Mechanisms with Teeth
“Set the bar so high that we have to jump to reach it.”
Why the high bar? Because I believe that we don’t reward mediocrity. I believe that if we’re simply ‘doing what’s required of us‘ then that’s already taken cared of by our salaries.
Salary = Requirement.
But if you’re looking for a pay raise then that requires going the extra mile. Going for more than what’s required of you. Developing yourself.
Being a fun team does not mean that we have to let our performance suffer. On the contrary, we will have a lot more fun and fulfillment at work when we push ourselves to grow and exemplify that to each other.
Pay Raise = Personal and Professional Growth.
The goal of these mechanisms is not just to give everyone transparency in achieving a raise, rather the ultimate goal of these mechanisms is to develop everyone in the team to become a leader.
These mechanisms apply to all regular employees 6 months and up.
All of the factors in play is consistent to our team’s creed. It is important that we support and uphold our values in the team and one way to live and breathe it is by incorporating it into the individual evaluation of everyone in the team.
1) Hubstaff Cohorts
We have a monthly pull of data from Hubstaff. When the Average Hours based on Activity Rate is 5.0 and above, that person gets a +1 provided that he/she has at least 160 hours rendered on average per month and has no sign of stealing time from working hours through the form of unrelated websites in a span of 1 year.
2) Punctuality
When a person does not have any absences without pay, improperly announced vacation leaves, never forgets to log his or her time-in, and is never late for work (whether coming from home, lunch break or 15min break), that person receives a +1.
3) Innovations
When a person has contributed to the growth of his or her team, affecting the efficiency and output of the company as a whole by at least 50% in the form of testing and implementing a new tool, process, tactic or strategy, that person gets a +1
4) Growth
When a person has finished at least four books in the span of one year and has written one or multiple reviews of the book in his/her blog, that person will receive a +1. There are specific books that will be counted in this category. Not all books are considered as a catalyst to the individual’s growth in the aspect of digital marketing.
An individual can submit a book to be included as long as it is a book about leadership, personal growth, digital marketing, and teamwork. Sales books are only counted for people in accounts management or sales.
If a book is lost, that is equivalent to a -1. If a book stays with a person for more than a quarter (3 months) that is considered as a -1.
5) Trust
The team will each vote on all of their other teammates (on a company level) on their level of trust towards the company. This will be done twice before the annual review. The top 20% most trusting gets a +1 and the lower 10% gets a -1.
The reason being: The team knows who trusts the company most and who trusts the company least so they should have the responsibility to vote on each other and be transparent to the company about their own opinion of each other. Individuals cannot vote for themselves.
6) Respect to the Company and Peers
The team will again vote on all of their other teammates (on a team level) on their level of respect towards the company and each other. They can name special names if they think that a person is especially disrespectful even if he/she is on another team.
Respecting the company includes following rules and values – not using social media and other unrelated sites during company hours, turning off Hubstaff on breaks, coming in early, is always present and follows instructions.
The top 20% will get a +1 and the bottom 10% gets a -1
7) No supervision
This is the most subjective factor as team leaders will be the ones who will give a score on this one. The person who takes completely no supervision (supervision is different from guidance and spoonfeeding, and mentorship) will get a +1. The person who takes a lot of supervision (the most supervision) in the team, gets a -1.
8) Client Save
If the person took lead of saving a client from churning (assuming they have given word that they are about to churn because of operational reasons), either talking to the client, producing output that made a major difference in putting the client’s main keywords on the first page, or defending our company’s efforts via email and the client was persuaded – it will be considered as goodwill and that person will receive a +1.
So far there are 8 things you can get a +1 from. If you are able to bag at least 5, that will include you on the people to be financially raised list. The top 20% of the people in that list will get evaluated for a raise.
The bottom 10%, provided that they don’t get at least a score of 3, will be listed as low-level performers. They will be issued a non-performer warning. Two consecutive non-performer warnings or three overall non-performer warnings and they are out.
There are 4 main teams in our company today who will be evaluated with these 8 criterias:
- Creatives team (Web Development and Design)
- Blog Management Team
- Social Media Team
- Linkbuilding Team
Two ‘baby’ teams in our company – people in these teams will be evaluated slightly differently:
- Accounts Management Team – consists of me and Vince
- Marketing Team – consists of me and Pam
Causes for Warnings and Termination
We need to make the company grow. That is our main goal as a team. If it wasn’t, it’s better that we just close shop. Along with that comes protecting the best interests of the company through moderating unwanted behavior by individuals in the team. Here are some causes for Warnings and Termination.
Excessive leaves – when you have consumed all your leaves and need to take another one, that is your first warning. When you need to take another one, that will be the next warning. So you could take up to three excessive leaves and then that will be a cause for termination.
Gossip – it’s just bad. We all know it. The company will find out the source, the aggravator and everyone else who is negatively involved. We are working to make this a cause of immediate termination.
Lying – we don’t want lying to be part of the company culture. As such, lying will be set as a major offense and will be a cause of immediate termination.
Three consecutive lates or coming in very late– we all have to know when the train will arrive and when it will leave. Having everyone in the office inside the proper time (and grace period) should be observed. Three consecutive lates or coming in at 10am onwards will equate to a warning.
Failing to meet a deadline – we take work seriously and when we set deadlines, we mean them. Failing to meet a deadline can equate to a warning if there are no requests for extension made or there are no eventual justifications.
Leaking out company information – we are protective of our processes and systems as all companies should be when they are a thought leader in their industry. Leaking out information is a cause for immediate termination and can be a cause for litigation in intellectual property damages.
