3 ring binder (opened) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The words “employee handbook” don’t usually promise a “fun” read.
Most of the time, you’ll see phrases such as, “Employees accrue 1/4 vacation days for every one month of employment. Vacation days may be used only after six months of full-time employment, and expire at the end of the year. Vacation requests must be approved by your supervisor…” Blah. Blah. Blah.
This one is different. For one thing, it has cartoons. The vacation section starts with a caption advising you to find someone to watch your cats. it says things like:
Nobody has ever been fired at Valve for making a mistake. It wouldn’t make sense for us to operate that way. Providing the freedom to fail is an important trait of the company—we couldn’t expect so much of individuals if we also penalized people for errors.
Read the entire handbook here.
Amazing… makes me (almost) want to go to work for them. And proves what I’ve always suspected – employee docs can actually be helpful and fun.
Anne, it (almost) makes me want to work for them too. I actually spent 10 minutes or so trying (unsuccessfully) to think of something I could do there!