Policy Library

An employee worker contract covering details of employment, terms, benefits and other matters.

This policy outlines our wish to be an equitable employer by addressing how we can support team members to bring their whole selves in and calculating wages in a caring way.

A policy supporting us to make decisions of what grants and donations to accept and which to return or not accept.

A maternity policy that is inclusive and caring towards the people involved in starting or wishing to start a family.

Our rest policy acknowledges that due to structural inequalities in the cultural sector, not everyone experiences work in the same way. It offers up to three additional days of paid rest per year for staff members who experience inequality.

A radical approach to safeguarding that questions the definition of “vulnerable” and instead places all people we work with at the heart of the policy holistically. We propose a shared opportunity to use non-punitive procedures, ask for consent, offer a matrix to attempt to diffuse conflict or avoid involving external agencies and supporting both victim and perpetuator.

We aim to ensure anyone who becomes responsible for a child has paid time off devoted to this huge new responsibility.

An adaptable induction process focused on wellbeing and support, as well as practical, legal and technical tasks.

A policy which aims to create environments that prevent safeguarding issues from arising, and outlines how to respond to incidents if they occur. It applies to: children, adults at risk of harm, staff members, board members, and others.

This policy aims to clarify what types of bespoke work we will do (workshops or consultancy); how it will be decided (based on capacity and equity questions); and what we will charge for the work (sliding scales based on org income).

In recognition of the gravity of the climate emergency, the PTC will donate up to 6 days leave per year (pro rated depending on your working hours) to every employee to spend on direct action – e.g. attending or preparing for demonstrations or other related voluntary activity.

A handy adaptable exit process including items around support & organisational learning as well as practical, legal and technical concerns.

A policy that allows employees to take “protest leave” to participate in demonstrations or civil action related to major political issues, without it counting against their holiday or sick leave, as long as it doesn’t interfere with time-critical projects and is approved by their manager.

A wage system based on Platform’s policy, with important additions to pay adjustments for dependents (including children) and housing.

A policy challenging the ways in which discrimination against parents and carers is still the norm in most workplaces. Includes: maternity leave and pay; paternity / second parent leave & pay; shared parental leave & pay; and adoption leave & pay.

A values based policy aimed at supporting staff health and wellbeing based on years of adapting and learning to shape our practice which we have now formalised into a policy.

This policy aims to clarify who is involved in day-to-day decision making and the structures that support the team to be involved, as well as for others to get more involved.

A support and accountability system for a small non-hierarchical organisation, designed to avoid the pitfalls of annual reviews and strengthen a disability justice approach.

This policy has guidance on: travelling to a work meeting/workshop, travelling to an external training (for staff development) and commuting.

A policy that provides two ways into a role for employees, acknowledging that not all hierarchical work relationships are equitable. It also involves staff members in the process and allows current workers to have a first go at a role.

A framework for traveling for a collective covering 1) which expenses are reimbursed, for who, and how; and 2) how to count working days when traveling. It provides guidelines and suggestions regarding how to think about travelling in an activist context.

This policy is our framework when deciding to accept funding from a certain source. It lays out who we want and do not want as funders, and the due diligence process for new funders.

The structure of a flat management system, including core groups (for internal work), delivery roles (for programme work), meeting cycles and related support systems.

A policy that establishes monthly sessions for team members with external mentors. The sessions aim to provide support, facilitate realistic workplanning, and offer an external perspective on team dynamics. Annual appraisals and anti-oppression meetings are also conducted by mentors. Confidentiality is maintained with three clear exceptions.

A policy outlining that we do not have a dress code and employees decide how they dress. They are invited to dress in ways that make them feel comfortable and authentic.

In Autonomic, we make decisions collectively, while also attempting to empower autonomous action by individual workers. We designed our decision making process using decision making tools we had experienced through participation in various horizontal organisations. We hope this tool is useful to others in the struggle for a better world.

This document sets out our values, as well as what each of these means for behaviour and practice, with examples of the habits team members can adopt which would mean they are living the values.

A policy that defines a financially-healthy organisation and outlines actions to undertake if that status isn’t met at different points in time. It also includes a simple plan to increase financial reserves.

This is a sick leave policy for a small collective with limited funds. On average, for each 10 days of work, you have the right to one paid sick day. However, we have decided to pool our sick days. Pooling addresses the fact that we do not all have the same health and to alleviate the stress of having “enough sick days”.

A decision making and prioritisation processes that enables us to work efficiently in a high-trust culture within our flat structure.

In our flat structure, we have created a “Buddy system” where each team member acts as a buddy to another. This aims to ensure that we don’t lose the good bits of management, and that we all feel supported and able to hold ourselves accountable.
The buddy system is closely related to our feedback processes which are also detailed here.

Our approach to learning and development for team members, as a flat structured organisation.

An unlimited PTO policy that seeks to pre-emptively address the more common issues with such policies, including some evidence that staff are less likely to take time off in an unlimited PTO scheme.

How do we avoid replicating corporate doctrines of efficiency and productivity at all costs? This guide explores practical alternatives to individualised performance management processes.

How can we create systems of accountability without hierarchy? This guide considers options for processes that assess how we are each managing in our roles and take into account wider factors when considering why work may not be being done.

How can progressive employers meet the legal requirements of a disciplinary policy, without embedding punitive values? This guide covers how ‘disciplinary’ situations can be treated as opportunities for learning and collective improvement.

This policy aims to provide fair and financially secure wages for all workers. It is based on a flat rate plus uplifts, including: length of service, support for dependents, experience of marginalisation, and city weighting. It also contains an emergency waging system and fund, as well as a process for administering the policy.

A performance management process for a small self-managed co-op that allows for democratic overturn of panel decisions if over half of the co-op members object.

This policy includes: how decisions are made in a small team, the principles that underpin them, which decisions can be made by whom, and what steps will be taken to support more equitable involvement in decisions. It is based on consensus and mandate decision-making mechanisms.

Maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave are areas that are covered by legislation. This policy offers terms that are additional to the statutory allowance and tries to make the language more gender neutral.

A safeguarding policy for a small charity that works with adults, based on values of liberation, equity and anti-oppression and informed by Maslaha’s Radical Safeguarding workbook.

From flat pay structures to needs based pay systems – how do we live our progressive values, meet everyone’s needs and avoid replicating the systemic inequalities of the corporate world? This guide explores the tricky topic of pay.

This process provides a space for reflection and feedback: how is everyone doing, and how are we doing as a collective? It includes written self reflection and written feedback from others and an hour-long feedback meeting.

This policy lines out how we want to build equity into our recruitment processes as we realise that making recruitment a more equitable working method will allow more people from racialised backgrounds and people with disabilities to work in our organisation.

We all need breaks from work to rest and recharge, but how do we design a holiday system with flexibility and accountability? This guide covers what you need to know about holiday policies.

This peer review policy and procedure aims to support all employees to achieve and maintain their maximum (reasonable) contribution to their role at the project. It’s an opportunity for all employee members to have time to reflect on their role, to think about how their work is going and what the issues are. It’s a chance to have someone else engage with their job, listen to them and support them with anything they need help with, and to grow and develop within the role.

A membership, decision making, group structure, core values and code of conduct policy for a user-led member-ship organisation with roughly 100 members, from a wide range of backgrounds.

A template agenda for a regular group meeting which aims to offer: a deeper check-in on the experience of being in the group / space to raise issues and “have awkward chats”/ space to reflect together on our work, and our direction. This template is structured to help manage tensions and differences and to surface areas for improvement, but not to address significant conflict.

A comprehensive digital rights-based website privacy policy with detailed information about what and how site users details will be used, including by partners. Includes: user rights, text on organisational refusal to share personal data with authorities and how to have your data deleted.

A gender-neutral and trans-inclusive policy for new parents—of all kinds—taking time off work.

A policy for the situations in which a member of staff can take leave to support the care of another, with broad and detailed definitions of what constitutes care and who the policy can apply to. Also includes legal framework.

The accountability agreement is a code of behaviour that all club members agree to adhere to and embrace on joining the club… we outline suggested consequences for members who have caused harm, based on current working practices. You can use these as guidance in how to engage with a person who has caused harm, depending on what has happened. You should work to these regardless of whether this person is a member, a working volunteer, or guest.

A policy to address the medium-to-long term impacts of Long COVID (and other types of chronic illness and disability) and outlines organisational processes for supporting staff affected, in a way which is aligned with disability justice and the needs of a small staff team to continue to work in a sustainable way.

We have high expectations of how we behave towards one another, and we hold each other accountable to those expectations. This policy has two sides: the culture of care that we are proactively building, and the culture of accountability that is reactively implemented. Includes: definitions of accountability and care, 3-step process for addressing harm and intro to transformative justice principles.

This is a youth work cooperative safeguarding policy, accessible for a range of members, which avoids resorting to calling state authorities, unless the group’s safeguarding contacts are not available. Designed by an organisation with a mix of paid and voluntary youth workers, some of whom are adults and some are young people, too. Safety is supported via collective dialogue between youth workers.

A meeting template and policy description for a small workers’ cooperative to improve communication, surface and address tensions or conflicts that exist amongst the group. It’s about making space for the kinds of conversations around group needs and dynamics that are easily side-lined.

A consolidation of policies to support workers’ rights and wellbeing, for a large membership-led activist organisation/union. It includes: Sickness policy, Parental Leave, Carers and compassionate leave, Time off in lieu and overwork, Additional leave, Trade union recognition, Staff access to counselling or other support, Annual leave, Pension contribution, Staff absence planning, and Parent and carer subsidy.

What does it mean to raise a grievance? This guide covers ways to create grievance procedures that hear different perspectives while avoiding shame and blame, so that we can strengthen rather than corrode the bonds between us.

What happens if someone goes on long-term sickness absence or is frequently absent? This guide shares practical suggestions to help you develop a compassionate and supportive sickness policy guided by disability justice thinking.

An outline of how we request staff, clients and visitors to behave in our space. The purpose is to support everyone to feel comfortable and respected, especially those from marginalised communities who regularly face prejudice in broader society.