---
title: Respellion Employee Handbook — Knowledge Base Index
category: index
summary: >
  Entry point and relationship map for the Respellion Employee Handbook knowledge
  base. Lists every category file, what it covers, the canonical owner of each
  cross-cutting topic, and the key concept relationships an AI should use to
  answer questions and route between documents.
tags:
  - index
  - map
  - knowledge-base
  - respellion
  - employee-handbook
ai_context: >
  Use this file first to decide which category file answers a question and to
  understand how topics relate. Each topic has exactly ONE canonical home
  (listed under "Canonical owners"); other files reference it rather than
  duplicating it. When facts conflict, the values in this knowledge base have
  already been reconciled (see "Resolved conflicts"). Glossary terms are
  organization-specific and recur across files.
---

# Respellion Employee Handbook — Knowledge Base

At Respellion we build software using open-source technology. We believe in transparency and collaboration — that's why our culture is "open-sourced" and this handbook is publicly available. This knowledge base is a consolidated, deduplicated version of the handbook prepared for retrieval by an AI assistant.

## Category Files

| File | Covers |
| --- | --- |
| [Who We Are](who-we-are.md) | What Respellion does; the Holacracy operating model (roles, circles, tensions); ISO 9001 QMS; first-day onboarding. |
| [Roles & Accountabilities](roles-and-accountabilities.md) | The three circles and every role's purpose & accountabilities (People Officer, Privacy Officer, etc.). Personal names removed. |
| [How We Work Together](how-we-work-together.md) | Purpose; the four core values & manifest; **coaching culture** (huddles, capacity building, POP); office information. |
| [Day to Day](day-to-day.md) | Overtime & flexible hours (**Time-for-Time**); office presence; time registration in Exact; etiquette; travel-time policy; printing. |
| [Security](security.md) | GDPR / personal-data handling & BSN rules; BHV/evacuation (placeholder). |
| [Learning & Personal Development](learning-personal-development.md) | **Growth & Reward** (5 Pillars of Value); conferences. (Coaching culture summarized; canonical in *How We Work Together*.) |
| [Spending and Contracting](spending-and-contracting.md) | Spending & purchasing policy; expense categories; **travel km allowance**; submission via NMBRS; WKR rules. |
| [Pension Scheme & Benefits](pension-scheme-and-benefits.md) | Secondary benefits overview; detailed pension scheme (a.s.r. Doen Pensioen). |
| [Holiday and Leave](holiday-and-leave.md) | Holiday/vacation; sick leave; parental leave; special leave (study, unpaid, care). |

## Canonical Owners (single source of truth)

To avoid duplication, each cross-cutting topic lives in exactly one file; all others link to it.

- **Coaching culture, huddles, capacity building, POP** → [How We Work Together](how-we-work-together.md)
- **Reward / salary growth** → [Learning & Personal Development](learning-personal-development.md)
- **Time-for-Time (TfT) accrual & overtime rates** → [Day to Day](day-to-day.md)
- **Travel kilometer allowance (EUR 0.23/km) & expenses** → [Spending and Contracting](spending-and-contracting.md)
- **Travel-time compensation (1.5h threshold)** → [Day to Day](day-to-day.md)
- **Vacation entitlement & carry-over rules** → [Holiday and Leave](holiday-and-leave.md)
- **Benefits at-a-glance & pension detail** → [Pension Scheme & Benefits](pension-scheme-and-benefits.md)
- **Personal-data / GDPR handling** → [Security](security.md)
- **Role structure / who-does-what (by role, not person)** → [Roles & Accountabilities](roles-and-accountabilities.md)

## Key Concept Relationships (for the AI)

- **Holacracy → everything.** The Holacracy model (roles, circles, tensions, Lead Link, Facilitator, Tactical/Governance meetings) defined in *Who We Are* is the vocabulary used across all files. *Roles & Accountabilities* is the concrete map of every role; the **People Officer** role administers leave, sickness reporting, onboarding, the performance model, and many requests, while the **Privacy Officer** owns GDPR handling and **Process Guardian** owns the QMS/ISO 9001 audits.
- **Core values → policies.** The four core values (Trust, Courage, Self-discipline, Entrepreneurship) in *How We Work Together* are cited as the rationale for flexible hours, spending autonomy, the coaching culture, and office etiquette.
- **Coaching culture ↔ reward.** *How We Work Together* owns the development half (huddles, capacity building, POP); *Learning & Personal Development* owns the reward half (5 Pillars, salary banding). Self-evaluation happens during the bi-monthly **Huddle Elevator**.
- **QMS ↔ practice.** The ISO 9001 QMS in *Who We Are* maps abstract clauses onto concrete practices documented elsewhere: "people are our most important capital" → coaching culture & Growth & Reward; "security by design" → *Security*; DoD/CI-CD → engineering practice.
- **Leave ↔ benefits ↔ money.** Vacation days appear as a benefit (*Pension & Benefits*) but are detailed in *Holiday and Leave*. Unpaid and care leave reduce untaxed allowances (*Spending and Contracting*), affect pension (*Pension & Benefits*), and can affect the annual salary raise (*Learning & Personal Development*).
- **Travel: two different things.** Travel **time** (compensated above 1.5h one-way) lives in *Day to Day*; the travel **kilometer allowance** (EUR 0.23/km) lives in *Spending and Contracting* and is summarized in *Pension & Benefits*.
- **Exact vs Shifts.** Leave **requests** are made in Microsoft **Shifts**; leave **balances**/absence and **time registration** are in **Exact**. TfT is registered in Exact but its rules live in *Day to Day*.

## Resolved Conflicts

The source documents contained contradictions; this knowledge base uses these reconciled values throughout:

- **Huddle Check-ins:** twice a week.
- **Huddle Elevator sessions:** every two months.
- **Capacity Building Framework:** three areas — Professional, Emotional, Physical (the alternate four-area "Intellectual/Spiritual" framing was dropped).

## Known Gaps

- **BHV & evacuation plan / RI&E** ([Security](security.md)) is a placeholder; the actual procedures still need to be written.

## Glossary (organization-specific terms)

- **Holacracy** — governance framework for self-organization without managers; basis of the Respellion model.
- **Role / Circle / Tension** — Holacracy units: a role has accountabilities, circles group roles, a tension is a gap between current and desired reality.
- **Lead Link / Facilitator** — roles responsible for strategy/prioritization and process oversight respectively.
- **People Officer** — role that handles leave approval, sickness reporting, onboarding, and many HR-style requests.
- **Huddle Check-in / Huddle Elevator** — twice-weekly support meetings and bi-monthly development sessions.
- **POP** — Personal Development Plan, based on Ofman's Core Quadrant, shared on Miro.
- **Time-for-Time (TfT) / "Tijd-voor-tijd"** — saved overtime hours taken later as leave.
- **WKR (Werkkostenregeling)** — Dutch work-related costs tax scheme constraining reimbursements.
- **WAZO (Wet Arbeid en Zorg)** — Dutch Work and Care Act governing parental and care leave.
- **Wet Verbetering Poortwachter (WVP)** — Dutch law on joint employer/employee duties during illness.
- **GOED** — the Health and Safety Provider (Arbodienst) handling company-doctor contact.
- **BSN (Burgerservicenummer)** — Dutch citizen service number; tightly regulated personal data.
- **Glassfrog / Microsoft Loop / Exact / Shifts / NMBRS** — tooling for governance, meeting notes, finance & time, leave requests, and expenses respectively.
