits, lunch supplies, and more. Our oversized beverage fridge is full of refreshing drink choices. Getting 81 | hungry or thirsty? Feel free to grab something from the assortment of goodies. Some are healthy… some are 82 | simply delicious. 83 |
84 | 85 |86 | For appliances, an air fryer + toaster oven + microwave combo, refrigerator, toaster, hot/cold water 87 | dispenser, and ice maker are all at your disposal. 88 |
89 | 90 |91 | On the coffee front, you couldn’t be more well covered! We love coffee at Sparksuite, so our break room is 92 | brimming with some of the nicest (and highest tech) coffee equipment on the market. You’ll find an E1 Prima 93 | espresso machine, multiple Mahlkönig grinders, an Ottomatic 2.0 from Chemex, nitro cold brew on tap, 94 | specialty-roasted beans, and even a PUQpress. 95 |
96 | 97 |98 | If we’re missing your favorite snack or beverage, let the person in charge of ordering snacks at the office 99 | know and he or she may be able to accommodate it! 100 |
101 | 102 |105 | Our office is connected to symmetric gigabit-speed fiber internet service, with automatic & rapid 106 | failover to LTE in the event of an internet outage. Our networking and security equipment will stay online 107 | through power flickers and extended outages thanks to multiple layers of power redundancy, including a 108 | massive Tesla Powerwall. By employing state-of-the-art networking equipment from Ubiquiti, plus thoughtful 109 | network design, we’re able to provide devices with near-theoretical-maximum speeds. 110 |
111 | 112 |113 | Thorough coverage from high-resolution cameras, an intrusion/fire detection system monitored 24/7, strict 114 | door access control systems, well-lit parking lots, and other measures help protect our team members and 115 | property and ensure everyone feels safe working at any time of day. 116 |
117 |28 | As a company, we hold ourselves to the highest possible standards of ethical conduct; however, this wouldn’t 29 | be possible without the people who make up our team believing in and standing behind these same ideals. To 30 | that end, we’ve developed this code of conduct to demonstrate our company values and to guide employees 31 | toward conducting themselves in an honorable way. 32 |
33 | 34 |35 | This code has been written using broad language that demonstrates the expectations we have for employees in 36 | general since it would be impossible to comment on every foreseeable situation. We fully expect employees to 37 | use their best judgment in all situations to uphold these values and to encourage other team members to do 38 | the same. 39 |
40 | 41 |44 | We expect all employees and board members to abide by this code of conduct. Although this code has been 45 | written with employees and board members in mind, we also expect contractors and consultants to follow this 46 | code as well. 47 |
48 | 49 |52 | This code is critical in the office and whenever you are representing our company. However, we believe it’s 53 | reasonable for employees to uphold these values in their personal lives too. This is especially important on 54 | social media since your employment is often listed and your statements and actions can be easily viewed by 55 | millions. 56 |
57 | 58 |61 | Immediately report concerns to the person you report to (unless that person is the target of your concern, 62 | in which case you should report your concern to the next in rank). If you have a question about the Code of 63 | Conduct, please direct it to the person you report to. 64 |
65 | 66 |71 | When communicating in any form, always maintain a level of professionalism and carefulness so as to 72 | represent yourself and our company in a positive light. This includes all communication, whether internal or 73 | external. Here are some expectations: 74 |
75 | 76 |88 | Consistently act with the highest degree of integrity possible. This means making decisions and producing 89 | work that you can be proud of, no matter the situation. Be honest and open with others, and foster an 90 | environment where others can be comfortable doing the same. 91 |
92 | 93 |94 | Additionally, integrity involves taking personal responsibility for your actions and decisions. Nobody is 95 | perfect, so when you make mistakes, own up to them. You’ll earn more respect by doing so than by covering up 96 | the truth. 97 |
98 | 99 |102 | This subject is already covered by the PIIAA, but we wanted to touch on it here as well. As an employee of 103 | our company, you will almost certainly be privy to information not known to the general public. This may 104 | include upcoming features, new business models, growth strategies, business deals in-the-works, hiring 105 | decisions, business metrics, intellectual property, and so on. Leaking such information can be harmful and 106 | costly to our company. We expect all employees to be exceedingly careful to safeguard confidential 107 | information at all times. 108 |
109 | 110 |113 | As an employee of our company, you have an obligation to always do what’s best for our company and our 114 | users. When you are in a situation in which competing loyalties could cause you to pursue a personal benefit 115 | for you, your friends, or your family at the expense of our company or our users, you may be faced with a 116 | conflict of interest. You should take care to avoid conflicts of interest and circumstances that reasonably 117 | present the appearance of a conflict. 118 |
119 | 120 |123 | Always work to create an inclusive environment for everyone, regardless of race, color, religion, veteran 124 | status, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy status, gender, age, marital status, parental status, mental or 125 | physical disability, medical condition, physical appearance, political affiliation, or any other 126 | characteristics protected by law. 127 |
128 | 129 |132 | We do not tolerate harassment of anyone in any form. Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related 133 | to the protected classes above, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, 134 | following, photography or audio/video recording against reasonable consent, sustained disruption of talks or 135 | other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention. Harassment does not need to be 136 | recognized as unwanted or unwelcome by anyone other than the person being harassed. 137 |
138 | 139 |142 | We will not engage in or allow retaliation against any employee who makes a good faith complaint or 143 | participates in an investigation. If you believe that you are being subjected to any kind of negative 144 | treatment because you made or were questioned about a complaint, report the concern immediately. 145 |
146 |28 | We offer full-time team members a variety of employer-sponsored health plans with company contributions. We 29 | also offer vision and dental plans, along with HSAs. The process of selecting and managing plans is made 30 | easy and seamless by our payroll provider. 31 |
32 | 33 |36 | The following plans from 37 | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas are available for the 2025-2026 coverage period: 38 |
39 | 40 |The following plans from Beam are available for the 2025-2026 coverage period:
84 | 85 |100 | Team members with a health plan that meets the requirements for a “High Deductible Health Plan” (HDHP) can 101 | optionally add a health savings account (HSA) as a tax-saving measure for many types of health expenses. 102 |
103 | 104 |107 | Our company will contribute 50% of the cost of the employee’s base health plan premium, toward whichever of 108 | the above health plans the employee chooses. Here’s a hypothetical example of what that looks like: 109 |
110 | 111 || 115 | | Plan A (base) | 116 |Plan B | 117 |Plan C | 118 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employee premium | 124 |$300 | 125 |$400 | 126 |$500 | 127 |
| Company contribution | 131 |$150 | 132 |$150 | 133 |$150 | 134 |
| Employee contribution | 138 |$150 | 139 |$250 | 140 |$350 | 141 |
There is no company contribution toward dental premiums, vision premiums, or HSAs.
146 | 147 |Our benefits coverage period is from March 1st through February 28/29th of the following year.
150 | 151 |154 | For new team members, coverage can typically begin as early as the next 1st of the month following your hire 155 | date. The exception to this is, if you’re hired on the 1st of a month, dental and vision plans can 156 | begin the same day. 157 |
158 | 159 |160 | Existing team members will receive communications each year regarding the annual open enrollment period (the 161 | period when changes can be made to health benefits). If you have a “qualifying life event,” team members can 162 | notify our payroll provider, and they can assist with making changes to health benefits during a special 163 | enrollment period. 164 |
165 | 166 |169 | Our plans use “member-level” premiums, where each covered person’s premium is based on their age and ZIP 170 | code. This is different than “composite” premiums, where employees are placed into one of four categories 171 | (employee only, employee + spouse, employee + dependents, employee + spouse + dependents). Composite 172 | premiums are more common with large employers but have several shortcomings, especially with small- to 173 | mid-sized employers. 174 |
175 | 176 |177 | If you’re a candidate in one of our hiring processes, and you’d like an estimate for you and your family’s 178 | premiums, let us know and we can provide this to you. 179 |
180 | 181 |28 | With transparency being at the forefront of our company values, we felt it’s appropriate to share the 29 | principles that guide our thoughts and decisions when crafting (and updating) our benefits, perks, 30 | compensation, and policies. The reality is that there are a multitude of organizations that can be compared 31 | to the way we do things, but we feel confident that our approach is optimal overall for team members. 32 |
33 | 34 |35 | The overarching theme that drives our people ops decisions is the idea that the company’s role is to provide 36 | ample benefits and perks, and the team member’s role is to manage them in the way that suits them best. We 37 | do this by affording substantial flexibility within firm and predictable boundaries that are objective, 38 | rather than arbitrary based on individual circumstances. We also focus on keeping everything simple so that 39 | it’s more likely to inherently apply to a variety of situations—foreseeable and unforeseeable—without 40 | requiring ad hoc decisions or exceptions. What this means is setting clear expectations that consistently 41 | apply to all team members, and giving each team member the autonomy to decide how those expectations are 42 | met. Let us elaborate… 43 |
44 | 45 |48 | One notable example of this is our paid time off policy, which 49 | does not separate team members’ time off into different buckets like vacation, sick, etc. Instead, we 50 | provide a single bucket with a generous amount of time that team members can use however they’d like. This 51 | means they can use PTO to go on vacation, spend time with loved ones, participate in their favorite hobby, 52 | or just relax & do nothing! What this also means is that team members will eventually use PTO for the 53 | not-so-fun stuff like taking a sick day, attending a doctor’s appointment, reporting for jury duty, or 54 | arriving late due to unexpected traffic. 55 |
56 | 57 |58 | We understand that using hard-earned time off doesn’t feel great when it’s for unplanned circumstances, but 59 | we’ve designed our PTO policy this way in order to give team members the maximum flexibility possible when 60 | it comes to how and when they use their accrued time. Other companies often split time off into designated 61 | buckets, so even if the total amount of time off is similar, there are more restrictions on how and when 62 | time off can be used from each bucket. Here at Sparksuite, though, all we ask is that you properly account 63 | for your time spent away from work, and that’s it! That also means we don’t ask you to prove that you’re 64 | using time off within certain restrictions, like via a doctor’s note, which is a common occurrence for 65 | companies who have a designated “sick time” bucket. 66 |
67 | 68 |69 | Another great advantage of our approach is that it gives each team member the flexibility to decide how much 70 | of a cushion they prefer to keep with their PTO balance to accommodate unplanned circumstances. Companies 71 | with separate buckets usually decide the allocation of time off for each bucket, and that allocation might 72 | not match each team member’s own preferences. For example, you might only use 2 sick days one year, but if 73 | the company allocated 5 days to “sick days,” you aren’t able to use the remaining 3 days for other 74 | reasons—effectively limiting the way you redeem your time off. 75 |
76 | 77 |78 | Ultimately, we have determined the maximum amount of time off we feel comfortable providing, and then give 79 | team members the freedom and responsibility to choose how that time is redeemed. 80 |
81 | 82 |85 | Another example of offering an exceptional amount of flexibility is our 86 | flexible working hours perk. The start & end times you 87 | choose can change from day to day—no need to gain approval or notify anyone. Team members are also 88 | encouraged to take as many short breaks as desired throughout the day. The boundaries are firm in that we 89 | expect PTO to be used if you aren’t able to complete a full workday or aren’t able to start and end your day 90 | within the respective time frames. Combining flexibility with clear boundaries gives team members the 91 | autonomy to choose the hours that work best for them given their personal preferences. 92 |
93 | 94 |97 | Our flexible remote work policies give the opportunity 98 | to work from anywhere with reliable internet for all or part of a workday. We’ve designed this policy to be 99 | ultra-flexible by giving each team member full control over when they choose to use their remote days—once 100 | again, no approval or advance notice is needed. While other companies may designate specific days you can 101 | work remotely, we allow you to choose your days week to week; this avoids losing remote days when there are 102 | holidays or if you take time off. We also provide floating extra remote days that you decide how to 103 | use—whether it’s to save for unplanned circumstances or redeem as soon as they’re accrued. This design 104 | offers the maximum amount of flexibility and predictability by giving ample opportunity to work remotely and 105 | letting each team member decide how to make that work with their preferences and schedule. 106 |
107 | 108 |111 | We have designed our health contributions in a way that gives team 112 | members as much autonomy as possible when managing their benefits. We intentionally maximize team members’ 113 | salaries and minimize the company contribution toward health premiums. By putting more of the total 114 | compensation into salaries, team members have the opportunity to determine where their money goes, whether 115 | that is more to their health plan, or more toward hobbies, travel, savings, or any other interests. 116 | Ultimately, our goal with this approach is to offer the same amount of total compensation while 117 | affording team members the flexibility to allocate their money in ways that best fit their needs. 118 |
119 | 120 |123 | One significant upside to using a more objective and automatic approach with our policy design is that it 124 | eliminates the uncertainty that’s often associated with the benefits and perks a company provides. For 125 | example, you don’t need to wonder if your manager will approve a request to work remotely or wait for 126 | approval on a last-minute request. At Sparksuite, as long as you have the remote days available, you decide 127 | when to work remotely. The same concept generally applies to other benefits and perks like flexible working 128 | hours and time off. We want team members to have confidence that they can make plans for when and where they 129 | work, without the uncertainty of whether those plans will be permitted by the company or their manager. 130 |
131 | 132 |135 | It’s worth pointing out that your benefits stretch further here because our flexibility affords the 136 | opportunity to avoid using benefits in situations where other companies might require it. An example is if 137 | you need to attend a doctor’s appointment in the morning, the flexible start time window means you can come 138 | in later and still complete a full workday. Or you can start your day earlier than usual to be off in time 139 | to attend an event in the afternoon. If you’re sick but feeling well enough to work, but don’t want to pass 140 | that sickness to others, our flexible remote work policy allows you to work remotely without using PTO. If 141 | you get to work later than anticipated due to traffic, you can work later to cover that time as long as you 142 | give yourself enough of a cushion. We’ve even had team members take advantage of our flexible working hours 143 | and flexible remote work policies to work within our expectations from different continents. 144 |
145 | 146 |147 | Ultimately, our goal is to promote a healthy work-life balance and offer perks and benefits that team 148 | members love. Because we recognize that team members have their own unique preferences, we design our 149 | policies with flexibility in mind to achieve that goal. 150 |
151 |28 | This employee handbook is designed to answer questions that current and prospective employees may have about 29 | our employment policies, benefits, perks, hiring process, office policies, etc. The content within applies 30 | to Sparksuite and its subsidiaries. We’ve posted this publicly to promote a culture of transparency and 31 | clarity, and because we’re proud of the working environment we’ve created. 32 |
33 | 34 |35 | Our handbook is 36 | open sourced on GitHub 37 | to track the changes we’ve made to these policies over time. We’ve given it a flexible license so other 38 | companies can benefit from our research and work. 39 |
40 | 41 |42 | If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to answer them, so feel free to reach out. 43 |
44 | 45 |
46 | 
52 | CEO of Sparksuite
53 |
71 | We offer a variety of employer-sponsored health plans from a large insurance carrier, plus vision, dental, 72 | and HSAs. 73 |
74 |We provide a 401(k) through a high-tech, ultra low-fee provider, with considerable company matching.
82 |Employees earn a generous amount of highly flexible paid time off.
92 |View the holidays we observe, for which employees receive paid time off.
102 |Work the hours that are best for you each day. Details about windows of time to work within.
112 |The flexibility to work remotely when needed from week-to-week.
122 |On the first Friday of each month, we gather together for a free meal.
132 |Every Tuesday we enjoy delicious breakfast tacos from local restaurants.
142 |We’ve invested heavily into creating a place team members love to work from.
152 |Fast paced, ambitious goals, cutting edge technology—but without the usual risk.
162 |We really mean that. Our team members should enjoy a great work and personal life balance.
172 |Cutting edge tools for an efficient and enjoyable working environment.
182 |Rock company swag after hitting work anniversary milestones.
192 |All employees can take up to 12 weeks of leave when they become a new parent.
202 |The principles that guide the way we design our benefits, perks, compensation, and policies.
220 |Information about the nature of employment.
230 |How employees should conduct themselves as representatives of our company.
240 |Comfortable and casual, but not tacky.
250 |Ensuring a safe and productive work environment.
260 |Privacy as it relates to our company and the workplace.
270 |Our stance against discrimination.
280 |Introduction to, and acknowledgment of, this employee handbook.
290 |Information about taking a lunch break.
300 |Useful information about how payroll works.
310 |Proprietary information and inventions assignment agreement.
320 |What to do when you’re sick.
330 |What causes the office to close and what happens afterward.
340 |How to take unpaid time off from work and the impacts of doing so.
350 |