Working at Reddico

Reddico operates in a self-managed way, where you’re given the freedom to dictate how you work, progress your career, carry out training, and deal with decisions and issues that will come up as part of your work. 

Many of the processes and policies associated with this way of working are documented in this handbook, helping to provide you with more information about how things work in practice. 

Self-management puts you in control, which has a lot of benefits – you’re an adult, so you work in a way that’s right for you.

However, there are also challenges to this model – and it’s not right for everyone. Things can get really tough. You need to be more organised, transparent, and honest. You need to feel comfortable taking on full responsibility and being held to account. 

The way you work is built around making a positive impact on your team, your clients, your work, and Reddico in general. And some of the expectations include: 

• Being held to account by your team. 

• Carrying out regular 360 reviews & feedback.

• Setting your own targets.

• Making decisions that impact the company’s future. 

• Feeding back and building a better Reddico. 

• Resolving conflicts yourself.

If this isn’t right for you, that’s okay.

There is no cap on the number of annual leave days you can take each year. It’s an ‘unlimited’ number, which you have full responsibility for deciding. 

All annual leave days can be booked in PeopleHR, and you don’t need permission. But of course, you should speak to your team and ensure there’s cover in place for you – for long-term leave over two weeks, you should use the Advice Process.

We ask that everyone takes a minimum of 20 days’ annual leave each year (excluding bank holidays). 

As with Reddico's other policies, our flexible annual leave allowance is in place to provide you with the support you need throughout the year. We do ask that you maintain a responsible and considered approach when taking leave, to ensure you are having a positive impact on:

• Your immediate team.

• Your clients.

• Your day-to-day work.

• The wider company.

For instance, general guidance would include:

1. Making sure there is cover in place for your work & clients, creating a detailed handover when you're on leave for more than a few days.

2. Ensuring your leave won't have a potentially negative impact on the team or your clients. For instance, making sure people you work closely with, or are in a similar role to, aren't on holiday at the same time for a sustained period.

If you decide to leave Reddico in the future, holiday accruement will be against 20 days. If you go on either maternity or paternity leave, there is also a separate policy (detailed in the relevant section of this handbook).

Compassionate leave

Compassionate leave is paid leave from Reddico to manage, process, or grieve events that take place in your personal life. We’re here to support you during life’s most difficult times and as such, there will be no pressure on you to return to work by a set date. 

During any period of compassionate leave we’ll reach out to you periodically to check in, and understand if there’s any additional support we can provide. 

We trust people to be honest and open with us – if you’re unwell, take the time you need to return to work refreshed and raring to go. If you’re sick and unable to work, please contact HR to ensure these days can be logged into our HR system (for responsibility purposes). We also ask that you let your immediate team know, so they can plan cover accordingly. 

In general, sick leave can be defined as short or long-term.

Short-term sick leave

Short-term sickness is any period up to four consecutive weeks. During this period we won't ask for a medical certificate, but may check-in occasionally to see how things are going, and if there's anything we can support you with. You'll be paid in full for any period of sickness up to 13 weeks.

Long-term sick leave

For any period of absence that exceeds four weeks, this is classified as long-term sickness. We may ask for a doctor's medical certificate.

Unfortunately the worst can happen and leave you unable to work for a number of months (and potentially years). To plan for this, we have taken out Income Protection Insurance. This safeguards you against any long-term leave, and after 13-weeks, you’ll be paid 75% of your basic annual salary for up to two years. During this time you’ll need to comply with any specific requests from our insurers, and terms & conditions will apply. We can share all useful information with you at the time.

Throughout any period of long-term absence, we will continue to have regular check-ins with you. This will help us to keep in touch during a difficult time, and ensure we’re able to fully support your return to work. 

During any period of long term absence, we may need to hire someone on a temporary or permanent contract to help cover your role and responsibilities.

You are able to choose where you work. We now have team members located all over the world.

There are offices available in London, Bristol and Portsmouth if people want to use them.  

This policy is currently on hold. Employees who have already been relocated will remain in their new locations under their existing contracts. Any new requests to work abroad will not be reviewed until further notice.

There aren’t set working hours to your day, giving you the freedom to choose when you’re online. We also don’t use ‘core hours’. 

It’s only natural that different people may suit different working schedules, with hours of peak productivity changing from one person to the next. The only thing we ask is that you keep your immediate team informed and up to date, so they’re aware of when you’ll be around.

Please consider the following guidelines:

Communication.

If you’re working unusual hours, or won’t be available for a large part of the traditional working day, give your team and anyone you work with a ‘head’s up’. 

Notifications. You can set Workplace statuses to let people know you’re currently unavailable. You should try and make this a habit when:

• You’re on annual leave, or are unwell. 

• You want to practise deep work, and won’t be available online. 

• You’re not working during the day for any reason – for instance, you’re going to be unresponsive for a number of hours. 

• You consistently work ‘irregular hours’ – add a note to your Workplace (This includes those working abroad permanently or temporarily). 

• This practice helps to mitigate confusion and lets people know when they can expect a response from you.

When you start working at Reddico you’ll be given a laptop of your choice (Mac or Windows), which remains company property. If you’d like other equipment to help you work more effectively, you can use the work from home budget (detailed in this handbook).

To request a new laptop as part of your role (if for instance, there are performance issues), complete this Google Form.

Conflict is a natural part of work, but it’s how you deal with it that helps self-organising companies to thrive. With no line manager to do the hard work for you, we encourage the team to give feedback and deal with issues in a one-to-one way. 

Of course, this isn’t easy, but we carry out in-house training based on Tuff Leadership, to help the team identify ways to have these difficult conversations. 

There are three steps to our conflict resolution process, and the following flow chart also provides a useful reference point.

• Step 1: Direct conversation

 Once you know what you want to talk about, and how you’re going to approach the situation, it’s important to talk directly to the other person. This conversation is crucial in helping to give an overview of where you’re coming from, but it’s also an opportunity to listen to the other person as well. 

 If you need any support in addressing the issue, or how to raise it, you can speak to your coach or team conflict mediator, who may be able to help you identify opportunities for this.

In many cases, having this clear, honest and upfront conversation can help to resolve the issue, and leave you with an action plan going forward.  

 It’s important this first step is taken in resolving the issue – talking directly to the other person helps both parties feel heard and appreciated, paving the way for a resolution. 

• Step 2: Mediation

 Following a direct conversation in Step 1, the initial issue has been communicated and both parties should have had the opportunity to talk and listen. If, following this, next steps and a resolution haven’t been agreed (or the issue has resurfaced in the future), you may want to escalate to Step 2. 

 The key to this step is identifying a mediator both parties trust, who can review the situation, hear from both parties and give any thoughts about the issue. It’s important to remember, the mediator can’t resolve the issue. They’re simply there to provide a different perspective on the situation. However, the mediator can help to keep discussions on track and ensure conversations are kept to the facts.

 If the two parties are unable to find a mutual mediator, they may each choose a mediator they trust (this could be a coach or team mediator, for example). For clarification, the mediator isn’t on someone’s ‘side’ – they’re chosen to review the issue and provide unbiased thoughts. 

• Step 3: Designated arbitrator

 In the majority of situations, a direct conversation or mediation session will resolve any issues of conflict. However, if the conversation remains deadlocked, a designated arbitrator is required to join the discussion and hear from all parties. If a resolution is unable to be made, the arbitrator will (as a last resort) make a final decision. Ultimately, all disputes must come to an end. The designated arbitrator would likely be Reddico’s Managing Director. 

Reddico’s Advice Process hands everyone more responsibility, by removing the need to get approval for decisions. Decision making is in the team member’s hands, with the caveat being they need to seek advice from relevant stakeholders – but they don’t have to act on this advice. 

It’s a four-step process that decentralises power into the team, and makes decision making quicker and easier. 

This Loom video provides more information and context.

One of the original parts of our culture manifesto covered the importance of radical transparency at Reddico. We wanted to open things up, prevent secrets, and create psychological business owners out of the team.  

Some of things that have changed over the years to accommodate this include:

• Monthly and quarterly financial reports, covering things such as revenue, profit, overheads, and cost of sales. 

• An all-agency meeting each Friday to share information across the company. 

• Opening up the client NPS scores and comments. 

• Being open about the good and bad results, including the business impact from the Covid-19 pandemic and how we would adapt. 

• 360 team reviews that can be viewed by everyone. 

• Team spending, such as on work from home equipment, expenses and training. 

This level of transparency ensures people’s decisions are always in the best interest of their team, clients and the company in general.  

The happiness and engagement of our team is really important, and what drives all the decisions we make from a people and culture standpoint. We measure this in a few different ways. They include: 

• A quarterly eNPS survey. Using our in-house tool, this survey asks the question: On a scale of 1-10, how likely would you be to recommend Reddico to a friend? Scores are separated into detractors, passives, and promoters – and over the last two years we’ve achieved a world-class score (above 70) each quarter. 

• Regular feedback surveys and questionnaires: As part of having a transparent and collaborative culture, we use plenty of surveys and feedback forms to get the thoughts of the wider team, especially before implementing changes that could impact Reddico in a greater way. This is often in line with the Advice Process. 

At Reddico, all expenses are transparent and shared within the monthly financial reports sent round to the team. 

Everyone is set up with Spendesk, and is able to create a virtual card for one-off or ongoing payments. The team manage their own payments through Spendesk, and upload receipts straight to this system. 

Spendesk can be used for things such as:

• Booking training events, including conferences and courses

• Buying items with the working from home budget

• Paying for travel expenses (for instance, for training or when visiting a client) – For claiming mileage back, please use this dedicated form and upload it straight to Spendesk against your claim.

• Booking team events 

Departments set a budget for each financial year (April 1 - March 31), and allocate expected spends for a number of areas. This includes training, client expenses, travel, and any other ad hoc items. Individual team members can feed into this budget, based on their own requirements – and use this department pot throughout the year. We appreciate that it's difficult to plan 9-12 months ahead, and as such, run a reforecast halfway through the year. This helps to navigate any challenges of having a fixed budget in place.

For any emergency, or unforeseen costs, please discuss this directly with the finance team.

The below tables show what spends are pre-approved and what you would need to use the department budget for.

It’s important to remember expenses are to be used only for work-related reasons. If you’re unsure, simply ask. 

If you’re unable to use Spendesk (for instance, paying for petrol), keep your receipt and upload it to Spendesk as a reimbursement request, rather than a spend request. You will then be reimbursed. 

For Reddico to operate in the way it does, everyone needs to take responsibility and accountability for their day-to-day work. The team needs to be comfortable and confident in holding others accountable, and individuals must be able to give and receive feedback in line with this. 

Whilst we have built Reddico for people who’ll flourish in this type of environment, there may be occasions when the company just isn’t right for you. To help us have these conversations in a positive way and assist in helping you leave well, we have created a performance accountability and escalation process. 

Note: This process does not consider issues of misconduct, which would be dealt with by the disciplinary procedure. 

Accountability sheets

Everyone at Reddico has their own accountability sheet. The template is available here. 

This covers two main areas: roles & responsibilities, and accountabilities. 

Role & responsibilities: 

• Specific to that person’s role in the company. 

• Includes any of their other responsibilities in the department or wider company.

• Would typically be what you’d find in a job description.

• These are reviewed and updated frequently. 

• All roles and responsibilities are clarified in probation.

Accountabilities: 

• Everyone sets their own key accountabilities at a department level. 

• You can use the advice process / seek input from others.

• These should be defined and confirmed during the probation period.

In a team environment, these accountability sheets are reviewed on a three monthly bases – giving an opportunity to feedback on yours and others’ performance. You can also discuss challenges in the current team dynamics. 

Escalation process

These accountability sheets provide an opportunity for everyone in the company to know what expectations are (and where they fall short of these). There are three reasons why performance may be flagged:

• Issues during probation.

In the early weeks and months at the company, we need all the information available to help us understand if Reddico is the right place for you. Therefore, any issues during the first six months should be raised to the person responsible for managing the probation period. 

• Consistent low quality of work. 

For any minor or one off instances, we encourage 1-1 feedback. However, if there are continued concerns or a pattern is forming, this may need to be raised formally. 

• Consistently poor attitude. 

For any minor or one off instances, we encourage 1-1 feedback. However, if there are continued concerns or a pattern is forming, this may need to be raised formally. 

Once a situation has been raised and escalated, there is a three-step process to resolving the situation:

STEP 1: Initial 1-1 conversation (form).

1. This initial step in the process is about giving the individual a chance to tell their side of the story, give context to the situation, and discuss any challenges. Not everyone is going through the same experience in their life, and there may be contributing factors to any issues raised. 

2. Based on this conversation, the individual puts in place targets to turn things around. 

3. They also decide how many check-ins they need.

Outcome: The performance improves and the process can end, or the team member is moved onto step two.

STEP 2: Improvement plan (form).

1. This second stage takes place when there has been no signs of improvement following step 1 (above), or the issue has returned in the future. 

2. Whilst similar to step 1, at this stage it becomes an official improvement plan, with the conversation fully led by Reddico. 

3. The process will often be over 4-12 weeks, but can be shortened if there are no signs of improvement. 

Outcome: Performance improves and the process ends, or the process moves onto the third and final stage.

STEP 3: Open discussion & exit planning.

1. At this stage, problems have continued to surface or there have been no visible signs of improvement. 

2. It’s now time to have an honest conversation about the individual’s future and position within Reddico. 

3. Reddico will need to make a decision on whether a second improvement plan would be worthwhile, or whether it’s time to help the team member to exit. 

Outcome: There is notable improved performance, or the team member leaves the business (provided with support where possible for the long term transition).

Everyone at Reddico is trained in conflict resolution, particularly around giving feedback in 1-1 relationship situations. Our resource is designed from the Tuff Leadership course and the presentations are available on request. 

There are two types of conversations that we practice and actively encourage: The feedback conversation & the relationship conversation. 

Feedback model

This type of conversation happens: 

• When the relationship is okay.

• With the right purpose – to have an honest contribution to X.

• For X’s sake.

• With an adult-to-adult mindset.

The process is detailed below, but for more information see the training presentations. 

The relationship conversation

This occurs when a relationship has broken down, and you want to try and fix the problem. 

Often, when people don’t see eye to eye, they:

• Avoid the issue.

• Believe they won’t be listened to.

• See the other person’s actions in a negative way.

• May have had a bad experience in the past.

This model uses the adult-to-adult mindset: 

• Knowing that you have one way of seeing it the challenge, and they may have another.

• Understanding that the other person may have a valid way of seeing it.

• Realising that you don’t need to be right.

• Being able to express your feelings.

• Listening to the other person.

For more information, or for access to the training presentations, speak to Luke Kyte.