Inspired by Valv, The Motley Fool has released an online employee handbook, one of the most memorable you’ve ever seen, so much so that it’s as much a recruiting tool as it is a set of rules.
The Fool’s handbook isn’t all new, but it was paper based in the past, and mailed (yes, mailed) to people who needed it, and updating it meant sending it off to the printer.
With help from an outside company called Stories Incorporated, The Motley Fool’s online, interactive, video-included handbook highlights both company culture as well as company policies.
Atypical policies
Those policies, however, are atypical: the vacation policy is “take what you need.” You even may be selected to go on a vacation for two weeks, without checking your smartphone for the boss’s emails 24/7.
And there’s this one:
We want and expect Fools to think for themselves, so we’re not big on micromanaging. We hope to provide you lots of leadership and very little management. We are careful to hire amazing people. Our goal is to unleash you to perform at your peak and stay out of your way. We don’t have lots of rules and policies here by design. You are an amazing adult and we trust you to carve your own path, set your own priorities, and ask for help when you need it.”