Offboarding

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.

Tim and James are responsible for making any final decision to let someone go.

We use the following general process for managing people whose performance isn't up to the right standard. We modify this slightly depending on the specific nature of the role and how long they have been at PostHog, so the process isn't identical in every case:

Typically, a manager or member of the exec team will raise that a team member isn't meeting our performance expectations. They discuss what the issues are and a plan to improve. The relevant exec team member follows up with the person's manager.
The person's manager has a meeting with the team member to let them know explicitly that their performance is not meeting expectations, and that if it continues then they will not be able to continue at PostHog. This meeting may include a member of the exec team, depending on role.
- If the person is a manager, we usually collect feedback from their team beforehand.
We outline to the team member exactly what good performance looks like. We collaborate with them to come up with a plan (e.g. specific things to ship), and a timeline for improvement. Usually this is a few weeks for someone new to PostHog, but may be longer if the person has been at PostHog for a while. We schedule a time for a follow up conversation at the end of this period.
- If the person doesn't accept the feedback at the time and/or we don't feel like there is a realistic path to them improving, we may follow up to let them go sooner than this.
At the follow up meeting, we either confirm that performance has improved and they are on the right track, or that we have decided to let them go right away.

In cases where a team member's role can no longer be justified, we usually make a decision as an exec team and then let the team member know straight away - unfortunately it is not feasible to let someone know that we are thinking of getting rid of their role.

We will usually ask the team member to stop working immediately. If they have been with us for at least 3 months, they will be paid 4 months of salary as severance. Otherwise, they 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 (optional)

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, they will be paid up until their last day. We will look at the amount of holiday taken in the last 12 months and will pay any "unused" vacation pay assuming they 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, they will receive 4 months of pay, provided they have been at PostHog for at least 3 months. If they have been with PostHog for less time, they will receive 1 month of pay.
If the offboarding is involuntary and for gross misconduct or breach of contract, they 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.

If a team member has been allocated share options, we will confirm how many have vested and the process by which they 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 they have been terminated due to misconduct or negligence.