Benefits and perks at Basecamp
Learn about the 18 benefits and perks Basecamp offers its employees.
Awair
The air you breathe in your home affects your health, productivity, and overall quality of life. We offer every new employee at Basecamp an Awair Element to monitor your indoor air quality.
Coworking Space Stipend
Basecamp will pay up to $200/month for you to use towards renting coworking space in your city. Please make sure you’re using a true coworking space that’s meant solely for working, not a club or social space.
Employee assistance program (EAP)
Basecamp’s EAP is through ComPsych, and it provides a confidential avenue for you to get assistance with issues regarding behavioral and emotional health, family, legal, financial, wellness or other personal matters.
Sabbaticals
In addition to annual PTO and holidays, every three years employees are encouraged take a 30-day paid sabbatical. Just give a heads-up preferably three months in advance so we can coordinate the work-load accordingly.
Home Office Set-up
Since you work remotely, we want to make sure your home office is comfortable. You can expense up to $1,000 to furnish your home office, every three years. During your first year at Basecamp, you can expense up to $2,000.
Life insurance
Basecamp offers a $400,000 life insurance/AD+D policy to all employees through MetLife. It’s fully funded by Basecamp, so you pay nothing! The policy is effective on Day 1 of employment, and it’s terminated on your final day of employment.
Year-end Gift
At the end of every year, Basecamp gives a thank-you gift to employees. Beginning in 2021, this gift comes in the form of a cash bonus. The bonus is accompanied by a beautiful keepsake that contains ideas & inspiration for how to use your bonus, but ultimately how you spend it or save it is up to you.
Family Leave
If you are the primary caregiver of a new child, you can take up to 16 weeks leave at 100% paid salary. If you are the secondary caregiver of a new child, you can take up to 6 weeks leave at 100% paid salary. You may also choose to take an additional 8 weeks leave unpaid as the primary or secondary caregiver.
Pet Insurance
For your fur babies! Basecamp doesn’t contribute to this plan at all, but everyone gets a 10% discount on this insurance you might otherwise buy. There are no set rates, but you can visit Basecamp’s portal on Figo’s website to get your quote and sign up. There’s no open enrollment period to sign up for pet insurance.
Personal Leave
If you are under treatment or recovery for a serious medical condition and are unable to work for a week or more because of it, let us know and you can take four weeks off at 100% pay. If after that, you’re still unable to work, Basecamp will continue to pay you 70% of your pay until you’re better, up to twelve weeks off.
Healthcare benefits
Medical insurance is provided in the US via Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO. The company pays 75% of the premium and the employee pays the other 25%. Dental insurance is provided in the US via MetLife. The company pays 100% of the premium. Vision insurance is provided in the US via MetLife. The company pays 100% of the premium.
Employee Profit Sharing
Basecamp shares 10% of its annual company profits with employees, which is distributed in shares based on tenure. Profits are distributed after the books are closed on the previous fiscal year, usually around March (e.g. 2020 profits distributed in March 2021). You’re eligible to participate in profit sharing after two years of working at Basecamp.
Employee Liquidity Pool
There are no plans to sell Basecamp or take the company public! But, in the slight chance of that happening, employees may be eligible to receive a portion of 10% of the value of the company if Basecamp is sold or made public. That 10% would be divided into shares, and shares distributed amongst employees based on their tenure at the time of the sale/offering.
Company credit card
If you work in the US, you should carry a Basecamp American Express card in your name. You can use the card for any work-related expenses, such as travel, software, or office supplies. If you have any doubts about whether or not to expense something, just ask. We require a receipt for all expenses of $50 or more. When you do buy something with the card, get a receipt!
Summer Hours
During summer, we work 4-day work weeks, aka “summer hours”. Summer hours are in effect from May 1 through August 31 each year. (An employee who has just been hired may have to complete a training program per their team lead to be eligible). Summer weeks are 4-day work weeks, so when a holiday occurs over summer, you can take the holiday off or your normal summer day off.
Generous vacation
Basecamp offers 18 days of paid time off plus 10 local national holidays every year. We ask that you track your time off so we can properly compensate you for unused time, but the company doesn’t monitor that tracking. We do ask that you check with your team before taking any extended absence, so they’re not left in the lurch. Your vacation time is prorated your first year working at Basecamp.
Bereavement Leave
You can take ten days of bereavement leave for the death of a spouse or partner, child or child-in-law, parent or parent-in-law, or sibling or sibling-in-law. You can take three days of bereavement leave for the death of a grandparent, niece or nephew, cousin, or close friend. These caps are not to say you must return to work after so many days; you can use any of your available vacation time too.
Retirement Plan
Our 401K for US employees is through Vanguard. Basecamp matches dollar-for-dollar up to 6% of your salary that you contribute to the plan. For international employees, Basecamp will also match 6% of your salary. In this case, Basecamp will pay the employee directly via invoice. It’s up to the employee to invest the money properly and maintain administration of the retirement account and its taxes.
