Cultivate Working Hours Policy

Purpose of this policy

This has been written to be clear about what the company expects from you, its employees. It also gives you cover to keep potentially awkward client conversations away from staff and towards Principals / Management.

Working hours

Working hours are detailed in the wiki page Working at Cultivate.

Full time staff are contracted to work 37.5 hours a week, which averages out at 7.5 hours a day (not including lunch). We are flexible about time but as we work collaboratively you ought to be working during the core hours of 09:30 to 12:00, and 14:00 to 17:00. Hours within which you might reasonably choose to work are between 08:00 and 19:00.

We do not track times, trusting you to manage this yourself in a way that is fair to all. Consistently working less than this is likely to be noticed by your colleagues, manager, and our clients. Consistently working longer than this is unfair to you, and is likely to be counterproductive in the medium to long term.

Examples

You need to be finished by 17:00 each day and want to take an hour for lunch, so you start at 08:30.

You prefer to start at 09:30 each day and want to take an hour for lunch, so you finish at 18:00.

You prefer to start at 09:30 but need to be away at 17:30 and so you take half an hour for lunch.

Overtime

Cultivate does not pay overtime and does not expect you to work overtime. Consistent overworking is unhealthy and discouraged.

On occasion you might be requested to work out of hours for a client. We define this as either:

• Working outwith the normal hours (08:00 to 19:00)
• Working more than 9 hours in a single day
• Working more than 42 hours in a single week

These occasions should be:

Very rare. To fulfil an urgent need, such as to fix a catastrophic bug in production Limited in duration: eg no more than 12 hours in a day or 5 days in a row

Except during emergencies, you should always get permission from your Managing Principal before working out of hours.

Scenarios

An example is worth a thousand pictures. Here are some example scenarios and questions to illustrate Cultivate’s intentions.

“The client wants to hold a meeting at 13:00 but that clashes with with when I normally take my lunch. What should I do?”

Change your lunchtime.

“The client needs me on a conference call with their Californian team at 21:00. What should I do”

If this is feasible for you, is not a weekly or daily call, and you have permission from your Managing Principal, this is ok.

You should aim to leave early the following day but let people know the reason. Morning standup is the best time to let people know things.

“In agreement with the client and managing Principal I worked Sunday to get this important thing done. What should I do?”

Arrange to take a day in lieu, ideally during the following week.

“The client wants to hold a meeting at 17:30 but I have a commitment. E.g. I need to pick my child up from nursery” or “I volunteer at a group”

Talk to your Managing Principal who will rearrange the meeting or arrange a substitute for you.

“I worked 39.5 hours last week, can I work 35.5 hours this week?”

Yes, but let your colleagues know that this is what you are doing. Morning standup is a good time to mention this kind of thing.

“I left the office at 17:00 because I had a thing, but did some extra work in the evening to make it up.”

Ok, but you should make sure that people know this. Again, morning standup is a good time to let your colleagues know things like this.

“I am currently on the bench, or I have a slack day. Can I work less hours?”

No, slack and bench are both still work

“I only started work at 09:30 and took an hours lunch, but my head is completely shot. Can I please leave at 17:00”

Yes. Mention this at standup the following the morning, and make up the time when you can.

“Is this ‘presenteeism’. Why are we obsessing about hours worked rather than value added?”

We would love to use value-based pricing, and have people work until they have created sufficient value. We are not sophisticated enough to measure this. All we have is hours.