Kestrel Labs Employee Handbook

Welcome to Kestrel Labs. This handbook explains how we work, what we offer and what we expect from each other. It applies to every full-time employee regardless of location. Contractors should refer to their own agreements. > Kestrel Labs is a fictional company. This document is part of the Citevia sample corpus.

Kestrel Labs is a remote-first company with teammates in 14 countries. We do not have a headquarters; the company is legally registered in Lisbon, Portugal, but nobody is required to live there.

To keep collaboration possible across time zones, everyone is expected to be reachable during core hours, from 13:00 to 16:00 UTC, Monday to Thursday. Fridays have no core hours and no recurring meetings. Outside core hours you organise your own schedule.

Written communication is the default. Decisions are recorded in the team's decision log, not in chat threads. Chat is for quick questions; anything that needs more than a few messages becomes a document. Camera use in meetings is optional.

Every employee receives 25 days of paid time off per calendar year, in addition to the public holidays of their country of residence. Unused days can be carried over into the next year, up to a maximum of 5 days, and carried-over days expire on 31 March. Time off longer than 5 consecutive working days should be requested at least 3 weeks in advance through the HR portal. Your manager approves the request; approval is not required for shorter absences, but please add them to the shared calendar.

Sick leave is unlimited and separate from paid time off. For absences longer than 3 consecutive days, we ask for a doctor's note, uploaded to the HR portal. Mental health days count as sick leave.

Birth and adoptive parents receive 20 weeks of fully paid parental leave, regardless of gender. Leave can be taken in up to three blocks within the first 18 months after the birth or adoption. During the first month back, parents work a reduced schedule of 60% at full pay.

Each new employee receives a one-time home office stipend of 1,200 US dollars to buy a desk, a chair and other equipment. In addition, a recurring allowance of 50 US dollars per month covers internet and co-working costs. Receipts are submitted through the expense tool before the 5th of the following month.

Kestrel provides a laptop of your choice from the approved list. Laptops are refreshed every 3 years, or earlier if the hardware fails. When you leave the company you may buy your laptop at its depreciated value.

Every employee has an annual learning budget of 1,500 US dollars for books, courses and conferences. Unused learning budget does not roll over. Conference travel counts against this budget unless you are speaking, in which case the company pays separately.

Health insurance is provided through a global plan that covers the employee and their dependants. Kestrel pays 100% of the premium for employees and 75% for dependants.

Engineers on product teams join the on-call rotation after completing their onboarding shadow shifts. A rotation lasts one week, from Tuesday 10:00 UTC to the following Tuesday 10:00 UTC. Each on-call week is compensated with a flat payment of 350 US dollars, plus a day off in lieu if you were paged outside your working hours more than twice. The primary on-call engineer must acknowledge a page within 10 minutes. If a page is not acknowledged, it escalates to the secondary on-call engineer and then to the engineering manager. Nobody should be on call more than one week in every five.

Performance reviews happen twice a year, in March and September. Reviews combine a self-assessment, peer feedback from at least two colleagues and the manager's assessment. Compensation is reviewed once a year, in September, and adjustments take effect on 1 October. Every employee meets their manager for a one-to-one at least every two weeks. Career levels and expectations are documented in the engineering and operations career ladders.

The notice period is one month for all roles, unless local law requires a longer period. Departing employees have an exit interview with someone from the People team who is not in their reporting line.