We believe every Nitean should take part in the success of the company. If the company is doing well, we pay out a share of the profits every quarter. Read more in the main document about Profit sharing.
The Productivity Allowance is a monthly budget that, coupled with common sense, can be used to pay for any expenses that you believe can improve your mental health, physical health, or productivity. It can not be used to buy things that could potentially be dangerous to you. Also, make sure to leave enough Allowance to be able to participate in conferences or replace equipment if anything breaks.
Here's a real-world example list of what Niteans have spent their Allowances on: transportation, food/drinks, accommodation, and travel insurance related to conferences or IRL meetups, HDD disks, smartphones, phone bills, technical courses, English courses, meetups, books, apps, smartwatches, air diffusers, laptops, computer components, mice and keyboards, various cables and chargers, stationery, suitcases, portable SSD's, power banks, headphones, Raspberry Pi's, monitors, donations, domain names, internet connections, chairs, desks, coworking spaces, routers, yoga mats, board games, gym memberships, iPads, Apple Pencils, Yubikeys, swimming pool tickets, blenders, physiotherapy, 3D printers, scanners, and running shoes.
And here's a real-world example list of what Niteans were denied spending their Allowances on: moped, e-scooter, medical insurance.
In other words, would something boost your productivity, creativity, or help improve your overall health? Good, feel free to buy it with your Allowance, no questions asked.
The current monthly allowance budget as of January 2024 is:
- Niteans: €150 ($180)
- Founders: €305
The monthly budgets compound every month, so whatever you do not spend this month, you can use the next month, or the one after. The maximum allowance balance you can keep is 18 months.
You can request an increase in your Allowance if you feel the current one doesn't cover all the expenses for you. You can spend a few months of future allowance balance. That said, it's smart to keep at least a few months allowance, just in case something breaks.
If they attended a conference in the previous year, each Nitean gets a €1000 ($1195) additional budget on the 1st of January every year.
Every Nitean, when they transition from Trialist to a Permanent position, starts with an allowance budget that is proportional to how many months remain in the year (€1000 in January, €500 in July, etc.)
We encourage you to attend conferences to improve your knowledge of a subject area and network with similar minded people. Try to give notice at least 10-14 days before attending a conference.
All conference expenses such as transport, accommodation, food, etc., are covered by your Allowance. To make sure you don't run out, you get a bonus for every day of the conference.
The allowance bonus accounts for all the days you are away at the conference and depends on the amount of traveling and accommodation required:
- €50 ($60)/day for local conferences, in or near your home city.
- €180 ($215)/day for international conferences.
- €305 ($365)/day for intercontinental conferences.
- Bonus 50%/conference day if you give a 30-60min talk at the conference or tending our booth.
Conferences count as working days (7.5h per day). Transport to conferences counts too (up to 7.5h per day).
The conference allowance bonus requires that you write a report about the conference when you get back. It can be published on any of our blogs or as a Spotlight article in our Newsletter.
For example, John attends a 5-day IRL in Istanbul:
* Flights and taxis are €600.
* IRL venue and accommodation is covered by Niteo.
* John spends extra €100 on snacks and a massage at the airport.
* John gets his salary in EUR.
* John's monthly Allowance is €150.
The conference bonus is calculated like so (with a day of travel each way):
* €1260 (7 * €180/day)
Therefore John charges the company €700 (€600 + €100) in spent Allowance. Before the trip, John's allowance budget was 1000€, so after the trip, it is now €1560 (€1000 + €1260 - €700).
Another example: Two months later, John goes to a three-day conference in Barcelona:
* Conference fee is €500.
* Flights, trains and, taxis are €500.
* Hotel and food are €600.
* John spends extra €300 on niceties that make his trip more enjoyable.
* John gets his salary in EUR.
* John's monthly Allowance is €150.
The conference bonus is calculated like so (with a day of travel each way):
* €900 (5 * 180€/day)
Therefore John charges the company €1900 (€500 + €500 + €600 + €300) in spent Allowance. Before the trip, John's allowance budget was €1860 (€1560 + 2x€150), so after the trip, it is now €860 (€1860 + €900 - 1900€). The trip was expensive, but it sure was nice!
You are encouraged to extend your trip and take vacation days to see the place you travel to. Or the place where your layover is. We are already paying for your ticket, so might as well get the most of it, right?
Our IRL meetups are always fun. To amp things up and get the most out of these events, each Nitean will give some of their allowance (everyone gives the same amount) but the company will still shoulder the same amount as before. This will allow us to explore more options without the budget constraint.
Since every Nitean still gets a ton of allowance bonus when travelling to IRLs, and most of us have too much allowance anyhow, giving some of these allowances to party like Gatsby on IRLs is a good team investment for a bi-annual meetup.
Everyone is entitled to 165 hours of vacation leave (22 days) in any calendar year. These hours are automatically used to substitute any missing hours when one doesn't fulfill the monthly work quota. Over/undertime hours are calculated every month for the previous month.
Parents get one extra day of paid leave every quarter.
Death in the family is three extra days of paid leave.
To book vacation time off, add an entry to the Planned Absences page.
Unused vacation hours in a calendar year can be carried over to the next year but must be used by the 1st of July. Please make sure to take enough time off to spend your vacation hours before this deadline, we hate taking them away from you!
If you've used up all your allocated vacation days, you can take more vacation days but they will be unpaid.
Please ensure however, that your department and associated work will not suffer during your absence. Also, note that your quarterly profit share amount will be affected by the number of unpaid vacation days you take. See Profit sharing for further details. On top of this, unpaid vacation will reduce your monthly and yearly allowance.
If the unpaid vacation exceeds six consecutive months, there should be an offboarding/onboarding process.
If your unpaid vacation exceeds 12 months, you will need to resign your position but will have priority when/if you come back. The project team should be involved in the evaluation of unpaid vacation requests to prevent abuse.
We are from different parts of the World, and we have different customs when it comes to public holidays. The Americans have close to no public holidays, some countries have up to 20 public holidays per year (though some come on weekends). To avoid taking a break when your government tells you to instead of when you need a break, and to avoid "bad holiday years" when all public holidays come on weekends and are hence rendered moot, we have our own approach to holidays:
- Everyone is entitled to one public holiday each month, whichever day they want.
- The one day is automatically calculated as one working day less every month.
Everyone has the right to sick leave on days when they don't feel capable of working. A day of sick leave counts as six hours of work done and will be automatically added to your "worked hours". Sick leave can and should be used when taking care of an ill child or spouse.
There is a total of 20 sick days per year available before unpaid vacation is calculated. For more than five consecutive sick days, a doctor's note is required. If sick for more than 5 days in a month, the salary for those days is capped at 80% of the salary at level 3.
All new parents are entitled to a 100 days parental leave which expires after 18 months. Parental leave day is calculated the same way as a sick leave - as six hours of work done.
Parental leave days are capped at 80% of the salary at level 3. Monthly allowance and profit sharing are reduced by the number of parental leave days each month.
We strongly encourage parents to take a minimum of one month parental leave directly after the birth of the child.