Remote office policy

Policy brief & purpose

This policy has the objective of clarifying the eligibility, conditions, and requirements for employees that want to work from home on certain days.

Scope

Our employees are allowed to work remotely from home only if their job duties permit it and upon additional agreement with the employer. You are not eligible to work remotely if you need to be in direct physical contact with other employees or team members. Therefore, the employer is entitled due to this fact and considering the specifics and the needs of the working process in the Company and in particular those related to your work to deny giving consent for some employees to work remotely from home. The employees working in shifts are not eligible for this policy.

Policy Elements

• Employees can take days to work remotely during the year only upon approval by the manager at BambooHR.

Remote Office is a company benefit that will give you a better work/life balance. Remote Office needs to be done with a clear plan of what you work on that day. You must be available to communicate with your manager and team members all the time during the working hours of the Company as you are in the office. You cannot benefit from Remote Office if:

• You have to take care of your young children at home, or

• You need to be somewhere else doing something else besides work, or

• The Remote Office days are not taken in a row

• The Company has doubts that you use working time also for purposes not related to your work.

• The Company has the right to deny to give approval for certain days/cases for objective reasons:

• You are under a Corrective Action Plan (CAP).

Procedure

When employees plan Remote Office days, this procedure must be followed:

• Employees file a request through BambooHR in advance and with the description of the activities they will focus on a specific day

Management will consider the following elements:

• Is the employee eligible by the nature of their job?

• Are there any cybersecurity and data privacy concerns?

• Will collaboration with the employee’s team become difficult?

• Do employees have the necessary equipment or software installed at home?

• What are the conditions of employees’ home (noise, internet connection. etc.)?

• Their direct manager/supervisor approves or rejects the request considering all elements as mentioned above.

• Direct manager approves or rejects the request considering all elements as mentioned above.

At any time during the workday Employees need to be ready for a call with the proper equipment in a noise free environment. Test your equipment before you start your work. In case you do not have proper environment to conduct your work, you need to be in the office or take a day off.

Employees might be called in the office for meeting. Management will make sure that these are organized in a small group, with proper distance. In case you cannot attend, you need to take a day off. Chatting on Skype must be kept to a minimum as it is proven inefficient in many cases. Management is expecting from employees to schedule daily calls. These need to be scheduled properly using our calendar tool and be visible for all employees.

• Time sheets in JIRA are mandatory for all employees.

• Home office planner has to be done for every employee.

Please keep in mind that Remote office work is always under revision by management. In case management decides that you cannot work from home, you might be asked to take paid or unpaid days off. Please do not hesitate to talk to your manager regarding this information. For all issues related to the working remotely which are not explicitly regulated in this policy, the provisions of the relevant provisions of the Bulgaria Labour Code shall apply.

Policy Violation

In case the employee does not follow the Remote Office requirements, the following action will be taken:

• Disciplinary action and suspension of the benefit if a minor violation

• Corrective Action Plan (CAP): if a severe violation.