- There are 40 working hours in a typical week in Slovenia, these include 0.5 hours per day for lunch (or similar) break and 7.5 hours per day of **work**.
At Sinergise we want to, on purpose, rely on each individual to assure their contribution to be in line.
There are quite a few people that work overtime, which we value.
However, we are fully aware that excessive work is not sustainable long-term.
We strive for long-term cooperation with individuals and try to build our business model manageable with **everyone** working normal working hours.
- We try to be flexible with how people distribute their day to work and personal things.
However, it has been proven many times that working together is much more efficient (and fun) than working individually.
To assure this is possible at least part of the time, we would like to see you on board, in the office, at least from 10 to 15.
## Absence
### General
- As a general rule, planned absence should obstruct the work of the team as little as possible.
That is why you should first consider “_will I cause trouble to my colleagues if I am gone_” and if the answer is “_yes_”,
consider whether something can be done to minimise the harm (e.g. coordinating activities on time).
There is an exception to the rule, obviously.
Everyone deserves vacations and even if this would cause some trouble, one has to take them as it is good for their personal well being.
Usually announcing plans a couple of weeks in advance does the trick.
- Any planned absence should be communicated with the team beforehand (team coordinator being the prime point of contact).
If the team gives a "_go ahead_", it is usually enough.
### Reporting
- We use the [Availability tool](https://internal.sinergise.com/General/Availability) for reporting and tracking absences from work or from the office.
The primary purpose of the tool is informing your colleagues of your (un)availability.
- Any unregular absences from office should be reported in the Availability tool as soon as possible.
- Absence due to compensation of overtime, exchanging for weekend/holiday work or otherwise compensating should be reported as **'Not Working'**.
- To receive email notifications on absences, subscribe to [availability@lists.sinergise.com](https://lists.sinergise.com/sympa).
- There are currently two people configured to confirm planned absences (Grega Milcinski and Ales Okorn).
It may happen that both are away, which is why there is automatic confirmation after 24 hours for less than a week long absence.
It happens extremely rarely that someone's plans would be rejected and if it does, it is communicated first in other form (verbal, mail, IM).
In case it happens that no response (neither confirmation or rejection) comes on time follow a general rule "if team is OK with it, go ahead".
(we will consider adapting the IT part of the system to reflect team organisation, but this is low priority).
- When arriving to work late, leaving early, or going out of the office (or home when working remotely) for a few hours on regular days, report that to your team channels.
-**Students**: leave should be reported as **'Not working'** instead of **'Leave'**
### Remote work
- We love flexibility of the work (e.g. someone being able to adapt working conditions/time to their needs) but we love team harmony even more,
which is why this one has priority over flexibility.
We noticed on many occasions that teams work better if they are working together.
Therefore, whenever possible, people should work with the team.
That being said, there are sometimes good reasons for remote work (long commuting, etc.).
To keep everything in balance, we try to follow these rules:
- For the first few months the work should be on-site, remote work being an exception.
This assures best conditions for onboarding.
- After a person is well integrated into the team and can demonstrate that this does not affect the quality of their contribution, they can agree to work a few days a week remotely.
- In exceptional cases, which should be discussed with the CEO, one can work mostly remotely, with on-site work once every week or two.
But even in such cases we would want first to have a couple of months together so that we get to know each other well.
- Before working remotely for the first time, make sure that you have your VPN certificate issued and test the VPN connection from the machine you will be working on.
- Transportation benefits are reduced proportionally when working remotely. (Excluding the part of the benefit in the value of an LPP monthly pass, which will not be reduced for anyone.)
### Sick leave
- Sick leave should be reported as soon as possible (availability tool or message to admin staff), so that your colleagues are aware of the absence.
- After the sick leave ends, check-in with your doctor to see if they issued the sick leave note.
- During your sick leave you are entitled to compensation of the salary. The amount of compensation depends on the:
- basis: average monthly salary in the corresponding calendar year,
- reason of sick leave: sickness (80% of basis), injury outside work (70%), injury at work (100%), care for family members (80%), blood donation (100%),
- length of sick leave: the basis increases 10% after more than 90 days of sick leave. More info on [ZZZS](https://zavarovanec.zzzs.si/wps/portal/portali/azos/nadomestila/nadom_place/!ut/p/z1/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfIjo8zizQx8HT08DQw93A0NnQ08vZwtTIyDw4wNnMz1C7IdFQFymDFO/).
- If you are not feeling well, but still able to work, you should stay at home to prevent spreading illness to your colleagues.
This should be reported to availability tool.
### Annual leave days
- On the basis of criteria stated in the Employment Relationship Act (ZDR-1) and our internal Rules on annual leave and other absences from work, the number of annual leave for every employee in the corresponding year is calculated.
- The criteria for annual leave is as following:
- basis: 20 days,
- complexity of work: 2 days,
- years of service: 1 additional day for every 5 years of service,
- years of service in the company: 1 additional day for reaching 3 years in the company,
- social conditions:
- 1 day for every child under 15 years of age,
- 3 days for children with special needs, disabled persons and older (55+ years of age) employees.
- In the time of annual leave the employee is entitled to compensation for salary that is in order with the Employment relationship act (ZDR-1).
- Every employee must use at least two weeks of annual leave in the current calendar year (if employed for a full year, otherwise the leave days are calculated and used proportionally). The remaining annual leave days are transferred to the following year.
### Additional leave days
- Employees get additional leave days for the following events/occasions:
- wedding: 2 days,
- wedding of your child: 1 day,
- death of spouse, partner, (adoptive) child: 2 days,
- moving: 1 day (2 days if it's in the interest of the company),
- case of worse accidents: 1 day,
- natural disasters: 3 days,
- escorting your child to school on their first day (first grade only): 1 day.
### Ad hoc leave
- Valuing individual's personal happiness we understand that sometimes the day is just too perfect for something else you want to do (other than work).
It is therefore OK to take such day off, but this should be an exception rather than the rule.
Coming to the fact that we work as a team, unplanned absences usually cause inconvenience to other team members.
It is therefore highly desired to announce leaves in advance and communicate it with the team.
In case of ad hoc leave, you should ensure that it causes minimum friction with the team.
