Can I Have?

Here's where you'll find information on what Code for Australia supplies to team members, along with numbers on allowances and budgets.

Most important to know, is that if you're working with Code for Australia, you'll need to provide your own laptop and mobile phone.

The government department who are hosting you will provide appropriate work space, logins and office supplies for project needs. As a rule of thumb, all tool requests should be directed to the Base Team.

Finally, if you're doing any spending on behalf of Code for Australia, make sure you're familiar with our supplier policy. Choosing suppliers wisely helps ensure our dollars are having as much impact as possible.

Tools

We use a range of tools that help us do amazing things. Below you'll find lists of what we currently have access to and use.

Want to try something on here or add something new to our practice? Get in touch with Base Team.

Swag

Of course we want you to not only feel like one of the team, but look like of the team too (if it's your thing).

There is only one rule. If it's in stock, grab it. We usually have t-shirts, tote bags and stickers aplenty.

If you can't find it, we probably need to order more. Let Base Team know! Also, got a new swag idea? Let us know about those too.

Business Cards

If you're working onsite and you want them, we'll get them for you. Just let us know.

Our business cards have individual messages on them which have been crowdsourced by the team. Feel free to add your suggestions here.

Leave

Yes please. You should take time off as you need to. In fact, we encourage you.

Communication

On the communication side, when you need / want to take time off:

  • Discuss and get the OK from your team (that includes Fellows + Government Hosts)

  • Lodge it in Xero (our accounting platform of choice)

  • Base Team will approve it and let you know. We pretty much approve anything you submit as we assume you've cleared it on your end.

We'll repeat this for clarity ... ask, don't tell, your team about taking planned leave. Any time off as annual leave should not be a surprise to your team (Fellows + Government Hosts). We also ask that you try to avoid leave in the final few weeks of your Fellowship in case the team is behind or anything comes up that needs to be completed before the Fellowship ends.

Of course if you need to take personal (sick) leave, we understand that life happens and so advance notice is not always possible. So long as you're looking after yourself, we don't need to know the details, we just need to know that you won't be in - best done in your team's channel on Slack.

Admin

On the admin side of things, you should have received a Xero login within a few days of sorting out your paperwork in your first week. If not, let us know.

To request leave head to Xero, sign in, go to Payroll > Leave > Request Leave.

If you're taking time off for something fun, it'll go under either "Annual Leave" or "Unpaid Leave" depending on how much leave you have left. Please also tell us all about your adventure plans and share some photos with the team. We love following and supporting your adventures!

If it's because you're not feeling well (including mental health days) or you need to look after someone else or some other important business, it’s called “Personal Leave” in Xero. We trust that you are the best judge of whether you’re well or not.

How Much Leave Do I Get?

All of the details can be found in your offer letter and more broadly in our Leave Policy below, but for the sake of transparency, here is how it usually works.

If you are working with us as a Fellow on a six month project, two weeks of paid leave are included in your agreement with us and will need to be taken within the duration of the Fellowship because Fellowships do not accrue annual leave. Five days of paid sick leave are also included in your agreement and will need to be taken within the duration of the Fellowship. You are entitled to take all public holidays in your state or territory without loss of pay. However, if you are required to work on a public holiday you will be granted the equivalent time off or pay as agreed with us.

For additional time off, we empower each employee to take time off as needed, when meeting the goals of their job. We strive to, and usually, always approve requests for time off.

If you're joining as part of the Base Team, we have an unlimited paid leave policy - again, so long as you are meeting the goals of your job. On the admin side, because this is a bit of a headache in terms of leave liability and handling entitlements upon wrapping up with Code for Australia, Base Team members book in “Annual Leave” and when that runs out use “Base Team Leave” in Xero. Unlike Fellows, Base Team members are paid out any "Annual Leave" accrued when they wrap up with Code for Australia, but not "Base Team Leave".

Money for Things

You sure can. Here's how our Team Allowances work on Fellowship projects.

$600 per team of three for:

  • tools

  • books

  • licences

  • hosting fees

  • user research costs

  • anything on a project delivery front that we can’t get for free for you

This is a pool of funds that you as a team decide how to use it, to the best advantage of the project you are working on.

$600 per team of three (or $400 per team of two) for:

  • professional development i.e. external courses or conferences

  • things you may need individually or as a team

This is a pool of funds that you as a team decide how to use it, to the best advantage of the project you are working on. This could be attending a course or purchasing reference material or something we can’t get for free.

If we're lucky enough to have you on the team during your birthday, there is also an allowance of $50 to spend on cake or any other celebratory food to share with your team. This can be used on any day in the week of your birthday - because we encourage you to take your birthday off. We can organise the cake / cookies / donuts for you if you like, just let the Base Team know your favourite thing.

If you're part of the Base Team, your professional development allowance is $2,000 per year which can be spent on anything that helps you do your work better (whether that's a conference, books, or an online or in-person course).

We also support Base Team members in their higher-education endeavours. If a course you want to participate in is above this $2,000 threshold, have a chat with the team. We review everything on a case by case basis.

Money for Travelling

Fellowship Travel

This is when you travel for the purpose of user research or meetings directly related to the work you're doing on a Fellowship with the Government Partner

All project related travel should be organised and paid for by the Government Partner, in line with their travel policy. If you are met with resistance from your Government Host, reach out to the Base Team.

Code for Australia Travel

This is when you travel to connect with the the Code for Australia team or to attend a meeting or a conferences where you'll be representing Code for Australia

Code for Australia is a lean operation and we are able to run a tight ship by taking a conservative approach to expenditure. We also value your time and don't want to make unreasonable demands on each other when it comes to time away from home/life/friends/family. Lastly, we value the environment and want to minimise our impact on our planet by only travelling when it is necessary (see our Environmental Care Policy for details).

We have a domestic flight budget of up to $300 return. Wherever possible, plan your time away as a day-trip. This means organising meetings in the destination city between 10am-4pm to allow enough time to get there and home and for you to not burn out.

Book the cheapest economy fare, up to $300 return. This means planning ahead so that you can find well priced fares.

To maximise time away:

  • aim to be at your final destination e.g Code for Australia office or conference location no later than 10am on your first day

  • aim to start your return journey no earlier than 4pm on your final day

  • if there are others making the same trip, co-ordinate your travel so that you're on the same flights - this will help us reduce the cost of rides to/from airports

  • the expectation is that if Code for Australia is covering your travel expenses, you'll be working in the destination city

We have a ground transport budget of up to $150 per away trip. If there are others making the same trip, it helps to co-ordinate your travel so that you're on the same flights and can travel to/from the airport together.

You can use whatever transport you want to get to/from the airport (uber / cabs / bus / train / unicycle) so long as you can be issued a tax invoice.

For example Sydney to Melbourne using the cheapest options would be ~$90 ($20 Airport Link to airport + $20 SkyBus to Melbourne City + $10 MYKI daily for trams/trains in Melbourne + $20 SkyBus + $20 Airport Link home).

The above example allows for cabs/ride sharing on any of these legs, so long as the total stays within $150.

We have an accommodation budget of up to $120 per night. You can stay in whatever style of accommodation you like (airbnb / hotel / motel / stable) so long as you can be issued a tax invoice, up to $120 per night.

Choose to stay within easy walking or public transport distance of your destination, to avoid being reliant on cabs/ride sharing to get around.

If there are others making the same trip, co-ordinate your travel so that you're staying at the same place or in the same vicinity so that you can can travel to/from the airport and other locations in the destination city together - this will help us reduce the cost of travel.

You are also welcome to stay with family and friends whilst travelling - an option often taken by the Base Team. Please let the Base Team know, so that if anything happens whilst you're away, they know where to find you. If you choose to do this, you can spend up to $80/day in ground transport to get around because you're probably staying a little further away from the action with this option.

We have a budget of up to $70 per day for meals for Base Team members while travelling for work. As a guide, this works out to $20 for breakfast, $20 for lunch, and $30 for dinner. You can choose to eat wherever you want so long as you can be issued a tax invoice for the meal.

To help us measure our greenhouse gas emissions, when you have booked your travel, please fill out the details of your arrangements in the appropriate spreadsheet here.

Discounts on Workshops

We're big on professional development. Luckily we have some amazing partners who are big on us too.

General Assembly run some pretty nifty courses, classes and workshops. As well as running free lunchtime classes regularly, they've given us a pretty solid discount in the past for their classes and workshops! Just let the Base Team know you're interested and we can sort it out for you.

If we aren't able to get you a discount on a workshop or class, you're still welcome to attend them using your Team Allowance (above).

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