Perks & Benefits

 
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Healthcare

We provide fully funded healthcare via AXA PPP. You will be enrolled into the scheme once you have passed your probation period (usually 3 months).

The scheme

80 % Cash back on Dental (up to £400 per year) and Optical (up to £200 per year) expenses

Pension Scheme

We provide a pension scheme inline with the UK Government's rollout of automatic enrolment. We automatically enrol everyone in our pension scheme after their probation period (usually 3 months).

 

Pension contributions

As your employer we will contribute towards your pension alongside your own contribution. Below are the guidelines to the contributions we pay, and the minimum contribution you can pay. We will scale up contributions over the next 3 years, subject to parliamentary approval and guidelines.

When                             We pay              You pay           Total minimum contribution

April 2017                       1%                      1%                      2% 

From April 2018             2%                     3%                     5% 

From April 2019             3%                     5%                     8% 

 

Remote Working

General guidance

  • Speak to your line manager about working from home (wfh) and provide reason for request
  • There is no limit on requesting wfh and this is decided case by case
  • Reasons to wfh include: accepting deliveries, attending appointments, feeling unwell, travel restrictions
  • Check and clear with the rest of the team before the end of the previous working day
  • Once agreed add the request to CharlieHR - ensure it is approved before the date, if it isn't, send a follow up message to your line manager to get it approved
  • Ensure that you are not needed in the office (meetings etc)
  • Ensure that you are available for a daily standup with your team (if applicable)
  • Be a good Slack citizen and check in with your team throughout your working day if possible
  • Ensure you are completely clear on specific workload for the day or days you wish to work from home

 

Regularly working from home

We offer occasional remote working for all staff with some roles being full-time friendly too.

There are additional considerations when regularly working remotely frequently or full time.

  • Put a reoccurring event into CharlieHR so that everyone is aware of the days you are working remotely 
  • This does not apply to full time remote workers
 

Perkbox 

Perkbox gives you access to a range of benefits such as discounts on shopping, food and wellness. 

https://www.perkbox.com 

You'll be given access once you have passed your probation period. All discounts there are self-explanatory and you are free to use this as required. 

 

Season Ticket Loan

Once you have passed your probation period you are eligible to a Travel Loan. To request this, please provide the amount of your Season ticket to HR. You will then be paid the amount to your bank account to purchase this ticket. You must provide a receipt for this.

The loan will be repaid automatically via payroll from your net salary over 12 months. There is no tax benefit or interest payable.

If you leave the company prior to your loan being repaid the outstanding balance will be deducted from your final salary payment. 

 

Cycle to Work Scheme

We take part in Cyclescheme as we wish to support those who wish to cycle to work whether it's for pleasure, aiming to be healthier, trying to be more green or any other reasons.

Cyclescheme allows you to get up to £1,000 worth of bike and accessories. You then pay a monthly ‘salary sacrifice’ to effectively 'hire' the bike and kit, over a 12 month period. Once this period has been completed you will be given options by Cyclescheme around owning your bike. This usually involves a small fee to be paid. 

You can calculate savings from Cyclescheme using their calculator (https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/calculator)

Process 

  1. Choose a retailer that supports Cyclescheme. A full list is available here: https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/retailers/London
  2. Browse their range and choose your bike and equipment

          If this is your first bike you may need things like:

  • Lights (front and rear)
  • Helmet (safety first!)
  • Lock
  • Mudguard
  1. Get a quote or work out the total price for all items you will want to buy
  2. Go to https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/3bb013 and fill out the request form - you will need your payroll number which you can find on your payslip
  3. Your certificate request will be sent to HR by email. You may also inform HR that you have done this to speed up the process of approval
  4. CycleScheme will generate and invoice to HR which will be paid - this could take a few days to clear
  5. CycleScheme will send you your certificate
  6. Order your new bike!

The payments will be taken off your salary at the next payroll period. This will be a monthly fee, which you will find in your Hire Agreement, paid over 12 months. 

Food & Drink

 

Food

Every two weeks, we order a lunch chosen by a randomly selected team member. We’d like to experience a variety of food from anywhere in the world - as long as they deliver to our office!

Few rules:

  • The HR Manager will pay for the lunch. If they are not around, someone else with a company card should be able to cover it. Or a team member can claim it as an expense for next payroll.
  • We would like for everyone to eat together and use the time to socialise and share their successes and challenges from the weeks that have passed. We want to make an effort to sit away from our desks for this in a breakout area.
  • Whoever is picked to choose lunch for the team is responsible for ensuring that everyone who wants to eat can do so with respect to their dietary requirements.
  • We trust people to use their judgment as to what is a reasonable amount to spend on a team lunch.

 

Drinks

We have a drinks fridge in the kitchen which is usually stocked with soft drinks, beers and mixers. You may help yourself to beverages on Thursdays and Fridays from 5PM onwards. 

As drinking is exclusionary in nature to those who don't like or can't be around alcohol we make efforts to make sure it's not the center of our culture whilst at the same time acknowledging it's important to some.

 
 

Team Activities

We work together all the time but often we don't socialise or have fun together for periods of times. Especially as we aren't all in the same office or even country. 

It's important to us to spend some time doing something fun together, and that should not focus around having drinks. 

We organise a week of team activities at least twice a year when our remote team join us in London for important time together. 

HR will organise these but everyone has an input into what we're doing so send ideas through anytime.

 

Christmas

We have a Christmas party with the UK team every year. The remote team also gets together for a Christmas party in Belarus.

Where possible, this is an all day celebration with the teams. In past years we have hosted fun awards ceremonies and pub quizzes with prizes.

Dinner and drinks are paid for until the end of the night! What fun.

The office is usually closed from 23rd of December to 2nd of January. You can either take annual leave or work from home in this time. We just need to make sure we are covered by one person per team should there be any incoming requests.