Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Set the schedule that’s most conducive to your productivity, mental health, and day-to-day happiness. Have general availability during the day for meetings and messages, including a daily standup at 11 ET, but we fully embrace flexibility if you work best on a different schedule. Note: several positions are required to work specific hours due to the nature of the role.

You don’t need to give a reason when you do so; it’s your business and you don’t need to justify it. We want you feeling refreshed and always at your best!

Avoid context-switching and remain focused by blocking out large chunks of your schedule. Practice the principles of Essentialism. Ask yourself questions like: Is this necessary? Is this the right way to do it? Is there another way to accomplish this that would yield 90% of the results for 20% of the effort?

Feel free to use tools such as Slack messaging or Loom videos to communicate asynchronously. This allows everyone to focus deeply on projects and work the schedules that make the most sense for them. We generally use Slack to communicate internally and email to communicate externally.

Between time differences and personal preferences, everyone works different hours. No need to respond to messages immediately or within a set length of time, but you should be responsive enough to facilitate same-day collaboration when it’s needed. Unless it’s expressly designated as an emergency (which rarely happens), don’t feel pressure to respond to a message outside of your standard working hours.

We are big on open and honest feedback, and promote continual communication with your manager about how well Careswitch is meeting your needs. While career moves are normal and we want to prepare you for the best possible next step whenever that comes, we’d hate for anyone to leave because they weren’t getting something that we could have provided had we known.

More often than not, a 5-minute Loom beats a 30-minute Zoom.

In general, you should have your camera turned on in meetings. However, feel free to turn it off if you need to take a minute to stretch, stand up, pace, etc. If a pet or child comes on video during a Zoom call, please introduce them rather than apologize. We want them. They are welcome.

You’re encouraged to respectfully question whether your presence is needed in a meeting, or to politely excuse yourself if you’re no longer needed or aren’t adding value.

Learning is a must, not a nice-to-have. You should view continuing education as part of your work and feel free to use working time to further your professional education.

When you find something cool or funny, send it in the chat.

Side hustles are encouraged; they’re one of the best sources of learning. It goes without saying that Careswitch needs to be your #1 professional focus.

Be kind and respectful at all times but speak your mind openly and be willing to challenge ideas from anyone.

Recognize that disagreement on an idea is a constructive way to find the best solution, not a personal attack.

Take time to thoroughly understand why something is being done a particular way before proposing that we change it. This will save time for yourself and others and help us make overall better decisions.

Beyond driving business results, you should be focused on two outcomes for your team: 1) helping your team members build their professional value, and 2) looking after your team’s day-to-day well-being.

Help your direct reports chart the course for their professional growth. Be familiar with their goals, where they want to be in a few years, and where they ultimately want to end up. Do your part to help them get there. Give them projects that will help them build those skills.

Be familiar with your team’s professional love languages, so to speak. How does each team member prefer to be recognized for a job well done? What helps them feel motivated and fulfilled in a job day-to-day?

Make sure your direct reports know that they don’t need to provide a reason when asking time off or saying that they’ll be out part of the day; it’s their business and they don’t need to justify it. Set the example for your team by taking regular time off.

If you learn that one of your direct reports is consistently having to put in 45+ hours in a week to get their work done, examine their workload, habits, role, etc., and figure out how to change it. (If they’re intense about what they’re doing and they’re voluntarily putting in 45+ hours/week but don’t need to in order to meet the expectations placed on them, that’s a different story.)

Keep continual dialog about performance and needs. Ideally, no one should ever be surprised if they have to be let go, and we should never have to be surprised if a team member takes a job elsewhere that better meets their needs.