Staff Terms and Policies


Logo

STAFF TERMS AND POLICIES


This agreement is made and effective this (MM/DD/YY),

BETWEEN: (the "Staff"), with an address at:



AND: Rank Above Others, Inc (the "Employer"), a corporation organized and existing under the laws of Texas, with its head office located at:

500 N Shoreline Blvd
Suite 706
Corpus Christi, TX 78401

INTRODUCTION

Thanks for joining our team at RankAboveOthers.com. We’re a team of professionals all over the world, helping agencies and clients grow their business through web design, development, marketing, data management and client management. Our goal is to have a strong unity amongst one another and build a strong foundation for our future.

There are a few things we need to clear up before getting started. Your pay rate depends significantly on what you bring to the table. It’s not all about how long you’ve been doing something, but by how well you do something, how well you communicate and accomplish things in a timely manner and how dedicated you are to our success. These things matter more than tenure or experience.

You can be the best web designer or customer representative or sales rep, but if you don’t show up for work on time or don’t show up at all without letting us know, what good are you to the team? We all need to do our part and do our best to support one another. Only through teamwork can we accomplish great feats.

Your pay rate may be adjusted to be lower than you might want, but it is necessary, during the training period. It is completely normal and everyone before you and alongside you is going through the same thing. Once you are through the training period and on to the supervised probation phase, you’ll be on a higher hourly rate. From there, the sky's the limit and your efforts and productivity will control how much you’ll make, because the more your contribution helps us make money as a company, the more you’ll earn. 

EXPECTATIONS 

Our expectations are simple. Be on time and available during your shift. Put away all distractions and leave personal agendas for your personal time. Only work on tasks for Rank Above Others when you are logging time for us. Be honest and forthcoming, courteous and respectful to other staff members, as well as clients or agencies you have communication with.

We expect you to be honest and admit if you really don’t know what you are doing. Most often, if you don’t, we will train you, so that you know how. If it is a skill requirement and you lack that knowledge, it may be up to you to learn more in your own time. If you cannot accomplish it, we need to know, so that someone else may be assigned and keeps the project moving. 

It is better to be up front and tell us you are unable or incapable of doing a task or project, than taking it on and failing. You can always learn more, but there is no coming back from acting like you know how to do something when you don’t. It wastes our time and money and makes clients unhappy. Being honest is always the best way to go.

TRAINING 

Once you are part of our team, you’ll be given access to different and specific sites, programs and files related to your job title. Be sure to go over them thoroughly to understand what is required of you. Be sure to log your training time. Instructions on how to do that are detailed in the “Guide To Designing A New Website” PDF. 

It is imperative that you read and retain all the information provided to you. We need you to be self-sufficient, self-motivated and self-reliant. We don’t expect you to know everything overnight, but like when you went to school, we expect you to study the information in your free time also, so that you can become a more proficient professional. 

Asking questions is welcomed here. We want you to fully understand what is needed here. There’s a difference between “needing further explanation on things” and “not reading” or “remembering” what you read. We are here to help you along the way and explain things if needed, but if there are things you should know from your readings, we WILL call you out on it. So read everything. Learn, learn, learn and apply with passion.

COMMUNICATION and BREAKS 

Whether you plan on being away for a day or a few weeks for personal matters, we just need to know. If there is an emergency, you can still send a text or make a call to your manager, or even email us that you are unable to come in for work when you were expected to be. If you needed to be away for 6 months and then come back for work, we could even possibly accept that. We just need to know. It’s just common courtesy and helps keep the team moving, while you are away. 

If you need to step away for a break/lunch/meal or whatever reason, make sure you are logged out of the tracker and you announce it in the Log group for your shift before you go. Because if you are logging time, but do not respond promptly, we have every right to believe you are not doing what you are supposed to do and if occurred often, it may result in removal from our company.

If you do not respond within 24 hours on days you are expected to be on, we will start passing projects on to others. After 3 days, we will assume you no longer work with us and your account and all other access will be removed. Intermittent internet connection and power losses happen; we understand it is frustrating for you, as much as it is for us. Such interruptions are pardoned, as long as you let us know as soon as you are back, so that we may make corrections to the time log as necessary. Consistent issues with the internet or power, to the point where we are no longer able to rely on you, will end with your termination from the company.

If you wish to celebrate a holiday or birthday or religious event and want to take leave, please feel free to do so,  always ask for approval first. 48 hours in advance would be great, but at least give us 24 hours notice, so we may make arrangements with projects you are assigned to. 

ACCEPTING PROJECTS 

You will be given access to the RAO Project Management, but you SHOULD NOT accept any projects, until given permission to do so. Management teams, like customer support, technical support, project managers, QA and corporate managers, do not have to worry about accepting a project. All other member titles (like designers, coders, marketers) will need to hold back on accepting projects. 

Our system automatically notifies you of new projects, but until you have received enough training and experience talking to clients and understanding how things are run in our network, you do not accept a project. Instead, we will assign the project to you when available. 

CONFIDENTIALITY

This is an outsourcing agency. By taking on your position in this company and working in ANY projects you’ve been assigned to or have access to, you must uphold the client’s privacy and confidentiality within the project. Any image, content, contact, file and data of any kind remains within the project and only applied to areas the client or agency has requested. 

You cannot and will not claim the website designed, program developed and marketing service as part of your own portfolio. That client and project belongs to the agency that paid for the project, not you or Rank Above Others. As an outsourcing firm, we claim no glory or ownership of the services rendered. We are acting and servicing on behalf of the agency, so keep that in mind. 

You do not contact or communicate with the agencies or their clients in any method outside of the project management portal called the RAO Project Management. That means no skype, no emails, no instant chats and no phone calls, unless you are part of upper management, conducting screening calls for a project or following up regarding a project.

GETTING PAID 

Payment periods end on the 15th and last day of each month. That means payment for the 15th includes time logged from day 1-15. Payment for the last day of month is time logged from 16th-last day of month. Time tracking log review, verification and payment processing can take up to 7-10 business days. That means sending out payments can take up to 7 to 10 business days, after the pay period ends. If the payment processing day is on a weekend or holiday, it can be processed on the next business day (I.E. Monday). Final payment processing (after resignation or termination) can take up to 14 days after the payment period ends.

Keep in mind, that if you start working for us at any date that does not coincide with our payout schedule, your first payment will be pushed back to the next pay period. For example, if you start working for us on Jan 7, you will not be up for payment on Jan 15, as that does not give you enough time to prove to us that you are learning and being able to do the job. You would then be pushed back to Feb 1 payment period, where you would then be paid for qualified time logged from the day you started through Feb 1. If you have questions about your specific payment period, please ask before agreeing to these terms.

Payment will be made primarily via PayPal. Be sure to update your profile options in the RAO Project Management, regarding your PayPal email. No personal payments will be made through PayPal. 

You MUST track your hours using the HubStaff software, in order to get paid. If you cannot use HubStaff, you will not be able to continue working. No time logged means no payment; simple as that. Any hours logged without screenshots will be deducted, unless approved by the admin or manager. If screenshots are duplicates due to inactivity or have significantly low activity levels, that time logged will be deducted. Excessive time spent on given tasks will be deducted. Do not spend 30 minutes to write up a 4-lined response. If screenshots are not work related (like personal time on Facebook or any other site) time logged will be deducted and you will be given a warning or possible termination for violation of our terms.  

RATE TRANSITIONS

As stated, when you first start out here, you will be at a Training rate. Transitioning from Training to Probation rate and Probation rate to Actual rate is determined by your title, how many days you have worked, how many hours you have logged, how many deductions you have had, and a review of your performance as a whole. When upper management agrees you are ready to move up to the next pay rate, we will let you know. 

We cannot give exact numbers of how many days you need to be with the company, before moving up to the next pay rate. It is very unique to each staff member. Some people move to Probation rate as quickly as a few days, others take a couple of months. There’s a lot that this depends on. Designers and developers usually don’t need as much training as customer support do, but they also have more to show us during their probation time. Just know that we are aware and we are reviewing and when we feel like you should move up, you will be notified. 

TERMINATION

Do not log hours that you are not actually working on a project. Do not work more slowly than you are capable of working, just to add more time to the log. This will not get you paid more. This will get you fired. Be honest with your time and ability. The more you get done PROPERLY in a shorter period of time is actually the key to earning more. If you use software to add more time to your tracker, you will be terminated, without pay. 

We want to pay you well, but only if you are worth it. We do not want to pay to train you, only for you to quit or be terminated. It’s a waste of our time and resources. It’s not fair to us and it’s not fair to our team. If you are fired or quit and did not complete your training, you will be paid at half of your training rate. If you are terminated or quit during probation, it means you did not learn from your training. You will receive pay at half of your training rate for any qualified training hours logged. You would still be paid full probation rate for your qualified probation time. If you log less than 5 hours of legitimate time before quitting or being fired, you will forfeit your pay.

And when you are logging time while working on a project, make sure you’re not working on an outside project also. We’ve seen people take on a project of ours and then work for someone else while logging hours on our projects. That is reason for IMMEDIATE removal, without compensation. 

Even worse, do your own work. Do not EVER, EVER let us find out that you took on a job, only to pass it on to someone else to do. If we hired you based on your skills and experience, we hired YOU, not some other guy that is working in behalf of you and you’ll “supervise” him. No, it doesn’t work like that here. If we hired YOU, we expect YOU to be the one doing the work. If you know someone you’d like to refer to us, then we can interview them and hire them for other projects instead. 

We’re not in search for “workers,” we’re in search for “professionals.” We want people who we can rely on when we need things done and done right. What they get in compensation for their ability to do more work faster and better than anyone else is beyond their hourly rate. These are the people that get paid well, because the hourly rate no longer matters.

If you quit or are terminated, you will wait up to 2 weeks after the end of the upcoming pay period to receive your last payment. We do not discriminate, but we have authority to terminate your position in our company without warning.

PERFORMANCE FAILURE

Just like any other freelancing job, if you are assigned to a project to complete a task and you are incapable of doing so, you will NOT be paid. If you have been tasked to do something, but it was so poorly done that it has to be replaced by someone else, you will not be paid. At best, you will get partial payment, depending on the time spent. 

Reason for this is we are also hired by a client or agency to do a job. If we cannot deliver, we do not get paid. If we cannot be paid due to your failure, you will not be paid either. If you are a direct cause to a failed project or for us to lose the client/agency, you will not be paid.

By completing your registration and working on a project in the RAO Project Management, you agree to all terms and policies here. The moment you track a single minute using the HubStaff software, you are agreeing to all terms and policies outlined in this document with or without a signed document. 

The terms and policies in this document may change at any time without notification, but we strive to be transparent and open with our staff. We will notify you of any significant changes to our terms, but grammatical errors and punctuations or slight changes will be made, without notification.

 

STAFF NAME EMPLOYER

 

Leave this empty:

Signature arrow sign here

Signed by Van Lam
Signed On: February 6, 2024


Signature Certificate
Document name: Staff Terms and Policies
lock iconUnique Document ID: 40e15c3190fb5aa468366bc575a9746c456ff1a3
Timestamp Audit
February 10, 2022 12:57 pm CDTStaff Terms and Policies Uploaded by Van Lam - kevin@rankaboveothers.com IP 210.23.160.120