At Howdy we know that traveling and remote working can be an awesome experience, and we are always excited about our engineers having amazing experiences!
In order to support you, we would like to share a few policies that you should take into consideration before planning a trip.
It is very important to take the time to plan, to coordinate with your partner, and to ensure that the relationship with your partner will not be affected in any way by your traveling.
Your Engineer Mentor should be the first person to know about your traveling plans. They can help you to plan, identify challenges, and elaborate the best strategy to discuss this with your partner.
You must ensure that your partner is happy about your travel plans. Furthermore, we must make sure that they fully understand the implications of your temporary relocation. Your Howdy engineering mentor will be able to support you with this.
Remember that the most important thing when changing location, even temporarily, is to ensure that you are available when you are expected to be available, and this does not only refer to core hours and timezones, it also means having an appropriate place to take meetings, and access to a good and strong WiFi signal.
In all cases, things you should consider when planning your travel to work remotely:
How to receive your salary (Howdy will keep paying your salary the same way as agreed in contract)
The cost of living in the place you will be visiting
The timezone and your core working hours
Ensuring you have access to a good workspace, a great WiFi connection and access to quiet areas where you can focus on your work, and attend meetings
Emergency contact and on-call rotations
Anticipate any time-off request if needed (through Flokzu).
Make sure both your partner and your Howdy engineering mentor are in the loop, remember, good communication is super important!
You should discuss your plans with your Howdy EM and with your partner. In this case it is even more important to formalize all agreements with your partner and have everything you need for a long-term trip under control.
For permanent relocations, let your Howdy engineering mentor know about your detailed plan. Operationally, Austin Software does not have the ability to facilitate permanent employment contracts everywhere, we are only able to consider permanent relocations to the countries where we operate (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay). Furthermore, contract type, perks, and benefits must be considered when evaluating the situation. So it is extremely important you talk to your EM as soon as possible.
Assuming Howdy is in accordance with your relocation, you must review the situation in depth with your partner, supported by your EM. If there are no concerns, formalize it by email.
In all cases, an excellent standing with your partner is essential!