Amplify Digest: Work Addiction (February 2, 2022)

Written By Lars Schmidt

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Welcome to the Amplify Digest. Every week, I break down five articles in five minutes; discussing the top people news, stories, and resources that are worth your time. Scroll down for links to the articles covered in the video (and more), a helpful thread from the Amplify Accelerator Community, and curated jobs from the Amplify Job Board.

This week’s digest explores Culture Amp’s 2022 Workplace DEI Report, America’s “hustle” work addiction, celebrating rejection, developing company values, the return of the Redefining HR podcast, and much more.

 
 

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The Amplify Accelerator Community was specifically designed to help modern people operators expand their networks, thinking, and connections. Each week, I'll spotlight a helpful thread from the community to help Amplify Digest subscribers learn from the discussions.

[Question] Would anyone be willing to share any information/verbiage they have around work from home stipends? We are a fully distributed team and don't currently offer one, but I'd like to. I'm looking for more information around industry norms/amount offered/how its administered? Thank you in advance!

  • A1: We just communicate that we have a $500 work from home reimbursement program. Employees have 90 days from their start date to use it. They submit their receipts via Expensify. It's a part of our travel & expense policy. We share guidelines on what they can use that towards (examples include chairs, lighting, mats, ergonomic support, organization supplies, additional monitors not provided by the company, speakers, co-working space if not already in our WeWork network, desk plants, and any thing that would help create a comfortable and enjoyable work environment, etc.)

  • A2: We give an annual $400 budget that is very open ended. We don't need any approval process but let folks know they can ask myself or their manager if they are unsure. It re-ups every year and it is a non-taxable benefit for our team in Canada.

  • A3: Here is the guidance I offer on how to think about using the funds:

    • How should I think about using the stipend for WFH expenses?
      This is intended solely for your benefit, to help you be comfortable and productive, making the best of your working environment. Below are some examples of what’s appropriate to consider, but it’s not an exhaustive list.

      • A co-working space

      • New office equipment, like ergonomically designed chairs, or a new desk or lamp

      • Office supplies, like pens, paper, or notebooks

      • Faster internet connection at home

  • A4: We offer a one time WFH set up $250 + $500 Tech stipend with a list of company suggested technology/peripherals that are IT approved (we provide the laptop but allow for them to purchase the additional resources needed like a monitor, keyboard, etc - often easier and quicker for them to get these than for us to ship out). Additionally we offer a monthly $100 productivity stipend that is accrued quarterly (must be used within the quarter then resets). This is a pretty flexible stipend intended to be used by employees for whatever they need to support their work environment and personal needs (could be dog walker, internet, morning coffee).We manage all of this through a tool called Compt. They help with managing the necessary tax implications depending on how these are leveraged - particularly for the Productivity Stipend.

  • A5: We offer a $500 working from home allowance in the first year of employment for a WFH set up, and $250 each year after. We also reimburse monthly internet costs up to $100. People make purchases for working from home and prepay their internet and we reimburse via Concur (for anything over $50 we ask for a receipt). We find this policy to be super appreciated by our current staff and especially new hires so we've gotten a lot of good feedback this far. We became fully remote so not paying for office locations enabled us to enhance our WFH policy.

  • A6: We offer a $500 stipend to all new hires, for use in their first year of employment, and then each quarter after their first (and for all existing employees) they receive a $250 quarterly stipend. We manage these through Twic, a digital wallet tool, which we're really liking. It gave a huge break to our AP team on manually processing hundreds of Expensify reimbursements. The rules for eligible purchases are setup in Twic. *Caveat to what I said - this was created in collaboration with Finance for this time when most everyone works from home. I'm sure they are anxiously awaiting the point when we can restrain it for those primarily working in office. But TBH, when is that, who does that really apply to, what's the appropriate threshold for how much you WFH vs. in office to qualify for these down the road.

  • A7: We have $400 every 3 years and pretty vague language around it, but LMK if it's helpful for me to send.

    You can learn more about the Amplify Accelerator Community in this post or by clicking the button below. 

 
 
 
Lars Schmidt
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Amplify Digest: Hire Within (February 9, 2022)
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Amplify Digest: Hybrid Equality (January 26, 2022)