THE CO. FAMILY HANDBOOK

Welcome to the family.

That’s right, you’re now part of the ‘&co.’ Just like our clients, our suppliers, collaborators and associates.

This is where we’ll try to share important stuff about Danny&co the company, how we came about, why we exist and how we can co-exist to fulfil our purpose; to advance humanity through creativity. 

This is a guide to understanding what we mean by a ‘level 10’, if you can take holiday in your first month (yes, by the way), what an ‘off-site’ is, what to do if you don’t feel good and who and where to go to if you’re stuck or just ‘not feeling it’ – whatever ‘it’ may be.

This handbook also offers us an opportunity to clarify who we actually are as a company. It’s important for us to help people understand what branding is and that it’s a constantly moving target. So we try to lead by example, not perfection.

This handbook will aim to answer questions like: What do we stand for? How should we work? Codifying those beliefs into a handbook makes them tangible and, most importantly, editable. 

Whatever version of this handbook you’re reading, you can be sure it’s not the last. Please do help keep it up to date! And by up to date, we’re not just talking about misspellings and team changes. 

If you’re reading this just after joining the company, it’s particularly on you, actually. It’s so hard to see the journey of Everest when you’re standing on the summit – it’s hard for us to spot the broken ways from the inside. 

Please take advantage of that glorious, shiny ignorance of being new, and question things everything.

A brand new way of working, for the better

You’re about to experience what is likely to be a brand new way of working for you. A way of working where you are not judged on time and which hands over the reins of your role and gives you responsibility for the results you commit to achieving.

It’s about you, but not all about you

Everyone working at Danny&co. represents Danny&co. and what’s right in front of someone in a time of need is what they’ll remember.

That’s why we say marketing is everyone’s responsibility, and that it pays to spend the time to recognise that. This means avoiding the standardised language of corporations and going deep on the experience – bending our policies, not just lending your ears. That’s right – where no harm is being done, move fast and break things. It means taking the time to consider how you’d feel if you were on the other side of the interaction.

It also means that you’re strongly encouraged to help share your thoughts, experiences, and learnings on our blog. The vast majority of our customers come from word of mouth on social media and much of that word comes from people in our audience. This is an audience we’ve only been educating and entertaining for a short time and your voice is part of us now, whether you like it or not! Tell us and our audience what you have to say and if you have nothing to say, share what you learn – you’ll do a lot of learning here.

Share thoughts, tools, techniques and things that will help our audience.

It’s also worth mentioning that when you join us we welcome you to the family, but family can be all-consuming sometimes. We are as passionate about people as we are about changing the world for the better, so you may feel pressure to contribute, maybe overwhelmingly so. 

We want to sustain a small and mighty team of the best and brightest in our industry, so the self-imposed burden to be exceptional is real. But here’s the thing: stop it. Settle in. We want you to love this job because we all do too, but at the end of the day it’s a job. Do your best work, collaborate with your team, write, read, learn, and then turn off your computer and play with your dog/kid/sibling/earth. We’ll all be better for it.

What we stand for

We believe that we can advance humanity through creativity and hope to one day be recognised by the United Nations, as having a significant impact in all 17 of the global sustainability goals.

So over the next 10 years we will help 10,000 businesses discover their unique competitive advantage so every purpose driven business can grow with confidence. That means helping one company a day, every day for the next 10 years.

You can find out more about the UN Global Sustainability Goals here.

Our Core Values

Purpose

Innovation

Audacity

Creativity

Optimism

Things we say (and don’t say)

“Most companies can’t clearly say ‘what they do’, never mind give a compelling reason about ‘why’ we should buy from them. At Danny&co. we have a proven process to help you discover your unique competitive advantage so you can start to grow again with clarity and confidence.”

If anyone ever asks you the question: “What do you do?”, THIS ^^^ is what you say.

The consistency in messaging is important to every business but we understand the need for context; if you’re going to say it, you want to know why and a bit of background…

Our introduction above is based on the methods of. Donald Miller and has proved to start more conversations for us which leads to more creating of cool stuff. We also help businesses convert more conversations with our free ‘Conversations That Convert’ guide.

You won’t hear us say things like “It’s just business”, or catch us bringing a problem without a possible solution or two.

Our products and Services

Brand Confidence

Brand Confidence is our trademark based on the ultimate result or transformation each one of our clients go through. Whether that’s an entire brand overhaul or just to feel like they have the best brochure at an event we value confidence over trust (here’s why).

Scorecard

The Brand Confidence Scorecard is our ‘top of the funnel’ lead generator that benchmarks the users business against the 4 pillars of branding – strategy, messaging, behaviours & Identity.

For brand new prospects, this is their next logical step.

Community

The Brand Confidence Community on Facebook is a free place that people can ask for advice, feedback and learn the basis of our work. Make yourself familiar with the group and the people inside as they are our tribe and the people we look out for in the wild.

Program

The Brand Confidence Advantage program is our core offering and our flagship product. It is how businesses discover their unique competitive advantage and build a consistent and predictable business.

It is an application process which people can book a strategy session to see if its right for them here.

Focus Call (Power Hour)

The Brand Focus call is our way of offering an entry point to working with us. It allows clients to get advice on any part of their brand.

Who does what

You are part of the ‘dream team’, the rest is up to our lean , mean outsourced team.

Accounts

Steph, Mark and the team at Sunflower Accounts

HR

Karen Ferris at Professionals in Partnership

Dave Plotkin at Plotkin & Chandler

PR

Jo Smyth at Wordworker (Local PR & Copywriting)

Fiona Scott at Scott Media for PR Training and consultancy

Where we work

We understand that you can only do your best work in an environment built for work, so you can work wherever you like in the world. Here’s a few places Danny has worked and what happens if you want to make use of them too.

Home

Home…it’s convenient, comfortable (sometimes) and means that we don’t even have to get dressed. We want you to have a healthy experience working from home though so please read our ‘working remote’ guide also known as WTFisWFH.

Coffee Shops

How tempting it is to sit in a coffee shop with the background noise and the people watching. I know what you’re thinking – will we pay for coffee?

The answer is yes, twice.

Please remember to send your receipt to dannyandco@receiptbank.me – without it, we can’t process it as an expense and reimburse you.

CoWorking Spaces

CoWorking is a great way to share an office with other remote workers and business owners. If you’d like to go to a CoWorking space, without permission you can go twice a month on a pay-as-you-go basis (if available).

If you’d like to consider it as a permanent part of your job at Danny&co. for any reason let us know.

Benefits & Perks

Health Insurance

While you’re part of the family we want to take care of your health and wellbeing, so you will get health insurance paid 100% for you and your immediate family.

Duvet Day

We get it, some days are just ‘meh’ and all you want to do is lie in bed with a hot cuppa Joe and watch Netflix or pet your turtle or whatever. Your job is your responsibility – nobody can cover for you, but we want to discourage you having to ‘pull a sickie’ unnecessarily so if your not feeling like it just let us know that morning.

The only thing we would ask is that there is nothing pressing that needs to be done that day – but its your call. Use your day wisely.

Getting Started

The ‘&co.’ Methodology: OWN IT

The way we work is pretty different to what you’re used to or what you might expect. If you haven’t realised already we value entrepreneurial spirit; taking your job with both hands and owning it. And we are confident that you can or else you wouldn’t be here and it works because this make every one of us responsible for our role and tasks within it so that when we come together we are superhuman.

ROWE

We work on a ‘Results-Only Working Environment’. This means you can do your work:

Where you want

When you want

As long as the work is done

Yes we have a schedule of meetings that are recurring but other than those you are free to hit that result any way you please.

Typical Meeting Schedule

Monthly 1:1 (30 mins)

Bi-Weekly Planning (3-4 hours)

Daily Standup (15 mins)

Setup

We are a ‘remote-first’ business, meaning we can work anywhere in the world with all kinds of equipment. To make sure you are set up properly for safe work please read our ‘Remote Worker’s Guide to Keeping Safe’ below and submit a gear request if required.

Gear

Generally speaking, because we are a tech enabled remote workforce you will be able to work from any combination of desktop, laptop, tablet and/or phone – but that doesn’t mean you should.

Find out what gear works for you and if you need something in particular to help you work better, let us know on the relevant Slack channel.

How We Work

The enemy of progression is overwhelm. There is no place here for ‘meetings about meetings’ so we work in 2 week cycles. This means we will set goals every two weeks and then celebrate when we hit them.

Communication

To allow us to have balance in our communication internally and externally so where possible we have separated concerns into email and slack.

Email is used mostly for external communication and is arranged by role. Every day emails are coordinated to your inbox so you only have to action what is there for you.

Slack is used for internal communication and requests as well as social chat.

Pitch us

We want to encourage and foster new ideas whether they are for your own benefit or Danny&co. so we are always open for ideas and suggestions. However, if you would like to pursue a particular project you can pitch us! Just flag it in our stands so we can arrange a time.

Time-zones

Many of our clients come from all over the world. Be mindful if you are making calls or booking meetings that their timezone may be different to ours and to adjust appointments accordingly.

Our Rituals

Off-Site

Off-sites are times where we gather safely outside our normal place of work. Sometimes this is because of an event, other times it is just to get the creative juices flowing again. If you hear the phrase ‘off-site’ – get excited!

#NotWorkingNotSorry

Look, work is great but sometimes it’s the human connection and getting to know the people you work with that really makes a difference. #NotWorkingNotSorry is where we share with each other and our audience who we are. Sometimes care packages are sent 😉

Creating your own career path

Loving you in (and out)

Danny often shares his story of getting his dream job, but also that he understands that just because you have a skill in something doesn’t mean you need to do it as a career forever.

This means that if you’re an amazing content writer but you dream of snowboarding professionally, let us help you with that dream. Tell us, educate us on the steps you need to make and we will always try to incentivise you in your work to help move you closer to your goals.

Pay & Promotion

We try hard to provide fair pay and benefits to help you have an awesome and fulfilled time here but there is a balance of value both ways and if you feel like you’re giving more than you’re being rewarded for we want to know. Please submit a review request in your next check-in or performance review.

Monthly Check-in’s

The monthly check-in’s are an open and honest conversation designed to help both of us understand where we are in terms of performance, expectations, life stuff or anything else you want to discuss.

It’s not an official performance review, but a chance to set the tone for the next month and help us prepare as best we can to serve our clients.

Performance Reviews (Quarterly)

We carefully track our data to understand where we can improve in all aspects of the business from employee satisfaction to sales and retention of clients as well as what people want from us in our work.

Our systems & tech stack

Automation & CRM: ActiveCampaign

Bookkeeping & Accounts: Xero

Automation: Zapier

Forms: JotForm

Diary Scheduling Online: ScheduleOnce

Creative Software: Adobe

Social Media Marketing: ContentStudio

Team Communication: Slack

Remote Worker’s Guide to Keeping Safe

Whether you are working on site or at home, you must take reasonable care of your own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by what you do (for example, family members and visitors).

It is your responsibility to report employment-related hazards to your health directly and immediately to your line manager.

Ideally, you should have a separate study or an area of a room set aside for your work that is sufficiently large to accommodate all the necessary furniture and equipment as well as having provision for locking away any confidential material.

Getting comfortable

The following may help you to carry out your role most effectively:

Forearms should be approximately horizontal and the user’s eyes should be the same height as the top of the screen.

Make sure there is enough work space to accommodate all documents or other equipment. A document holder may help avoid awkward neck and eye movements.

Arrange the desk and screen to avoid glare, or bright reflections. This is often easiest if the screen is not directly facing windows or bright lights.

Adjust curtains or blinds to prevent intrusive light.

Make sure there is space under the desk to move legs.

Avoid excess pressure from the edge of seats on the backs of legs and knees.

A footrest may be helpful, particularly for smaller users.

Well-designed workstations

Keyboards and keying in (typing)

A space in front of the keyboard can help you rest your hands and wrists when not typing.

Try to keep wrists straight when keying.

Good keyboard technique is important – you can do this by keeping a soft touch on the keys and not overstretching the fingers.

Using a mouse

Position the mouse within easy reach, so it can be used with a straight wrist.

Sit upright and close to the desk to reduce working with the mouse arm stretched.

Move the keyboard out of the way if it is not being used.

Support the forearm on the desk and don’t grip the mouse too tightly.

Rest fingers lightly on the buttons and do not press them hard.

Reading the screen

Make sure individual characters on the screen are sharp, in focus and don’t flicker or move. If they do, the screen may need servicing or adjustment.

Adjust the brightness and contrast controls on the screen to suit lighting conditions in the room.

Make sure the screen surface is clean.

When setting up software, choose text that is large enough to read easily on screen when sitting in a normal comfortable working position.

Select colours that are easy on the eye (avoid red text on a blue background, or vice versa).

Changes in activity

Breaking up long spells of work helps prevent fatigue, eye strain, upper limb problems and backache. As the employer you need to plan, so users can interrupt prolonged use of screens with changes of activity. Organised or scheduled rest breaks may sometimes be a solution.

The following may help users:

Stretch and change position.

Look into the distance from time to time, and blink often.

Change activity before users get tired, rather than to recover.

Short, frequent breaks are better than longer, infrequent ones.

Portable computers

These same controls will also reduce the risks associated with portable computers. However, the following may also help reduce manual handling, fatigue and postural problems:

Consider potential risks from manual handling if users have to carry heavy equipment and papers.

Whenever possible, users should be encouraged to use a docking station or firm surface and a full-sized keyboard and mouse.

The height and position of the portable’s screen should be angled so that the user is sitting comfortably and reflection is minimised (raiser blocks are commonly used to help with screen height).

More changes in activity may be needed if the user cannot minimise the risks of prolonged use and awkward postures to suitable levels.

Moonlighting

Moonlighting means working other professional, paid jobs outside of your work at Danny&co. It’s not a black and white topic. There are one-time gigs, other pursuits, or opportunities that help you grow and make life interesting. We’ve already said about our ‘loving you in and out’ of Danny&co. – We want to support that.

But we want to make sure professional endeavours outside of Danny&co. don’t create conflicts of interest or affect your time, dedication, or performance at Basecamp. So it’s a delicate balance.

With that in mind, here are some examples of what we’d consider OK and what we would consider a conflict of interest and not OK:

OK

1. An occasional side gig, free or paid, for someone you know. For example, if you want to work on a friend’s website, or a design or writing project for something you’re involved with, that’s fine.
   
2. An occasional speaking gig, free or paid. Someone’s going to pay you to give a talk somewhere? That’s fine – invite us! – as long as it doesn’t involve multiple days off for travel (unless you use your own personal vacation time against this travel time).
   
3. A side business that’s different from your day job, as long as the commitment is only a few hours a week. If you come to work exhausted because you’re trying to start a full-time business on the side, it’s going to impact your performance here.
   
4. Serve as an advisor for another company, or be on a board, as long as there’s no conflict of interest. The time commitment must be under a few hours a month. And if there’s a scheduling conflict, we get priority.
   
5. Do volunteer or occasional pro-bono work for a cause you’re actively involved with. A little work here and there is fine, but, for example, becoming an organisations full-time web designer and being on the hook to work during your standard work day, etc, would not be OK.
   

Not OK

1. You can’t work full time or part time for another company in our industry. If you’re unclear about what our industry is, and you have a specific situation you’d like to talk about, speak to Danny.
   
2. Go out on a regular speaking circuit tour which is going to require multiple days of travel multiple times a year. That’s too disruptive to our own work schedule and to your fellow teammates.
   
3. Consult for other companies in our industry where there may be a conflict of interest (a competitor, a product tangentially related to Danny&co. and/or our services and products, etc).
   
4. Be aggressive in marketing your availability for side work. If something comes to you through a friend or some connection, fine, but aggressively promoting something on the side will ultimately result in a conflict of interest here at work.
   
5. Take on anything outside of work that’ll pull attention from work. For example, if you wanted to launch an app, but the app requires providing timely customer support to people who use the app, that’s going to eat into your day here at work. That would ultimately be a problem.
   

In general

Here’s a few guiding principles about whether something could be a problem:

• Is it competitive?
• Does it occupy a disproportionate amount of your time?
• Does it require you to be away during times when you’re needed at work?
• Is it another paid gig that employs the same skills Danny&co. is paying you for?

In general we’d like to be lenient within reason, but we’re going to be strict if we see it impact your time, attention, or performance here at work.

It’s hard to come up with one-size fits all rules. If you’re in doubt, please reach out to Danny. We’re always happy to spare a moment to give our thoughts on it before you make a commitment and most of the time you’ll get more encouragement than anything else.

Conduct

Our Pledge

In the interest of fostering an inclusive and safe workplace, Basecamp pledges to be a harassment- and discrimination-free space for everyone, regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, nationality, neurotype, personal appearance, political affiliation, professional background, race, religion, or sexual identity or orientation.

Our Standards

Examples of behavior that contributes to creating a healthy environment include:

• Using welcoming and inclusive language
• Being respectful and empathetic when it comes to differing viewpoints and experiences
• Gracefully accepting and offering constructive criticism and feedback

Examples of unacceptable behavior by employees include:

• The use of any sexualized language or imagery and unwelcome sexual attention or advances
• Insulting or derogatory comments
• Discriminating on the basis of age, disability, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, nationality, neurotype, personal appearance, political affiliation, professional background, race, religion, or sexual identity or orientation.
• Public or private harassment
• Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting

Our Responsibilities

Managers are responsible for upholding these standards. They will be clear and equitable when applying standards of acceptable behavior. They’re required to take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any instances of unacceptable behavior. If you have questions about the standards above, talk to your manager or to Andrea.

Scope

This Code of Conduct applies both within Basecamp during work hours and in public spaces when you’re representing Basecamp. Examples of representing Basecamp in a public space include acting as a delegate at an online or offline event like a conference, posting on Basecamp branded social media, or participating in a Basecamp social event outside of work hours.

Enforcement

If you notice someone acting inappropriately as described in the standards above, you can report it by contacting your manager or Andrea. Or you can complete a complaint form. You may choose to remain anonymous on the complaint form.

All complaints will be reviewed and investigated and will result in a response that is appropriate to the circumstances. Managers are required maintain your confidentiality however you choose to report an incident.

After your complaint has been reviewed, investigated, and responded to, Andrea or your manager will inform you of the steps being taken to address the original issue and any disciplinary outcomes.

In addition, all valid complaints about employees will be documented in a permanent file, along with related investigation processes and disciplinary outcomes. Repeated complaints about one employee will result in escalating disciplinary measures, up to and including termination.

Managers who do not follow or enforce the Code of Conduct in good faith will be subject to corrective action as well.

Performance Improvement

We don’t want any of our employees to feel unclear on where they stand, should they find themselves in need of improving their performance. So below are the steps take at Basecamp when your manager identifies a problem with your performance that must be addressed with a performance improvement plan (PIP).

Identify and Document

Your manager will identify a productivity or disciplinary problem as soon as possible after it occurs if it’s a specific incident, or as soon as they can when they sense a general problem with your ongoing performance. Your semiannual reviews may be helpful in identifying a problem, but managers shouldn’t wait for those reviews to raise a problem with you.

Your manager will have a conversation with you about:

1) what the exact problem was if it was a specific incident (e.g. an inappropriate comment to a co-worker), or what the general problem has been if it’s an ongoing performance problem (e.g. not contributing at the level you should be)

2) the clear expectations and the steps required for you to correct

3) the timeline for correction

The idea is for you and your manager to openly and honestly address what went wrong and why. Your manager will approach the conversation with curiosity, not frustration!

During your conversation, you and your manager should make a plan for how you can course correct and show your work towards that end. Your manager will also document the steps above and your conversation to share with you.

Revisit Throughout Timeline & On Deadline

When you and your manager spoke, they gave you a timeline for correcting the problem behaviour. Depending on the nature of your performance problem, that may be a month, it may be much longer! In any case, during that timeframe, you and your manager should check in periodically about whether or not they’re seeing the improvement they want to see.

When you come to the end of your PIP timeline, you and your manager will have a formal 1:1 to discuss your progress. If your performance is back on track, that’s the end of this process! Your initial conversation and related documentation will remain logged for future reference, and your manager should add a note indicating they’re happy with your improvement at this stage. Case closed!

If your performance is not where it should be, your manager will outline next steps. If they feel you’re putting forth good effort and could use more time to show improvement, they may extend the timeline of the PIP. If your manager feels your performance has not improved at all and you haven’t met the requirements outlined in your PIP, they may decide to terminate your employment with Basecamp.

If you are terminated, we try our best to prevent that from creating a crisis for you.

Basecamp offers a severance package that pays out immediately upon your termination: one month’s pay for every year you’ve worked at Basecamp (up to 4 months). That severance package also includes medical and dental insurance for you and your dependents if you’ve been on our policies for the same time period, compensation for unused vacation time, compensation for unused sabbatical time if applicable (2 year lookback window), and any remaining cash value of the previous years’ year-end gift (1 year lookback window).

When you begin looking for work, your manager and the company will provide references or recommendations when possible.

What’s the biggest, most important detail missing from everything above?

Support.

The process outlined here doesn’t fully illustrate the level of care and support Basecamp is able to give to you before and during this process. We know lots of stuff comes into play when it comes to work performance. If you’re having personal or professional issues that are impeding how you’re working, please tell us! Tell your manager, tell Andrea, tell Jason or David, tell someone who has the resources to help.

This process is not hard and fast, and we want to work with you.

Lots of employees who still work at Basecamp have been on PIPs. We’re not in the game of high turnover. We want to see you through the process and see you come out energized on the other side. We care about everyone who works here and if you’re having performance issues, our first reaction is to help you. We only ask that you work with us to devise a realistic improvement plan that elevates you and works for Basecamp.

Exceptions

The process outlined above is for employees who are dealing with manageable performance or disciplinary issues. If an employee is negligent in their duties or commits fraud or insubordination to the point that a performance plan won’t serve Basecamp or the employee, we retain the right to immediately terminate at-will as stated in our employment contracts. Basecamp also retains the right to bypass steps outlined above, including offering a severance package, if the severity of performance problems warrants that. In either of these cases, the reasoning will be spelled out in detail to the employee prior to termination.