Taking care of our employees is a top priority for us. Here’s a list of TEN7 benefits we’re excited to offer. Your coverage goes into effect on your first day of employment with TEN7. Our team is located across the country, so we’ve chosen nationwide carriers that have coverage in the state in which you reside. (Hawaii is the one exception.)

Health

For health coverage, you’re welcome to participate in TEN7’s pre-tax group health insurance plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota — even if you don’t live in MN.

TEN7’s Group Health Insurance

TEN7 covers 99% of the employee’s monthly premium through our group plan. Because of a silly insurance rule, this is the highest we can cover. But, we make up the extra 1% as an addition to your paycheck. You’re welcome to cover any number of family members on the same policy, at your own expense. Premium differences are automatically deducted from your paycheck on a pre-tax basis. When selecting Group Health, you have the option to choose one of the following plans:

Health Savings Account (HSA) Options

If you choose an HSA compatible plan, you’ll also receive an account with Gusto so you are able to set up pre-tax deductions for your savings.

Non-HSA Options

Dental

TEN7 covers 100% of the employee’s monthly premium for Principal Dental Plan 19: MN. You’re welcome to cover any number of family members on the same policy, at your own expense. Premium differences are automatically deducted from your paycheck on a pre-tax basis.

Vision

TEN7 covers 100% of the employee’s monthly premium for group vision coverage on the Guardian Vision Plan through Guardian.

Life Insurance

You’ll receive $50,000 Basic Life insurance from Principal. You may purchase additional coverage at your own expense.

401(k)

Upon hire, you can opt in to our 401(k) plan that has a 4% match, and no vesting period. You can also roll over funds from other eligible accounts. When determining your 401(k) contribution amount, take into account what you’ve contributed during the calendar year so far, so you don’t go over the IRS contribution maximum.

Guideline can help you with 401(k) issues as well.

Technology

To ensure you’ve got the right equipment to do the work, TEN7 issues all new employees a leased computer that will be replaced every three years, along with a supplementary tech stipend. In addition, you’ll have access to discounts from the Apple Store through TEN7.

Computer

All new employees will be issued a MacBook Pro or Macbook Air. We also will provide one monitor if you need it. Please talk with Dani for more details and specs for your equipment. This equipment has a 3-year warranty that coincides with the lease, and you will have the option to purchase it after the 3 years for the fair market value that Apple informs us at that time.

Please note:

  • You will get next day business support and accidental damage coverage on this equipment, so if you spill something on your machine or drop it or the cat jumps on it and fries it, we will get a replacement or a repair at your location on the next business day.
  • When it’s time for a device upgrade after three years, we will verify the fair market value of your current device. At that time, you may choose to purchase the item from TEN7 for that value if you’d like, OR you can return the device to TEN7. In either case, you will receive a replacement machine.

Technology Stipend

As a distributed agency, we know how important it is to have reliable technology. We expect you to have current and working equipment so you’re able to effectively do your job.

You will have a $900 stipend available to you on your day of hire to use toward any technology or work-related services that best suit your needs. The stipend is not considered cash — it is an annual budget available to you that expires and renews at the end of each 1-year period. You’ll use your personal credit card for any item you want to purchase and submit the receipt for reimbursement via Compt within 60 days of the date on your receipt. Please note:

  • Compt submissions get approved on the 1st of each month. If you have submitted your expenses by then, they’ll show up by your last paycheck of that month.
  • You will retain ownership of any item purchased with this stipend.
  • Because this stipend is a budget rather than cash, you are not owed any remaining balance if you leave the company for any reason.

Examples of appropriate uses of the stipend:

  • Tablet, monitor or phone
  • External hard drive, keyboard, mouse, microphone, headset
  • Setting up your home office (buying furniture, etc.)
  • Internet service, cell phone service

TEN7 will cover the cost for required software and tools, such as licenses for PHPStorm, JIRA, etc as well as a professional quality headset. Please talk with Dani if you need any of these things or anything else in order to do your work for TEN7.

1Password for Families

Through TEN7’s 1Password Business account, you’ll be able to sign up for a free 1Password for Families membership for you and up to 5 family members. We encourage you to take advantage of this in the name of better security for everyone! You can redeem your free account here.

Carbon Offset

TEN7 cares about our environment. To that end, we purchase 2 Renewable Energy Certificates and 5 Water Restoration Certificates per person each quarter from [BEF] (https://store.b-e-f.org/business/). This helps contribute to carbon neutrality for us as a company.

  • Listen to our podcast episode #53 where Ivan interviews the BEF representative who manages our certificates to learn more.

TEN7 Lunches

From time to time, TEN7 may choose to buy you lunch — usually during a quarterly “All Hands…Are Welcome” meeting. When this happens, TEN7 will cover up to $25 for one person. Anything above and beyond $25 or for other people in your household is your responsibility to cover. You will get a special lunch stipend for these. Please use your personal credit card and submit the receipt for reimbursement via Compt.

Holidays

Each year, we offer the following 6 days as paid holidays to enjoy time with family and friends. If the holiday falls on a Saturday, we’ll be closed on the preceding Friday. If the holiday falls on a Sunday, we’ll be closed on the following Monday.

In addition to the 6 holidays below, TEN7 will be closed each year from Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day.

  • Martin Luther King Jr. Day
  • Memorial Day
  • Independence Day
  • Labor Day
  • Thanksgiving Day
  • Day after Thanksgiving Day

You don’t need to log holiday time off in Tempo.

Flexibility

In general, your schedule can be flexible. We expect you to keep your priorities on track and meet your billable hours requirement — as communicated by your manager — in order to take advantage of schedule flexibility. As a full-time employee, you’re required to work at least 32 hours per week, and we trust you to log your hours in any cadence that works for you.

PTO is time requested at least 2 weeks in advance for rest, travel and stepping away from your computer. Upon hire, you’ll accrue paid time off at a rate of ~0.29 days per week worked, which is equivalent to 15 days annually. Each year on your date of hire anniversary, you’ll accrue one additional day per year until you max out at 25 days.

  • You may use PTO for vacation, personal days and sick days.
  • PTO requests should be in increments of 3.2 hours, or 1/2 day. If you need to take off less than 1/2 a day, there’s no need to request that time as PTO. We trust that you’ll make up the time later in the week. Although you accrue PTO hours throughout the year, it is not meant to be requested on an hourly basis, but rather on a daily or half-daily basis.
  • If you request time off on a particular day and you end up working for part of that day (ex. you request 6.4 hours off on a Monday but for whatever reason you work for 2 hours that day), please feel free to take off a couple hours early later in the week to make sure you recoup your PTO, as it can’t be added back to your total accrual after the fact.
  • If you need more paid time off than you’ve earned, it’s okay for you to take a few days in advance of earning them, as long as it’s approved beforehand.
  • Any PTO you have remaining at the end of the year will roll over to the following year and will continue to accrue only until you’ve reached your avaialable maximum. As an example, let’s say you have 15 days of available PTO per year. If, at the end of X year, you have 5 days remaining, those 5 days will roll over to the following year and will continue to accrue until you’ve accrued 15 total days for that year (your maximum).

In addition to your PTO days, you have two paid days off annually to use for professional development. You can find additional details about this in the Professional Development section of this handbook.

Personal Wellness Time

In addition to the PTO you accrue, you may also request Personal Wellness days throughout the year. We trust you to request these as you need them for anything health-related: doctors appointments, illness, mental health and rest.

Mental Wellness Stipend

In addition to time off for Personal Wellness, you’ll receive a $100 annual stipend to use toward a mental wellness app of your choice. Examples include: Headspace, Calm or BetterHelp Therapy.

The stipend is not considered cash — it is an annual budget available to you that expires and renews at the end of each 1-year period. You’ll use your personal credit card for any item you want to purchase and submit the receipt for reimbursement via Compt within 60 days of the date on your receipt. Please note:

  • Compt submissions get approved on the 1st of each month. If you have submitted your expenses by then, they’ll show up by your last paycheck of that month.
  • Because this stipend is a budget rather than cash, you are not owed any remaining balance if you leave the company for any reason.

Personal Leave of Absence

If you need time off in addition to Paid Time Off and Personal Wellness time, and you’ve been employed with TEN7 for at least 12 months, you can request an unpaid personal leave of absence for up to a maximum of 13 weeks. Requests for unpaid personal leave must be made in writing to the CEO and the Director of Operations. You should indicate the reason and the length of leave you’re requesting, including the dates you will be away. Your request will be reviewed with the following factors in mind:

  • The purpose of your leave
  • The length of time you plan to be away, including the dates of your planned absence
  • The effect your leave will have on the ability of your department to fulfill its responsibilities
  • The quality of your performance before the request is made

We understand that sometimes a leave of absence is unavoidable. TEN7 will make every effort to keep your position open for you when you return, but cannot guarantee that the same position will be available at the same salary when you return. If your previous position is no longer available, your leave status will be changed to a voluntary resignation. Future reemployment would be as a new hire.

Please note:

  • An unpaid personal leave of absence is limited to one per year and must be approved by the CEO.
  • During your leave, you’re technically not employed with TEN7. For legal reasons we will disable all of your TEN7 accounts, such as Slack, Email, 1Password and Jira.
  • Your health, dental, vision, short-term disability and life insurance will remain active.
  • Any stipend amounts will be reduced proportionally according to the length of time you were absent.
  • Accepting employment elsewhere during your leave of absence will result in termination of employment with TEN7.
  • If you don’t return to work on the scheduled date, you’ll be considered to have voluntarily resigned from the company.

Vaccinations

When it’s time to get vaccinated — for COVID, the flu, or MMR — please take the time you need to do so. There’s no need to request this time off in Gusto as long as you won’t be away for more than 2 hours. Please make sure your time is blocked off on your calendar and then log it in Tempo under INT-35 Time Off: Misc.

TEN7 will pay for your transportation costs to and from getting your vaccination: bus, Uber, train, or miles on a car. Please submit your transportation costs/mileage to: [email protected], and we’ll reimburse you $0.725/mile.

Voting

During election years — mid-terms and general election — please take the time you need to vote. There’s no need to request this time off in Gusto as long as you won’t be away for more than 2 hours. Please make sure your time is blocked off on your calendar and then log it in Tempo under INT-32 Time Off: Misc.

TEN7 will pay for your transportation costs to and from getting your voting place: bus, Uber, train, or miles on a car. Please submit your transportation costs/mileage to: [email protected], and we’ll reimburse you based on the [IRS Standard Business Mileage Rate] (https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/standard-mileage-rates) for the current year.

Significant Life Event Leave

In addition to the PTO and individual state policies documented in this handbook, as someone experiencing a significant life event, such as welcoming a new child into your family or tending to a prolonged medical issue of you or a family member, it’s important that you have time away from work — whether it’s for taking care of yourself, your family, or someone you love. That’s why anyone who has worked at TEN7 for 90 days may take up to four weeks paid life-event leave (“Life Event Leave”). How you schedule the Life Event Leave around the care is up to you. You may also use accumulated PTO for additional paid time off, up to 12 weeks in total, in accordance with state and federal laws, though additional leave beyond accrued PTO may not be paid. If you’re eligible for paid leave through your state, you will use your state’s benefit, and TEN7 will supplement the first 4 weeks of your leave to ensure you receive 100% of your salary during that time.

Current paid state benefits that apply to TEN7 employees include: Oregon’s Paid Family and Medical Leave - effective 1/1/2025. Minnesota’s Paid Family and Medical Leave - effective 1/1/2026.

Requests for Life Event Leave must be made in writing to the CEO and the Director of Operations. You should indicate the length of leave you’re requesting (in 8h increments), including the dates you plan to be away. For health-related leaves, a doctor’s note or any other relevant info might be required. For things like family care or loss, we’re pretty flexible.

Some examples of qualifying Life Event Leave situations include (but are not limited to):

  • Personal Health: If you need time off to recover from a major illness, surgery or injury.
  • Family Care: If you need to care for a loved one (like a partner, child, parent, or close family member) who’s dealing with a major health issue.
  • Grief or Loss: If you’ve lost a partner, parent, guardian or child.
  • Pregnancy or Adoption: If you’re welcoming a new child into your life, whether through birth or adoption.
  • Child Foster Care: If you’ll be fostering a child/children.

Please note:

  • All examples above are only examples and not an exhaustive list of how this benefit can be used. If you feel you have a signficant life event that’s not listed above, please talk with us.
  • This benefit can only be used once in a 12-month period.
  • TEN7 will only supplement 4 weeks of state benefit pay once in a 12-month period.
  • All of your benefits will remain active during your leave.
  • Provided you return to work within 12 weeks of when your leave started, you’ll have your same or similar position with equal pay and seniority when you return.

Bereavement

In the unfortunate event that you experience the loss of a family member or friend, TEN7 will pay for up to three days of leave. Please make sure to request the time off in Gusto and then log it in Tempo under INT-5 Time Off: Bereavement.

Jury Duty

If you’re called to serve on a jury, you’ll receive your full pay for up to five days while you’re serving. However, if jury duty runs longer than five days, TEN7 won’t cover your pay starting on the sixth business day of jury duty. Please make sure to request the time off in Gusto and then log it in Tempo under INT-6 Time Off: Jury Duty.

Professional Development

TEN7 encourages employees to keep learning and growing professionally. You’ll receive a $250 annual stipend to use towards a conference or an educational experience of your choosing (including books). The stipend is not considered cash — it is an annual budget available to you that expires and renews at the end of each 1-year period. You’ll use your personal credit card for any item you want to purchase and submit the receipt for reimbursement via Compt within 60 days of the date on your receipt. Please note:

  • Compt submissions get approved on the 1st of each month. If you have submitted your expenses by then, they’ll show up by your last paycheck of that month.
  • Because this stipend is a budget rather than cash, you are not owed any remaining balance if you leave the company for any reason.

Examples of appropriate uses of the stipend:

  • Conference or workshop tickets
  • Travel and/or food related to any conferences you attend
  • Books or other educational materials related to your job

Conferences

If you are presenting at a conference or other event as a TEN7 representative, you can log up to 12 hours of time under issue INT-4 Growth: Admin in Tempo for the time you need to prepare for your presentation.

Planning for Time Off

When you need to take time off for any reason, communicate with your teammates to make sure nothing slips through the cracks while you’re out.

To request time off, you will log in to your Gusto account and enter the dates needed for PTO, personal wellness, vaccinations, parental leave, sabbatical, bereavement, jury duty or professional development.

Once you receive an email that your request has been approved, a calendar invite will automatically be set up for you, so everyone else can see you’ll be out.

If you need to edit or delete your PTO request, you can do that in Gusto.

Logging time off in Tempo

Log your time off using one of the “Time Off” initiatives in Tempo. There are six in total with issue IDs INT-1 thru INT-6, depending on the type of time off you’re logging.