Because Meltano is an all-remote team, we don’t have set working hours. Team members are encouraged to set their own work schedule, depending on their needs and working style. We understand that some people work best at certain times of the day, so please work when you’re at your best. We care much more about output over keeping up with a timesheet.
Also, if you need to take a break during the day, have a doctor’s appointment, or need to pick up your kids, please feel empowered to take the time to do so.
Please note that there may be times when you’ll need to adjust your schedule (e.g. a necessary synchronous meeting).
Taking a week – or even multiple days – off can feel daunting because of the large number of things to catch up on when back, and because of the potential to block others. Because of this, sometimes people do not end up taking time off at all. In order to provide options between 100% availability (regular work week) and 0% availability (vacation) team members can let others know of their limited availability.
As with taking any time off, communication and setting of expectations is key. Team members can note their availability on the calendar and via Slack with a custom status like, “During this week I will check in every day (work between 30min and 3hr) to make sure I’m not blocking anyone, but will not start any new work”. Be sure to add this time off via PTO by Roots in Slack.
Whether you go for a walk, take a nap, or watch your favorite show, you’re encouraged to take breaks during the day. Research has found that taking breaks - even for a few minutes - improves productivity, creativity, and concentration. Don’t ever feel guilty when you need time away from your computer.
Meltano has an unlimited time off policy, and we encourage team members to take the time they need to rest and recharge. We recommend every team member takes a minimum 30 days off per year, a minimum 5 days (one week) per quarter, and we have recommended minimums for various life events, including:
We offer a 1 month paid sabbatical every 2 years of your employment. All full time employees are eligible for the sabbatical program after 2 years of employment.
Taking more than 3 weeks consecutively requires explicit approval outside of the 2-yearly sabbatical. In other words, anything up to 3 business weeks can be taken off without approval.
To log time off, team members should use PTO by Roots in Slack (under Apps). In general, please try to do so at least 2 weeks prior to the date(s) you intend to take off so we can plan for your absence. Should you require time off for medical reasons, please log your absence when you know you will be out.
Follow the instructions in Tracking Time Off to indicate your PTO.
Holidays vary by country and are not generally celebrated by all of Meltano at once. Make sure to take off the holidays that are legally required in your country. The only all-Meltano days off are Family & Friends days. Please follow the instructions in Tracking Time Off to log your holidays.
Caregiver/Parental leave is intended for team members to be able to take time with their families when major life events occur. We want to support our employees who need to take time off work to bond with a new child or care for a family member that is seriously ill or injured. Accordingly, we offer up to 16 weeks of paid leave for this purpose, as described below. Please contact Human Resources with any questions. Employees should also discuss leave schedules with their managers and be sure to update their time out in PTO by Roots in Slack.
The Company provides up to 16 weeks of paid leave to regular, full-time employees to bond with a minor child within one year of birth, adoption, or foster placement, or to care for a family member with a serious health condition or illness (“Caregiver Leave”). Under this policy, a “family member” includes the employee’s spouse or registered domestic partner, child, parent, parents-in-law, sibling, grandparent, or grandchild and those of the employee’s spouse or registered domestic partner. Temporary employees, part-time employees, and interns are not eligible for Caregiver Leave, but will be provided any applicable leaves required by law.
Employees who are eligible for wage substitution benefits, regardless of their location, are required to file for and receive such benefits in order to receive their full salary during Caregiver Leave. For example, for California employees, the Company’s pay benefit during Caregiver Leave will be coordinated with California’s Paid Family Leave benefit (as described below), in addition to any other wage substitution benefits for which the employee is eligible. During leave, the Company will pay the difference between the employee’s base pay and any wage substitution benefits the employee receives, such that the employee receives 100% of their base pay via regular payroll.
Employees must complete 12 months of continuous service before becoming eligible for Caregiver Leave under this policy. Caregiver Leave under this policy shall not exceed 16 weeks during a 12-month period, as measured backwards, on a rolling basis, based on the date the Caregiver Leave commences. Caregiver Leave is intended for employees who need extended time off to bond with a new child or care for a family member; employees who need a short-term leave to care for a family member that requires an employee’s absence from work for 10 or fewer business days may alternatively elect to take paid time off under the Company’s Paid Time Off policy. However, if after taking short-term leave, the employee needs additional time off to care for the same or a different family member, the two weeks of time off will count towards the Company’s offering under this policy.
Caregiver Leave is intended to run concurrently with any federal, state, or local family care leave laws, including, but not limited to, leave under the California Family Rights Act, and similar state statutes, to the extent permitted under applicable law.
Employees on Caregiver Leave will continue to be eligible to participate in Company-sponsored benefits, including health insurance, to the fullest extent permitted by the governing plans and agreements, and as required by applicable law. The Company will continue to pay its portion of the monthly health insurance premiums, if any, for employees and their dependents (as applicable) while employees are on Caregiver Leave. Accordingly, while employees are on Caregiver Leave, the Company will continue to deduct the applicable premium amounts from employees’ regular pay.
Leave under this policy may be taken intermittently in increments of no shorter than two weeks, except that, if the Caregiver Leave is running concurrently with any other federal, state, or local family care leave that provides for shorter leave increments, the Company will allow such employee to take Caregiver Leave in the shorter applicable leave increments.
Requests for Caregiver Leave must be submitted to Human Resources, in writing, at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the leave. If the need for leave is unforeseeable, notice should be given as soon as possible. The Company may request documentation supporting requests for Caregiver Leave. Also, the Company may require periodic reports concerning the employee’s return to work date. Upon termination of the employee’s employment with the Company, the employee will not be paid for any unused Caregiver Leave pay for which they were previously eligible.
A California employee who is absent from work to care for a family member with a “serious health condition,” or to bond with a minor child within one year of birth, adoption, or foster placement, may be eligible for wage substitution benefits through the California Employment Development Department (“EDD”) for up to eight weeks in any 12-month period under the Paid Family Leave Law (“PFL”). Employees are solely responsible for applying for any PFL benefits to which they may be entitled, and for complying with all requirements established by the EDD for qualification for PFL benefits. For additional information, please contact Human Resources or visit the EDD’s website.
For remote employees who work outside of California, the applicable state and local leave laws of the employee’s state of residence apply. To the extent any provision in this policy conflicts with applicable state or local leave laws, such applicable laws will apply. However, if such laws provide for less generous leave and benefits than those provided for under this policy, employees will still be eligible for the leave and benefits outlined above, which will run concurrently with any applicable state or local leave or benefits entitlements.
For remote employees who work outside of the United States, country or local leave laws will apply. Leave administration will be done through Remote.
Inspired by GitLab’s Family and Friends Day, Meltano has made Family and Friends Day a regular part of the culture. These will often align with major holidays and observances to allow for 3 or 4 day weekends. On these days, we will close the doors to the Meltano virtual office, reschedule all meetings, and have a publicly visible shutdown. Taking the day off is strongly encouraged if your role allows it. If you are on call or need to work during the scheduled Friends and Family Day, please select another day that works best for your schedule.
The customer support & escalation policy during these days is TBD.
These dates are tracked in the Team Meetings Calendar. Meltano team members should mark these days off using PTO by Roots.
In line with our Paid Time Off policy, we encourage Meltano team members to continue to take additional days off, as needed. Family and Friends Day is a reminder to do this.
We have found it best to deep dive into very focused work when we clear a company wide day for no meetings. Thus the birth of no meeting Friday, where we book no company calls.
We pay competitively around the world in a combination of salary and equity. See our compensation handbook page for more details.
We are pleased to offer a 401k plan to US employees. In other countries, we defer to the Remote.com and localized standards.
For those employed in the US: For all US employees we offer health, vision and dental coverage. See more on the details below. We cover 100% of health insurance coverage cost for employees and 50% of dependents. Additionally we cover 99% for Dental and Vision and 50% for dependants. We have a few plans employees can choose from.
Meltano contributes separately to employees’ and dependents’ premiums:
To change your benefits outside Meltano’s open enrollment period, you are required to have a qualifying reason or event such as a change in marital status, adding a dependent, loss of coverage, etc. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until Meltano’s open enrollment to make changes.
Qualified events will allow you to add dependents, waive coverage, or choose different health plans.
For more information on qualifying life events see the Gusto article here.
Changes should be made in Gusto.
We handle coverage outside the US country by country based on regional best practices. We partner with Remote.com and the individual(s in that region) to find an equitable offering for employee coverage. We evaluate what to offer in new countries on a case by case basis and as soon as we have set a policy for a region we document that as the coverage policy going forward.
To find out more about how Remote.com can assist, visit https://remote.com/employees.
We want you to be comfortable and productive wherever you choose to work. With that in mind we offer a generous office setup stipend. We don’t have a set amount as we know there is no office setup that is one size fits all. See our list of suggested items and options.
We are first and foremost all-remote, in that we do not have any offices, but we understand that some people prefer or need an out of home office option. We allow team members to expense up to $500/month for a coworking space located outside the home. Anything beyond that requires manager approval (and evidence that the choice of coworking space is reasonable and within market rate).
$50 a month to do something to nourish yourself. This can be a gym class, a meditation app or a lunch delivered.
While working remotely you might be concerned about missing all those random office snacks. Not to worry! We like to create company-wide snack holidays where folks can expense snacks on us. Example: Cookie Day Dec 4th.
We are happy to cover the cost of internet in your working place. This can be your home, personal office wifi, or a phone you can tether to if you are a digital nomad- you choose which one is most relevant to your working situation. It’s our responsibility to make sure you have everything to be productive. This is an extension to the home office perk. When expensing please make sure to isolate the cost of your wifi in case you have any phone, cable, or other packages bundled. We can cover up to $100 in internet costs per month.
Approximately every nine months, we get the whole team together somewhere on the planet for Meltano Assemble. Assemble 2021 took place in beautiful Mexico City. Assemble 2022 was held in Lisbon, Portugal in March, 2022. Our next Assemble event will take place in Santiago, Chile, January 9-13, 2023.
Our favorite definition of “assemble” is, “fit together the separate component parts.” That is what this event feels like – everyone coming from different parts of the world, bringing their range of experiences to become one. And somehow, we all fit together to become a better whole.
Assemble 2021 took place in beautiful Mexico City. Assemble 2022 took place in Lisbon, Portugal, in March 2022.
Read about Assemble in Mexico City here. Read about Assemble in Lisbon, Portugal, here.
We are committed to offset all air travel emissions from these team offsites, which we have identified as our single largest source of emissions. We will offset our emissions through high-quality carbon credits.
Meltano is an all-remote company with team members all over the world. If you want to visit other team members to get to know them, Meltano will assist with travel expenses (e.g. flights, trains, parking, car rental, and ground transportation to/from airport) for a total of up to $150 for every team member that you visit. Please note lodging is excluded. To be clearer, if you meet 2 team members during your visit, the maximum limit of your visiting grant could be $300 ($150*2). You don’t need to work on the same project or team. We’d like you to get to know each other and your roles at Meltano, so we encourage you to discuss work for at least part of the time you’re meeting.
Please note: The visiting grant applies to transportation costs and not other expenses related to travel (e.g. lodging, food). It may be acceptable to cover a meal, however, if the meeting is pre-announced to other people in the region to encourage as many of them to attend as possible.
To claim the grant, include a line item on your expense report or invoice along with the receipt of your flights, trains, and/or transportation to/from the airport with a list of the team members you visited. The expense report may be submitted during the first month of travel or up to 3 months after your trip has concluded. That said, if it’s more frugal to book and expense your travel further in advance, please do so.
The visiting grant is inspired by Douwe’s trip around the world during his time at GitLab. Douwe met 49 colleagues in 20 cities, in 14 countries, on five continents, in 6 months.
Recognizing that team members may wish to share significant events in each other’s lives, such as weddings or civil partnerships, Meltano will assist with travel expenses to attend these events. This grant works the same way as the visiting grant, except the reimbursement limit is $300 per team member you visit at an event.
We hire for potential and seek out curious and persistent minds willing to learn new skills and rise to the new challenges that we face in our rapidly evolving company and industry. Therefore, we offer a $250/month stipend for self-guided learning like Coursera, Code Academy, Plato, Reforge, etc. We also encourage you to take explicit time out of your week for skill development and industry-specific deep dives.
Those in senior leadership positions (those reporting to the CEO) have the option of working with a self-selected leadership course or coach. Those who this applies to please work directly with the CEO for approval and process.
We have and always will be a fully remote company. Much of our remote culture has been adopted and evolved from GitLab where Meltano started. We are committed to continually invest in the remote ecosystem and community to make this practice the sustainable and thriving future of work. Find out more about our world class remote work culture here.
Love what you have heard thus far? Check out the Meltano Company Values.