Below we explain how the internal structure of the team is organised and the management tools we use.

Communication

All communication between team members must be done through Slack.

The team url for Slack is: mendesaltarenstudio.slack.com

In Slack, the channels are organised according to their content. The following prefixes help us identify the channels in the search bar and the sidebar gives us guidelines for the creation of a new project.

There must be one Slack channel per active project. This way, all communication related to a project will be centralised. As mentioned before, project channels have the prefix “proj-” to indicate that the content is project-related, be it an internal project or an external one.

If the project is shared with the client, a “share” will be added to the name, so as to avoid any confusion as to whether the client is in the channel or not. Therefore, if a channel has “share” in the name, it will include external parties...
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Example:
#proj-sharedexample-share

Meetings

For scheduling meetings and events, we use Google Calendar. The event on Google Calendar must be as detailed as possible, including the name of the event as well as its description. If a resource is necessary for the meeting, this should be included as a link. This way all participants will have access to it before the meeting takes place.

Time is extremely valuable, so it’s very important to respect meetings and advise the organiser in advance if you are not going to attend. This way, they will have time to let the rest of the attendees know and reschedule the meeting if necessary.

Remember that you can block “do-not-disturb 🌙” hours within your shift.

If a member of the team is not going to be available within certain hours, whatever the reason may be, it’s advisable that they create an event on the calendar, as far in advance as possible, so that the rest of the team is aware. Also, by creating the event with the option “out of office”, Google Calendar will automatically reject all event invitations.

Schedule

Our culture is remote-first. Our key principle is to balance teamwork, productivity and the personal life of the employees of mendeslataren. We aim to be flexible so that everyone can adapt their schedule to their needs. Our office is in Madrid, so our time zone reference is CET.

There are many of us in the company, and this flexibility makes our shared working hours crucial to speed up projects and ensure they run smoothly. In this regard, we establish a timeframe in which every team member will be working. This makes communication and collaboration easier, which then allows the team to feel more united and supported. This timeframe is set between 10am and 3pm. For the rest of the day, each team member can manage their schedule based on their needs. With this policy we focus on evaluating the work done on an achieved-goal basis, rather than a being-present basis.

To organise holidays and leaves of absence we use Factorial. Factorial is a HR platform that allows you to:

• Request annual leave and leave of absence – these will be approved or rejected by an assigned colleague.
• Be aware of who is in the office.
• Be aware of the number of available holiday days.

Tip: link Factorial and Google calendars. This way you will be able to see who is on leave more easily, without having to log into Factorial. You can link them like this.

Every employee needs to tell their manager which holidays they want to take through Factorial. This makes it possible for us to keep track of how much annual leave has been taken, as well as the days when a team member will not be in the office.

Types of absences on Factorial

Holidays must be requested at least 15 days in advance.
Remember to talk and coordinate with your teammates when taking off bank holidays so everyone can take advantage of them throughout the year.

• Annual leave subtracts days from your total count and needs to be approved by the head of the project(s) you are working on.
• Sick leave, due to personal wellbeing or caring for a family member, subtracts days but doesn’t need approval.
• Paternity leave doesn’t subtract days or need approval.
• Leaves of absence due to an unexpected event such as doctor’s appointments, important errands or looking for new accommodation, don't subtract holiday days. - All employees have permission to be absent under these unforeseen circumstances, as long as it is not a regular occurrence.

In order for this to be sustainable, this liberty mustn’t be abused. Every time there is a planned absence, the team must be notified at least 3 days in advance.

General Holidays Policy

Each employee has the right to 22 days of annual leave or the prorate according to their contract hours. Each employee can also enjoy the national and local holidays of the Autonomous Community of Madrid or the Autonomous Community where they usually reside.

Review our Holidays Policy