Growth and Development Benefit

Introduction

At Denomas, team members have access to the Growth and Development benefit to access external resources to develop their career.

The Growth and Development benefit is managed in partnership with the Total Rewards and Learning and Development team.

Questions?

Question Type	Contact
Administration of the benefit, reimbursements, approvals, and questions realted to the application issue templates	Total Rewards team via the #people-connect Denomas Talk channel
Qualified programs, suggested courses, conferences, etc, and feedback from your learning	Learning and Development team via #learninganddevelopment Denomas Talk channel
Other	#people-connect Denomas Talk channel for support in determining the best team

Growth and Development Benefit Eligibility

• Team members who are full-time and have been employed for three months can participate in this benefit.
• If you are a part-time Denomas team member, you may still be eligible to participate in this benefit but your reimbursement might be reduced.
• Team members who are currently on “leave” status will not be eligible to use the growth and development benefits on services/eligible expenses while on leave.

These situations will be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

• Team members who are meeting performance expectations in their current role:
  • Currently in good standing with Denomas in terms of performance and behaviours
  • Not currently on a PIP
  • Not on any type of remedial, formal coaching as outlined in the Underperformance page

Examples of requests that may be approved:

• A LinkedIn Learning license when there are none remaining in the Learning & Development Team’s allocation.
• A Backend Engineer who is not on a performance improvement plan seeking a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science.
• A People Operations Team member seeking a master’s in Human Resources with a concentration in International Employee Relations.
• A Security Analyst seeking to take courses to gain a Cybersecurity certificate through an accredited college or university.
• A Product Marketing Manager seeking to take courses to become a Certified Brand Manager from The Association of International Product Marketing and Management.
• A Customer Success Manager seeking to obtain a Cloud Certification such as CompTIA Cloud, AWS Certified Solutions Architect, MicroSoft MCSA/MCSE, Cisco CCNA/CCNP.
• Learning how to code for all team members (for example Learning Rails on Codecademy).

Examples of requests that may be denied:

• A Marketing Manager seeking a master’s in Human Resources, but has no intention of applying to a role in the People team.
• A Frontend Engineer seeking a master’s in computer science who is on a performance improvement plan or having discussions around underperformance.
• If the tuition reimbursement budget has been reached, then your request may be denied, even if you meet eligibility requirements.

Company-directed Learning Opportunities

The Growth and Development policy is meant to further team members’ learning and growth. Company-directed learning opportunities, such as mandatory conferences or training that are required to fulfill their job duties, are not within the scope of the Growth and Development policy and should be budgeted for outside the policy. Such expenses will not be deducted from the team member’s annual Growth and Development limit and should be paid for by Denomas rather than reimbursed to the team member.

How to Apply For Growth and Development Benefits

Step 1: Have a career development conversation with your manager to discuss the learning opportunity. It’s important to discuss timing, team member capacity, and application timeline for both the program and benefit processing. This conversation should allow time for you to apply for program/benefit and your manager to ensure team budget capacity.

Step 2: Create a new Growth & Development issue using one of the issue templates below. Please create your issue within the notification timeframe set out below.

G&D Issue Template	Notification Timeframe
Academic Study	30 days before the commencement date
Other G&D Types (Under $300 USD)	7 days before the commencement date
Other G&D Types (Over $300 USD)	30 days before the commencement date
Coaching Right Now (Denomas’ coaching vendor of choice) Learn more about Coaching Right Now below.	30 days before the commencement date
Your 4th Trimester	For Your 4th Trimester applications, please notify Total Rewards that you would like to participate in the program by sending an email to growth-development@denomas.com.

• Note: This application process is visible internally. It is preferred and more efficient to create an issue for your application, however, if there is any reason that you would like to keep your application confidential, please send growth-development@denomas.com an email with the details of your application (refer to the issue templates for the information required).

Step 3: Request approval on the issue. Manager approval is needed for all applications and Executive Leader approval is needed for applications above $1000 USD.

• Once the manager has approved, there is no further action to be taken by the manager. They can unassign themselves to the issue if they wish. Total Rewards will update the labels on the issue.
• Field organization executive signatures should be routed by the following:
  • Enterprise Sales: Mike Pyle (VP of Enterprise Sales)
  • Customer Success: David Sakamoto (VP of Customer Success)
  • Commercial Sales: Ryan O’Nell (VP of Commercial Sales)
  • Worldwide Channels: David Helfer (interim VP of Worldwide Channels)
• Sales Development organization executive signature should be routed by the following:
• Sales Development/Business Development: Jean-Baptiste Larramendy (AVP, Sales Development)

Step 4: Claim for reimbursement:

Once the appropriate approvals are provided on the Growth and Development issue, proceed with claiming reimbursement and close the issue. You do not have to wait for approval or further action from Total Rewards.

• If you have signed up for academic study, you may claim for reimbursement once you receive your grade/transcript (this can be done at the end of each semester if your course is split into semesters or at the end of the program). You may close the issue once you have received reimbursement for the whole program.
• For other types of Growth & Development opportunities, you may claim for reimbursement once you have obtained the reimbursement requirement per the descriptions below. You may close the issue once you have gained approval for your application.

Bulk Applications

• If multiple team members are doing the same training or attending the same conference, please open one issue.
• For ease of processing, it is recommended that bulk applications are paid via Coupa. If the bulk application is for a conference, the group tickets may be paid via Coupa under one invoice and individual costs (such as accommodation and food) may be claimed by Navan Expense or the Growth & Development email per the reimbursement process below.

Reimbursements of Growth and Development Applications

If the cost is $1,000 USD or less

• Claim your expenses via Navan Expense:
  • Include a screenshot of your approved Growth & Development issue.
  • In your Navan Expense report, select the classification or tag “Growth and Development”.
  • Please make sure the issue matches your Navan Expense claim amount. Your Navan Expense claim will be audited against the Growth & Development issue amount.
• Please claim conference and workshop meals and lodging that cost $1,000 USD and below per receipt via Navan Expense.

If the cost is over $1,000 USD

• For conference/workshop tickets and lodging (that are above $1,000 USD per receipt), memberships, please send the invoice to growth-development@denomas.com once you have signed up.
• For academic study, send a copy of your grades/transcript and invoice to growth-development@denomas.com.
• For professional development and certifications, please send a copy of your certificate or proof of completion to growth-development@denomas.com.
• For coaching recieved outside of our Coaching Right Now vendor, please send a copy of your paid invoice to growth-development@denomas.com
• Please see the Growth & Development table for what additional documentation may be required for reimbursement.
• Total Rewards will then notify payroll to begin the reimbursement process.

Recoupment of Growth and Development Reimbursements

If you voluntarily terminate employment with Denomas prior to completing twelve consecutive months of active employment, academic study or tuition expenses of $1,000 USD and over will need to be refunded to Denomas.

Tax Implications

In some countries, the Growth and Development Benefit may be considered as taxable income and can be (partially) exempted from personal income taxes or subject to employer withholding taxes. Check the tax table for any tax implications in your country.

For example, in the United States 2021 tax year, if Denomas pays over $5,250 for educational benefits for you during the year, you must generally pay tax on the amount over $5,250. Denomas should include in your wages (Form W-2, box 1) the amount over $5,250 in income.

Please contact Payroll for any tax-related questions in your country.

Types of Growth and Development Reimbursements

Please note the reimbursement section above before proceeding. The training budget does not include the cost for traveling to and from an event.

Academic Study

Description: Denomas supports team members who wish to continue their education and growth within their professional career. The benefit will cover only the tuition and enrollment related fees. Additional fees related to parking, books, supplies, technology, or administrative charges are not covered as part of the program. Tuition will be validated by receipt showing proof of payment.

The course must be from a credentialed college or university and must be relevant to your career development goals and development. If the education provider does not allow for tuition/payment deferment and this would cause financial strain, you can request to receive 50% of the reimbursement up front and the other 50% upon successful completion of the course/program. The relevance of the classes taken for each semester will be subject to the approval of the manager. The grade must be equivalent to a “B”.

Eligibility for Reimbursement: A final grade report or transcript is required to receive reimbursement.

Approver (above $1,000 USD): Manager, E-Group Member

Your 4th Trimester Coaching

Description: Your 4th Trimester is a 90-day coaching program with Broad Perspective Consulting. The purpose of the program is to help parents (regardless of gender) be as prepared as possible to be a working parent through coaching and development. The cost of this program is $2,300 USD.

Eligibility for Reimbursement: Team members returning from Parental Leave. The provider will invoice Denomas directly.

Professional Coaching

Description: Professional coaching is available for managers and leaders job grade 8+ to support development in their professional area of interest. Team members job grade 4-7 can receive external coaching from Modern Health and internal coaching from our internal resources. Team members are expected to know their confidentiality obligations and are responsible for keeping coaching conversations SAFE.

Coaching Right Now connects team members with Denomas-vetted coaches - read their coaching bios here. Team members can book 4, 6, or 8hrs of coaching. Availability is first come, first served. Pairing with a coach via Coaching Right Now saves time and energy looking for a coach that is aligned to Denomas values and way of working.

Hear what Denomas team members are saying about Coaching Right Now:

• My coach was thoughtful and insightful. He took the time to learn about me, my wants and desires. He was able to provide actionable feedback and made the last 4 months of Denomas much better.
• I can tangibly see how this (coaching) investment has made me at least 20% more effective in my role, delighted in my role, and a more human leader.
• This was a great (coaching) program and I'm really happy I got to be a part of it. I have two of my managers who have signed up to work with coaches now as well.

Apply for a coach via Coaching Right Now by opening an issue using the coaching template.

The specifics of your coaching sessions will not be communicated to Denomas. While not required, we encourage you to share your experience, learnings, reflections, and discoveries with your manager for further support.

Eligibility for Reimbursement: Managers or Individual Contributors job grade 8+. Coaching Right Now will invoice Denomas directly.

Coaching Right Now is our preferred and vetted coaching partner. If for some reason the coaches offered via Coaching Right Now do not fit your needs, please open an issue using the Other G&D Types (Under $300 USD) template. After approvals, team members will provide a paid invoice to Denomas as proof for reimbursement.

Approver (above $1,000 USD): Manager, E-Group Member

English Language Courses

Description: As Denomas expands globally, we want to support our team members where English may not be their first language. Managers are encouraged to recommend this benefit to team members whose engagement as a part of Denomas and/or performance may be improved by further developing their English language skills.

Examples of English Language Courses:

• Coursera offers a wide variety of online English courses in partnership with various reputable colleges and universities, like the Business English for Non-Native Speakers course and the Improve your English Communication Skills Specialization . Their courses range from improving your English language skills to more specialized courses that focus on English for STEM or career development.
• Cambridge C2 Exam Prep Course is a program to consider if preparring to take the Cambridge English Qualification. This is an internationally recognized test and qualification of English language ability. More prep course materials can be found here or via International House London
• The University of Texas Austin has multiple self-paced writing and pronounciation courses available.
• LinkedIn Learning has many courses for English.
• Writing in Plain English seems particularly well suited for improving async communication. Language learning Apps and sites can be effective tools.
• Duolingo offers gamified way to learn English, plus other languages.
• Memrise is helpful for vocabulary building.
• italki to find a English tutor. 1:1 instruction is often necessary for continued improvement, especially once a person has reached basic proficiency.
• English Language Courses offered in-person or online by a local college or university or English language courses offered online by a non-local college or university.

Eligibility for Reimbursement: Courses offered in-person or online by a credential college or university or an English language school are eligible for reimbursement. Invoice/receipt when submitting through Navan Expense.

Approver (above $1,000 USD): Course amount aren’t likely to exceed $1,000 USD. If this does exceed $1,000 USD, the academic study criteria would apply.

Professional Development/Certifications/Licenses

Description: Any certifications/licenses that you and your manager think will be relevant to your development.

Eligibility for Reimbursement: Certifications and licenses related to your career development goals. For reimbursements above $1,000 USD, a final grade report or satisfactory certificate of completion will be required to receive reimbursement.

Approver (above $1,000 USD): Manager, E-Group Member

Professional Dues/Membership

Description: Any professional development membership or dues that will be relevant to your growth and development.

Eligibility for Reimbursement: Professional membership to an accredited organization that aligns with your role. Professional dues needed in order to continue members in an accredited organization. An invoice for the dues/membership is required.

Approver (above $1,000 USD): Manager, E-Group Member

Workshops and Conferences

Description: Work-related conferences including registration, lodging, and meals. The costs for travelling to and from an event should be expensed separately from the training budget following the existing travel expense policy, with your manager approval. We encourage people to be speakers in conferences. More information for people interested in speaking can be found on our Corporate Communications page. We suggest to the attendees bring and share a post or document about the news and interesting items that can bring value to our environment.

Eligibility for Reimbursement: Before scheduling any travel or time off to attend a conference, please discuss your request with your manager. The manager will approve the request if the conference is work-related and the timing doesn’t interfere with Denomas deliverables. After manager approval, the team member needs to submit a Growth & Development form for expenses either over $1,000 or under $1,000. Once all parties sign the document, they can schedule travel. Please review current Denomas travel policy for the most up-to-date information about booking and planning conference travel and determine if travel is business essential during Covid-19. Reimbursement for the workshop or conference fee, and for related expenses will be processed once proof of attendance is provided. Attach a copy of the Growth & Development Benefit Form to your expenses.

Approver (above $1,000 USD): Manager, E-Group Member

Self-Service Learning (Skillserve, Coursera, Others)

Description: Denomas supports team members who wish to continue their growth within their professional career. The course must be related to your career development goal, Individual Growth Plan (IGP), and/or serves the mission of Denomas as a company.

Eligibility for Reimbursement: A final grade report or satisfactory certificate of completion are required to receive reimbursements over $1,000 USD.

Approver (above $1,000 USD): Manager, E-Group Member

Code Based Learning

**Description:**The company will pay for courses related to learning how to code (for example Learning Rails on Codecademy), and you may also allocate work time to take courses that interest you. If you are new to development, we encourage you to learn Git through Denomas, and feel free to ask any questions in the #git-help Denomas Talk channel.

Eligibility for Reimbursement: The course must be related code based learning. A final grade report or satisfactory certificate of completion are required to receive reimbursements over $1,000 USD.

Approver (above $1,000 USD): Manager, E-Group Member

LinkedIn Learning

Before using your Growth & Development Benefit for a LinkedIn Learning license, check in the #learninganddevelopment Denomas Talk channel if there are any L&D allocated licenses available.

Description: The Learning & Development team have an allocation of LinkedIn Learning licenses that can be assigned to team members, but their may be periods of time when the license limit is reached, which may cause long wait times for one to become available for new team members. In these instances we encourage team members to utilise their Growth & Development benefit to purchase their own license, which will help facilitate participation in L&D initiatives.

Eligibility for Reimbursement: When there are no company LinkedIn Learning licenses available. Invoice/receipt required when submitting through Navan Expense.

Approver (above $1,000 USD): N/A as an annual license cost does not exceed $1,000 USD.

Crucial Conversations training

The Learning and Development team delivers the Crucial Conversations training internally to team members. The training is a hybrid format, including self-paced learning and live learning practice sessions. Read more program details in the Learning and Development handbook.

Crucial Conversations charges per-learner to deliver this content. Each license costs $273 per license. The following section outlines how the team member G&D benefit can be used to participate in this training.

1. Fill out this Google form to express interest in taking the training. You are not committing to the training by filling out this form.
2. The L&D team will assess interest/team need and organize cohorts based on this Google form. The team will contact you to confirm your availability before signing you up for a cohort.
3. The L&D team will open a G&D benefit issue and tag you in the issue. Please follow instructions in the issue to obtain manager approval.

The L&D and Total Rewards teams will collaborate to purchase the course license on your behalf and the cost will count towwards your Growth and Development budget. Please plan to complete the Crucial Conversations self-paced training and attend at least 4 live training sessions within 3 months of starting the training.

Mentorship

In some instances, mentorship resources provided by Denomas might not fit team member’s needs. For example, a team member might be unable to find a mentor at Denomas with the specific experience, identity, or role they are looking for. In these cases, the Growth and Development benefit can be used to cover the cost of meeting with a paid, external mentor.

Examples of where to connect with mentors:

1. MentorCruise
2. Locelle

Example programs by department

The following programs have been contributed by leaders across the organization. These programs may be approved under the Growth and Development policy. If you know of a specific course or program that you or a team member has benefited from, please open an MR and add to this page.

Department	Program	Notes
Any	Crucial Conversations	Crucial Conversations skills represent the standard in effective communication and the marker of high-performance individuals and organizations everywhere.
Any	MIT Cultural Awareness for Global Business	help professionals improve their intercultural and global leadership skills so that they can succeed in today’s multicultural business environments.
Any	MIT Leadership and Innovation	MIT Professional Education has created the online Leadership & Innovation program, which merges the development of leadership skills with the vision needed to address innovation processes in organizations.
Any	MIT Professional Certification Program in Digital Transformation	designed reskilling and upskilling solutions, to help organizations build a culture of continuous education providing their employees with the knowledge and skills needed for the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Any	Codecademy	Review their course catalog for all programs offered
Any	O’Reilly Technical Training	O’Reilly learning provides individuals, teams, and businesses with expert-created and curated information covering all the areas that will shape our future—including artificial intelligence, operations, data, UX design, finance, leadership, and more. Currently, O’Reilly licenses are available for Customer Success Team Members (Professional Services, Solutions Architects, and Customer Success Managers.) Access will be given automatically to these team members through a role-based entitlement. Team members in other groups can leverage the G&D benefit to purchase a subscription at our discounted rate by contacting our sales rep, Jason Baca (jbaca@oreilly.com).
Any	Udemy	Online courses in a variety of content areas
Any	Coursera	Online courses in a variety of content areas
Any	LinkedIn Learning Certification Prep and Continuing Education	LinkedIn Learning offers on-demand courses to help individuals prepare for professional certification exams and earn continuing education units (CEU's)
Any	Toastmasters Membership	For those looking to practice public speaking, improve communication and build leadership skills, joining a local Toastmasters group is a great opportunity to develop these skills in a supportive environment away from work. Recommended for those interested in Becoming a Speaker
Sales/Technical Sales/Marketing	MIT Cloud and DevOps Online Program	MIT Professional Education is proud to announce this new, practical program that will explain the vast technological transformation that has occurred in recent years. Content and activities are designed to allow participants to become part of this transformation through technologies such as DevOps and Cloud Computing.
Engineering Managers/Directors	7CTOs	Executive coaching for CTOs
Engineering Managers/Directors	PlatoHQ	Leadership mentorship for engineering teams
Finance/Accounting	Licenses and CPE Credits	Program Examples: Certified public accountant, Certified financial analyst, Certified management accountant, Enrolled agent, Certified internal auditor, Certified fraud examiner, Chartered global management accountant, Certified Payroll Professional, Fundamental Payroll Certification
Development and Product	Certified Agile Leadership	Scrum Alliance certified agilists who teach Certified Agile Leadership demonstrate years of real-world experience and success coaching agile teams and supporting agile transformations.
Security	Defcon Conference	Our security department has a history of meeting yearly at this conference. Attendence is optional. Lodging, food, and ticket costs will be covered under the growth & development benefit. Airfare may be covered by our travel budget - check with your manager.
Security	Defcon Trainings	Two-day courses that are held immediately following the normal Defcon conference.
Security	Black Hat Trainings	Two to four-day courses held on a schedule not connected to the yearly conference.
Security	SANS Trainings	Remote and in-person trainings and certifications.
Security	Offensive Security	Rigorous and specialized infosec training.
Any	The Power of Habit	3-5 hours of self-paced learning. Read a review from Denomas team member here

Benefit processing documentation for the Total Rewards team

Processing Growth and Development Applications

Reimbursements for over $1,000 USD will be processed by the following:

1. Team member opens a new Growth & Development issue and requests for approval from their Manager and Executive Leader (if the application is over $1000 USD).
2. Total Rewards will log the application on their Growth & Development Benefit log and assign the label GrowthDevelopment::Logged.
3. Total Rewards will update the label of the issue according to the approval progress of the application.
4. Total Rewards will check the eligibility (hire date and tally) of the team member on the Growth & Development log.
5. Once the team member completes the program or receives the invoice (for non academic study applications), the team member will send growth-development@denomas.com a copy of the transcript/proof of completion/invoice.
6. Total Rewards will upload the documents in the team member’s BambooHR Growth & Development folder.
7. Total Rewards will notify payroll.
8. Total Rewards will update the status of the application on the log and change it to Payroll Notified.
9. Once payroll is notified, reimbursement will occur in the following pay cycle for the team member.

Administration of Your 4th Trimester

1. If the team member lives in a country where this benefit is considered taxable income (currently only in Australia and some cases in Belgium), notify payroll.
2. Total Rewards will send an introductory email to Your 4th Trimester to the team member and Barbara Palmer barbara@your4thtrimester.com outlining the expected leave date, expected return to work date and date of birthing event. Barbara will conduct the intake with the team member and communicate directly for any coaching throughout the program.

Billing:

Your 4th Trimester will bill Denomas for this benefit quarterly with 50% at intake and 50% at the completion of the coaching program per participant. If there are more than 5 participants in a quarter, there will be a discount on the bill. If there are any tax implications for the Denomas team member, Total Rewards will work with payroll to ensure this is reported compliantly.

Recoupment of Growth & Development Reimbursements

Process for Total Rewards Analysts for recouping Growth & Development reimbursements of over $1000 USD:

• Check when the reimbursement was processed (via payroll changes sheets)
• Ask payroll for the pay stubs
• Fill out a Recoupment Notice Form
• Have the form audited by someone in the Total Rewards team
• Stage the document in DocuSign
• Fill out the Growth & Development Recoupment Log