Offboarding team members is a sensitive time. The aim of this policy is to create transparency around how this process works. This offboarding policy does not apply to regular contractors who are doing short term work for us.
Voluntary departure
In this case, the team member chooses to leave PostHog.
We ask for 30 days of notice by default (unless locally a different maximum or minimum limit applies), and for you to work during that notice period. This is so we have some time to find someone to hire and to enable a handover. Please assume by default we will expect you to work all of this period. In some rare situations, for roles such as recruitment, we may request you work only part of this period - it'd be weird to be recruit people whilst you are just about to leave.
If you are a current team member and you are thinking about resigning from PostHog, we encourage you to speak with your manager or the people team to discuss your reasons for wanting to leave. While we don't want to persuade anyone who is unhappy to stay, you may find that the best solution involves changing things here at PostHog, rather than going somewhere else.
If resignation is the only solution after you have discussed your concerns, please send an email communicating your intention to resign to your manager or the people team. We will then start a discussion around what is needed for the handover.
Involuntary departure
In this case, we are letting the team member go.
This is generally for performance reasons or because the company's needs have changed and the role can no longer be justified. If the decision is down to performance issues, we will have already communicated feedback to the individual and given them time to take the feedback on board. However, performance issues sadly can't always be resolved, which means we might ultimately need to end someone's employment.
We will usually ask you to stop working immediately. If you have been with us for at least 3 months, you will be paid 4 months of salary as severance. Otherwise, you will be paid 1 month of salary as severance.
Communicating departures
In the case of voluntary departure, we will ask the team member if they wish to share what they're up to next with the team.
In the case of involuntary departure, we will aim to be as transparent as possible about the reasons behind the departure, while respecting the individual's privacy.
Please be aware that PostHog cannot always provide context around why people are leaving when they do.
The offboarding process
For involuntary leavers, we will schedule a call. During the call, someone on the ops team needs to complete the offboarding checklist.
We will then send over an email covering the following points with the team member:
- Final pay
- Share options vested
- Company property
- Business expenses
- Personal email to the company
For voluntary leavers, the people team will schedule an Exit interview to hear more about the team member's experience working at PostHog, their reasons for leaving and to identify areas for improvement. This will usually happen in their last week.
Final pay
Final pay will be determined based on length of service and the reasons for leaving:
- If the offboarding is voluntary, you will be paid up until your last day. We will look at the amount of holiday taken in the last 12 months and will pay any "unused" vacation pay assuming you would have taken 25 days (since we offer unlimited vacation periods).
- If the offboarding is involuntary and due to performance reasons or a change in business needs, you will receive 4 months of pay, provided you have been at PostHog for at least 3 months. If you have been with PostHog for less time, you will receive 1 month of pay.
- If the offboarding is involuntary and for gross misconduct or breach of contract, you may be paid nothing and receive no notice.
We ask departing team members to sign a post-termination certificate in order to receive payments beyond their final day of work.
Please note that if there are local laws which are applicable, we will pay the greater of the above or the legally required minimum.
Share options vested
If you have been allocated share options, we will confirm how many have vested and the process by which you may wish to exercise them. We have a team-friendly post-departure exercise window of 10 years, and most team members who leave will be deemed a 'good leaver' unless you have been terminated due to misconduct or negligence.
Company property
You will be required to return any company property to us. PostHog will cover the cost of shipping this.
Business expenses
We will pay any expenses in line with our policy that are still unpaid.
Offboarding checklist
This is maintained as an Issue template in GitHub, which you can view here. The People team will create a new offboarding Issue for each leaver.