Gitlab hero border pattern left svg Gitlab hero border pattern right svg

Talent Acquisition Process - Candidate Experience Specialist Contract Processes

  1. You are here:
  2. Hiring
  3. Talent Acquisition Process Framework
  4. Talent Acquisition Process - Candidate Experience Specialist Contract Processes

Talent Acquisition Process - Candidate Experience Specialist Contract Processes

Assuming that the hiring process went smoothly, now it is time to prepare the applicable contracts. Once the verbal offer is made, the coordinator will send the contract to the applicant, using DocuSign in Greenhouse. On rare occasion, the coordinator may have to create the contract outside of Greenhouse using Google Docs; if this is the case, the coordinator needs to have a People Ops team member review the contract for accuracy before sending it out for signature.

First, be sure to validate the following:

  1. The candidate lives in a country we are able to hire in. The SSOT for all country hiring is here.
  2. The currency listed in the offer package in Greenhouse should normally be the local currency of the new team member unless they explicitly request USD/EUR because their local currency has a lot of inflation. This needs to be confirmed and approved by our People Ops Analyst prior to making the offer, as any changes to the currency will require complete reapproval in Greenhouse, regardless if it is the same amount just in a different currency.
  3. Confirm if the team member would be an employee or contractor and through which entity the team member would be employed or contracted. If the team member wants to be contracted through a company, it can either be their own established legal entity or a separate and unaffiliated 3rd party company; please confirm which with the team member prior to sending out the contract. If the team member will be contracted through their own entity (or as an independent contractor), please use the BV Contractor Agreement. If the team member will be contracted through a 3rd party company, please inform Legal so that we can enter into a vendor contract with the company. The 3rd party company will then enter into a contract with the team member, and People Ops Analyst will provide the necessary specific salary and position information.

Entity Contract Signatories

This chart reflects the available signatories for each of GitLab's entities. They are listed in order of preferred signatory first. This chart should only be used for new hire contracts where GitLab has entities. This is not for internal moves such as contract renewals, letters of adjustments, or relocations.

Entity Signatory
GitLab Inc Kelly Murdock, Rob Allen, Pattie Egan, Wendy Nice Barnes, Other People Group Team Members who are employed by Inc. and of the appropriate grade to sign the document.
GitLab Federal LLC Bob Stevens
GitLab BV Belgium, Dutch & English Craig Mestel, Igor Groenewegen-Mackintosh
GitLab BV, Netherlands Craig Mestel, Igor Groenewegen-Mackintosh
GitLab GmbH Kelly Murdock (POA), Igor Groenewegen-Mackintosh
GitLab PTY Ltd, Australia Craig Mestel, Igor Groenewegen-Mackintosh
GitLab PTY Ltd, New Zealand Craig Mestel, Igor Groenewegen-Mackintosh
GitLab Ireland LTD Craig Mestel, Igor Groenewegen-Mackintosh
GitLab UK Ltd Dale Brown, Igor Groenewegen-Mackintosh
GitLab Canada Corp Craig Mestel, Dale Brown
GitLab GK, Japan Dale Brown, Craig Mestel
GitLab IT BV Craig Mestel, Igor Groenewegen-Mackintosh
GitLab South Korea Dale Brown, Craig Mestel
GitLab France S.A.S. Craig Mestel, Igor Groenewegen-Mackintosh
GitLab Singapore PTE. LTD. Dale Brown, Igor Groenewegen-Mackintosh

Offer Details Access steps

Not all individuals who are signatories for entities have the appropriate access in Greenhouse and this is something that has to be set up on a per req basis at time of contract sending.

Once the entity of the chosen candidate has been determined and the CES team has received the request to send the contract, follow the steps below:

  1. Go to the Job Setup tab within Greenhouse
  2. Select Edit in the Job Info box at the top of the screen
  3. Select the pencil icon next to Office and pick the correct entity

Send the contract through Greenhouse

  1. Once the offer package has been approved in Greenhouse and the recruiter has given the verbal offer, go to the candidate's profile in Greenhouse. Verify the address is listed on the details tab. If the address is not listed you can locate it on the background check, or in the reference request email reply.
  2. If necessary click Edit Profile to update the candidate's name to their legal name (given during the reference/background check stage) and list any preferred names in quotes as the first name. Legal names are required on contracts and for proper export to Bamboo HR.
  3. Ensure the start date is on a Monday, unless Monday is a holiday or the non-Monday date is legally required.
  4. Update signatory and entity by clicking "Update" under Offer Details. Add signatory name and title, as well as entity based on candidate's location.
  5. Next you'll need to update the signatory's permissions to ensure we're able to send the DocuSign contract to them.
    • Navigate to Job Setup at the top of the page.
    • Click Hiring Team on the left handside toolbar.
    • Navigate down to the search bar located underneath Who can see this job?
    • Search the signatory's name
    • Click the pencil to trigger the dropdown list of permissions
    • Select Job Admin: Job Approver
    • Click Save
    • Navigate back to the Offer Details on the candidate profile and continue next steps
  6. Scroll to the section "Offer Documents" and click "Generate". Then click in the box and select from the options the appropriate template for the team member's entity, employment/contractor status, full-time or part-time, and any applicable bonuses. An example is GitLab Inc full-time, with variable bonus/commission. Then click "Generate". It will now populate and .docx and .pdf files under the "Offer Documents" section. Download the pdf and preview it to ensure everything populated correctly. If there are any token errors (i.e. problems with the information pulling from the candidate's profile and into the contract), Greenhouse will notify you. Most likely, if that happens it is because a field in the candidate profile is not accurately filled in. Once you fix the error, you'll need to "Regenerate" the contract.
    • GitLab BV Belgium contracts are classified as Sales/Non-Sales, With OTE/Without OTE, and Position of Trust/Not a Position of Trust. All roles that are Grade 9 or above should be given the appropriate "Position of Trust" contract. If the role is not Grade 9 or higher, send the job requisition to the legal team via the #legal slack channel to determine which contract should be used.
  7. Next, click "Send with DocuSign" right below the offer documents. You will need to have first connected your Greenhouse account with your DocuSign account by going to the integrations tab in Greenhouse.
  8. Choose the correct template according to country, or if no country template is available select Offer through DocuSign. In the "To User" field, choose the GitLab signatory for the contract. In the "CC" field, add the recruiter and the hiring manager. Then click "Preview on DocuSign".
  9. You will be redirected to DocuSign.
  10. On the top left of the screen, click where it says the candidate's name, then click "Edit Recipients". Change the 2 next to the GitLab signatory's name to a 1, change the 1 next to the candidate's name to a 2 and change the 1 next to the hiring manager's name to a 2. This ensures that the contract goes to the GitLab signatory to sign first, as well as the recruiter for a Cc and once signed by them it will go to the candidate and the hiring manager with a Cc. Then click "Done".
  11. Scroll throughout the contract and double check that the candidate and GitLab signatory signature and date fields are accurately added.
  12. If there is an Exhibit A to the PIAA/List of Included Inventions section of the contract, be sure to add fields to be assigned to the candidate.
    • Navigate to where the PIAA/List of Included Inventions section is on the contract.
    • Make sure you've selected the candidate's name in the upper left hand corner dropdown.
    • On the left side under Standard Fields, drag a Text field over to underneath the Title, Date, and ID number area of the section. Resize to cover entire area for information.
    • Drag a Checkbox from the fields section on the right side to both areas needed (No invnetions, improvements area and additional sheets attached area)
    • On click on the Checkbox for No Inventions area and navigate to the right hand side of the page. Click Conditional Logic and Create Rule. Select Unchecked in the dropdown and click the Text box (it will grey out) and click Done. This will ensure that if the candidate does not click this box indicating they do have exceptions, they will need to fill in the text box before submitting their signature.
      • You will need to create the conditional logic rule each time you send out contracts, it does not save for future use.
    • Add a Signature field, a Name field, and a Date Signed field to the correct areas.
  13. There may also be other fields you'll need to add a textbox for, so double check if there are any other fields that need to be completed by either the candidate or GitLab signatory (as contracts for different entities vary; one that is easy to miss is the UK contract which requires the candidate to input their national insurance number). Once you've verified that all the information is correct and appropriately assigned, click "Send" at the top right corner.
  14. You'll now be redirected back to Greenhouse, where you can monitor the progress of the contract and be able to see when each party signs it. Once it is signed by all parties, you and everyone cc'd on the original request will receive a confirmation email that it has been signed.
  15. After sending the contract via DocuSign, ping the signatory and the Senior Recruiting Program Analyst - Erich Wegscheider (or People Operations Specialist - Ashley Jameson if Erich is unavailable) in the #contracts-to-sign slack channel.
  16. If you need to resend the contract, follow the same steps, but be sure to log into your DocuSign account and first delete the original one to avoid confusion.

How to add a contract into Greenhouse

  1. In the GitLab Handbook, you'll navigate to this link as a SSOT for all contract templates. Only the People Group, Finance, and Legal should have access to this folder.
  2. Navigate to the correct entity of the contract you're attempting to update on the handbook page.
  3. Click the link to the contract you're wanting to upload and it will open the Google Document.
  4. Navigate to File, click Download and select Microsoft Word.
  5. Log in to Greenhouse and go to "Configure" by clicking the gear at the top right corner, then choose "Offer Templates".
  6. Navigate to and click the Upload New button (located underneath All Offer Sections).
  7. Enter the template name (The convention is typically "GitLab Entity employment-type, with/without bonus", e.g. GitLab Inc full-time, with variable bonus/commission).
  8. Click Choose File and choose the document you've downloaded and click Save Template.
  9. Greenhouse will upload the document and it will appear at the bottom of the page. There will be a Test button next to it; click this, and it will validate that all of the Greenhouse tokens are correctly inputted. If there are any errors, it will notify you. You will then need to go back to the template in Google Docs and correct the errors, redownload it, and reupload it to Greenhouse (after deleting the original one with mistakes). If all of the tokens are functioning properly, there will be green checkmarks, and you're ready to use this template for contracts!
    1. Check all of the token/fields to ensure they are formatted correctly ({{ }}). For each of the fields with curly brackets ({ }) in the template on Google Drive, find and replace that field (including the curly brackets) with the corresponding Greenhouse tokens (including the curly bracket). For example, {Contributor Name} in the Drive template will be replaced with {{CANDIDATE_NAME}}.
  10. To delete a contract template from Greenhouse, click the three dots ... to the right of the template name, then click delete and confirm.

The SSOT for the contract templates are on this handbook page updated by Legal and People Operations. Any updates to contracts will be done there first, and then the talent acquisition team needs to be pinged to be made aware of the changes so they can update the corresponding Greenhouse template.

These steps are executed by the People Operations and Legal teams when contracts are being updated, but for reference, if any changes need to be made to the templates, these tasks can be referenced below:

  1. Some fields that are not necessarily clear are the compensation fields as there are separate fields for the vacancy and for the candidate; we want the candidate fields for the contract, so in Greenhouse, the appropriate token for salary is {{CURRENCY}}, bonus is {{BONUS_AMOUNT}}, and stock options is {{STOCK_OPTIONS}}. Another field that is easily confused is the title; the {{JOB_NAME}} is the name of the vacancy, which is not always necessarily the same as the title the candidate will have; to make sure it is always correct and includes the appropriate level and specialty for the candidate, use the token {{FULL_TITLE__INCLUDING_LEVEL_AND_SPECIALTY_}}.
  2. The one exception to the curly bracket find and replace process is the Belgian contract. The fields that need to be edited are highlighted.
  3. When removing optional clauses, take care that the paragraph / section numbering still makes sense.
  4. Double check that each field that needs to be filled out is replaced with a Greenhouse token. Sometimes it is not always obvious, as the curly bracket might be regular brackets by mistake.
  5. For each signature section, the following tokens must be on their own line in the document, with nothing else on the line: {{CANDIDATE_SIGNATURE}}, {{CANDIDATE_SIGNATURE_DATE}}, {{COMPANY_SIGNATURE}}, and {{COMPANY_SIGNATURE_DATE}}. Find each signature page, then hit enter to create the new line after the "Signature", "Name", "Title", and "Date" sections, then copy the corresponding Greenhouse tokens. These can be easy to miss, so double check each signature section has the appropriate Greenhouse tokens, each on their own line.
  6. Most contracts will have various versions that need to created, e.g. one that contains bonus language for variable bonus/commission, director/executive bonuses, or signing bonuses. Best practice is to create the contract containing all of the additional information and title it accordingly, then once you are done go to "File" in Google Docs and choose "Make a copy". Then remove the information as needed and rename the new document and continue the steps below. You can view other documents in the Greenhouse Templates folder for examples.
  7. For contract templates with variable bonus/commission plans, replace all paragraphs with the token {{VARIABLE_BONUS_TYPE_OFFER_SECTION}} which will tell Greenhouse to automatically choose the correct bonus type based on the offer package created in Greenhouse.
  8. To change or update a contract that has already been created and uploaded into Greenhouse, return to the corresponding Google Drive doc in the "Greenhouse Templates" folder, open the templates that need to be updated (there may be multiple that need to be changed, since there are different varieties of each contract to accommodate bonus structures, full-time/part-time, etc.), then update each accordingly. If you need to add new tokens to accommodate the change, be sure to follow step 5.3 in the above instructions. Once you have finished making any updates, click "File" in Google Docs, then "Download as" and "Microsoft Word (.docx)". Then go back to the "Offer Templates" section in Greenhouse. Find the contract that you are replacing, copy the name of it so you can maintain consistency, then click the three dots ... to the right of the template name, then click delete and confirm. Then click "Upload New", paste the name of the template, and upload the new version. Click "Test" to validate that everything translated correctly (per step 9 above), and you are ready to use the new template.

How to Send a Family Member Relationship Acknowledgment

Consistent with GitLab’s policy governing Hiring Significant Others or Family Members, GitLab is committed to a policy of employment and advancement based on qualifications and merit and does not discriminate in favor of or in opposition to the employment of significant others or family members. Any new hire that has a family member relationship that is currently employed at GitLab must sign this acknowledgment along with the GitLab team member. This process is done in conjuction with sending out the contract.

  1. If you have not been notified by the recruiter that there is a family relationship in play, there is now a field in the 'Offer Details' that will show whether a relationship exists. There should also be a Family Member tag on their profile. It, however, will not show who that family member is.
  2. The Recruiter will post the name of the family member in the Private Notes within the Greenhouse profile. If not there, the CES will reach out to the recruiter to find out who the current GitLab team member is.
  3. Once the family member is identified, you will send the Family Member Relationship Acknowledgment via DocuSign to the new hire as well as the GitLab team member for signing.
  4. After all parties have signed, upload a copy into both the new hire and the current GitLab team members BambooHR profile.

How to Update a Start Date After the Contract is Signed

To change a start date after a GitLab entity contract has been signed and the new team member has been "hired" in GreenHouse the Candidate Experience Specialist will complete the following steps:

  1. Confirm the start date via email with the new team member, the recruiter, the hiring manager, and the Candidate Experience Specialist.
  2. Save the email as a pdf file for upload into BambooHR.
  3. Update GreenHouse:
    • Offer Details
    • Click the edit pencil next to the start date
    • Select the new Start Date
    • Save
    • In the "Make a Note" section in Greenhouse state the old start date and the new state date
    • Save
  4. Update Entity Payroll Providers (UK, Netherlands) of any changes to the start date via the email templates in Greenhouse.
  5. Update the People Experience Team in Slack Workflow.
    • Open private Slack channel #people-exp_ces
    • Click Shortcuts button in the bottom left corner (looks like a lightning bolt)
    • Click "New Start Date Workflow"
    • Fill in Team Member Name with the New Hire Name
    • Fill in Original Start Date (YYYY-MM-DD)
    • Fill in New Start Date (YYYY-MM-DD)
    • Fill in Reason For Change. This is to inform the People Experience team of the reason for the new date (i.e. Public Holiday, New Hire request, Hiring Manager request, etc.).
    • Optional: Fill in Any other changes.
    • Click Submit
  6. Update BambooHR to reflect the new start date.
    • Sign into Bamboo HR
    • Search of the new team member's name
    • Click on the Job tab under the name and title
    • Update the hire date to reflect the adjusted date
    • Save Changes
    • Click on the Documents tab under the name and title
    • Upload
    • Choose File(s)
    • Select the saved email pdf file
    • Open
    • Folder: Contracts and Changes
    • Check the "Share these File(s) with the Employee" box
    • Upload

To change a start date after a PEO contract has been signed and the new team member has been "hired" in GreenHouse the Candidate Experience Specialist will complete the following steps:

  1. Confirm the start date via email with the new team member, the recruiter, the hiring manager, and the Candidate Experience Specialist.
  2. Forward the email to the contact at the PEO.
  3. The PEO will generate a new contract and send to the new team member.
    • The Candidate Experience Specialist will need to follow-up with the PEO contact to ensure the new contract is signed.
  4. Update GreenHouse:
    • Offer Details
    • Click the edit pencil next to the start date
    • Select the new Start Date
    • Save
    • In the "Make a Note" section in Greenhouse state the old start date and the new state date
    • Save
  5. Update the People Experience Team in Slack Workflow.
    • Open private Slack channel #people-exp_ces
    • Click Shortcuts button in the bottom left corner (looks like a lightning bolt)
    • Click "New Start Date Workflow"
    • Fill in Team Member Name with the New Hire Name
    • Fill in Original Start Date (YYYY-MM-DD)
    • Fill in New Start Date (YYYY-MM-DD)
    • Fill in Reason For Change. This is to inform the People Experience team of the reason for the new date (i.e. Public Holiday, New Hire request, Hiring Manager request, etc.).
  6. Update BambooHR to reflect the new start date.
    • Sign into Bamboo HR
    • Search of the new team member's name
    • Click on the Job tab under the name and title
    • Update the hire date to reflect the adjusted date
    • Save Changes
    • Click on the Documents tab under the name and title
    • Upload
    • Choose File(s)
    • Select the saved email pdf file
    • Open
    • Folder: Contracts and Changes
    • Check the "Share these File(s) with the Employee" box
    • Upload

How to Void a Contract Before a Candidate Signs

In rare cases, we may rescind our offer before a candidate signs the contract. Work with the Recruiter, Hiring Manager, People Business Partner, VP of Talent Acquisition, and Contract Employment Counsel on ensuring uniform communication. Once the candidate has been informed verbally and via email by the talent acquisition team, follow these steps:

  1. Ensure the email is exported into the Activity Feed in Greenhouse.
  2. Void the contract in DocuSign utilizing the same communication that was emailed.
  3. Reject the candidate in Greenhouse. Be sure to select 'Reject and Don't Send Email.'

How to Resend a Contract After Being Marked as Hired

There are certain times when a contract needs to get resent to the candidate after they have been hired into the system, should that happen. Follow the steps below:

  1. If the req is already closed, tag the talent acquisition operations team in the greenhouse profile explaining the situation and that the req needs to be reopened to resend a contract.
  2. Unhire the candidate in Greenhouse.
  3. Resend the correct contract and follow standard steps for doing this.
  4. Once you receive the contract back, before marking the candidate as hired in Greenhouse. You will need to ping the Sr. People Operations Director in the #people-group-confidential asking for the BambooHR profile be deleted due to having to resend a contract and not wanting a duplicate profile. Provide the BambooHR link in the message.
  5. Once they confirms the profile is deleted, proceed with marking the candidate as hired in Greenhouse and closing out the req again.
  6. If a People Experience Specialist was involved, make sure you ping them and let them know the contract has been updated and the new BambooHR profile has been created.

For Talent Acquisition Ops:

  1. Once notified by the CES team, copy the Job Approval Chain and add it to the Approval Details Notes section. Include the names of the approvers, the dates approved, and the reason as to why the requisition is being re-opened. Tag the Finance Business Partner, CES, and Recruiter in this note.
  2. From the Approvals page, select 'Edit Job & Openings'
  3. Duplicate the Opening that needs to be re-opened.
  4. Bypass approvals in the Job Approval section to change the Job Status from Draft to Open.
  5. Inform CES once the req is open.
  6. When the revised contract is uploaded by the CES, verify if the core fields on the offer remain the same. If it remains the same, bypass offer approvals and inform the CES once completed.
  7. Once the CES team marks the candidate as hired in Greenhouse, close the duplicated opening and save changes.

How to Keep Candidates Informed of Any Delays in the Contract Process

Occasionally, there can be delays between the candidate receiving the Statement of Work and the official contract from a PEO. This delay can result in a nervous wait for the candidate. We must keep anyone who has not recieved their full contract from our PEO informed of any delays outside of the PEO SLAs.

The Candidate Experience Specialist who initiated the contract process is expected to follow up with the PEO every 24-48 hours until the contract is sent and will note of follow-up dates in the PEO Tracker. This communciation should be sent in Greenhouse, so that the communication is captured in the activity feed. If there are any extreme circumstances that will result in a contract getting to the candidate outside of the PEO SLA's, the CES will also note those in the PEO Tracker. Recruiter is expected to keep the candidate updated on the progress of their contract every 24-48 hours until the candidate recieves their contract. A simple message that explains the delay is all that is neccessary. As a Candidate Experience Specialist or Recruiter, you're encouraged to utilize the Greenhouse reminder feature to manage these updates and log the email in Greenhouse.

Amended Contracts

Contract amendments or modifications are processed by the Candidate Experience Specialist if the team member has not started or by the People Operations Specialist if they have.

Amendments prior to starting with GitLab:

If an amendment needs to be made and the previous contract was never active, the Candidate Experience Specialist should:

Note: It is essential that People Operations Specialists are informed of all changes, as various fields must be updated in BambooHR.

Amendments to contracts for new hires with planned relocations

  1. Candidate Experience Specialist will ensure that there is verbiage clearly stating the terms of the compensation changes for relocation after the new hire’s start date and ensure that the Total Rewards team has approved both compensations.
  2. If you are unsure about the Total Rewards approval, CES will ping the Total Rewards team in the Approval Notes.
    • Navigate to the bottom of the candidate’s GH profile
    • See “Approval Notes”
    • Click “Leave a Note”
    • Tag Brittany Rohde in a note to confirm that both compensation values have been approved
    • Tag the Recruiter as CC
  3. Once Total Rewards has confirmed both have been reviewed and approved, generate the appropriate contract
  4. Download the Word version of the contract and upload into Google Drive for editing
    • Navigate to Google Drive
    • Click “New” in the upper corner of the left toolbar
    • Select “File Upload”
    • Select the contract
  5. Add lines at the top of the document for categories to include Compensation for the relocation
    • Example for relocation from ID to CA:
      • CA Compensation: $ USD
      • ID Compensation: $ USD
  6. Update Section 10 Location verbiage:
    • Original
        1. Location. Your employment with GitLab is conditioned upon your permanent legal residence being near Boise, ID. If your permanent legal residence changes from that location you must notify the Company prior to any such changes. Changes to your permanent legal residence could result in a change to your compensation, benefits, and in some circumstances, termination of your employment.
    • Updated
        1. Location. Your employment with GitLab is conditioned upon your permanent legal residence being near Boise, ID and you've disclosed a planned move to San Francisco, CA on or around January 1st, 2021. If your permanent legal residence changes from those locations you must notify the Company prior to any such changes. Changes to your permanent legal residence could result in a change to your compensation, benefits, and in some circumstances, termination of your employment.
  7. Delete out all tokens from the document
  8. Save and download the contract as a PDF
  9. Upload in GH by selecting “Upload Replacement”
  10. Stage contract as normal
  11. Add tokens back in after changing signing order
  12. Send

Amendments after starting with GitLab:

A contractor requests a modification to their contract due to a name change/company incorporation (Example: The individual recently incorporated a company, and would like to invoice GitLab through their company versus individually)

Important: Employment contracts cannot be backdated. If a team member requests to backdate a contract for invoicing purposes, an addendum should be added to the contract stating: "As the Contractor has not invoiced GitLab for payment since their start date on contractor start date, GitLab will pay the Contractor for this period of time in accordance with the Contractor’s base compensation". The start date on the new contract should always reflect the date the contract is staged for signatures.

How to Unhire a Candidate After Contract is Signed

If for some reason a candidate declines an offer after they have been hired into the system, whoever receives that information needs to make sure @ces is tagged in the Greenhouse profile and is made aware that the candidate will no longer be starting at GitLab.

If they have been hired in Greenhouse and exported to BambooHR, follow these steps:

  1. Unhire the candidate in Greenhouse if the req is still open. If the req is closed, Recruiting Ops will need to be brought in to unhire.
  2. Reject them in Greenhouse; add reasons in notes, you may add the email that was sent by the candidate. Click ‘reject and don’t send email’.
  3. Cancel any scheduled emails in Greenhouse.
  4. Tag the VP, People Operations in the #people-group-confidential Slack channel and ask to remove the profile from BambooHR and @ mention the @people-exp team for visibility. Only a BambooHR owner (at GitLab this is the VP, People Operations) can remove the profile, this is why this step is so important.
  5. If they were hired via a PEO, inform the contact person at the PEO of this change immediately, ideally before onboarding starts.

Letter of Adjustment

When a team member applies for and receives a new position through Greenhouse, a Letter of Adjustment is prepared in lieu of a new contract using DocuSign. The Candidate Experience Specialist will prepare the letter. This document is signed by the Senior Manager, Total Rewards or the Sr. Director, Global People Operations or the Chief People Officer and the team member through DocuSign. Using the Offer through DocuSign - Letter of Adjustment template in Greenhouse the letter is cc'd to the Total Rewards team for processing.

Effective dates for a letter of adjustment should be the first (1st) of the month or the sixteenth (16th).

The Candidate Experience Specialist needs to tag the Talent Acquisition Operations and Insights team to have the candidate profiles merged while the candidate is in Team Interview before the candidate is in the offer stage. If the profiles are not merged, it will create a duplicate and mess with the employment bot sync to BambooHR. The signed letter is uploaded into BambooHR under the Contracts and Changes folder on the Documents Tab by the Total Rewards Analyst. The Total Rewards team ensures the information in HRIS and Payroll systems is updated.

When an internal transition is taking place and the start date is amended, please ensure to update the People Experience team via Slack in the #people-exp_ces channel of the new start date.

If a team member goes through a promotion through BambooHR versus Greenhouse, a Letter of Adjustment is prepared by the Total Rewards team as listed on their handbook page.

Rehires

In the event that a former team member is rehired with the company, they will still go through the normal interviewing process. Once the contract is signed, the CES needs to notify the People Experience team and the Total Rewards team as soon as possible that a former team member has been rehired in the private people-exp_ces Slack channel.

Process for GitLab team-members in the Netherlands

In this location, a temporary contract (tijdelijk contract) is for 12 months, with a pre-determined end date. A dismissal procedure is not required to terminate a temporary contract at the end of its duration. However communication about the extension of the contract must happen at the latest 1 month before the actual contract end date (aanzegtermijn).

It is common for Dutch employers to offer a second temporary contract when the first expires, but it's not guaranteed. As a Dutch employer, this is standard procedure for GitLab. As of 2015-07-01, employees who have worked with an employer on temporary contracts for at least two years are entitled to an indefinite contract if the work agreement continues, and this is known as the chain rule (ketenregeling).

The process for New Hires is as follows:

  1. The offer is made by the recruiter per the hiring process.
  2. The Candidate Experience Specialist emails the new team member the Contract Info Request - the Netherlands from GreenHouse.
  3. Ensure the start date is on a Monday, unless Monday is a holiday or the non-Monday date is legally required.
  4. The Candidate Experience Specialist will update the GreenHouse Offer Details with BSN and Date of Birth when the new team member provides the necessary details and then generates the "IT BV Employee Temporary - the Netherlands" contract out of GreenHouse.
  5. The Candidate Experience Specialist will stage the contract for signature via DocuSign, CC the hiring manager, and CC the HRSavvy group email. This will ensure our payroll provider in this location can start their onboarding, well ahead of ours.
  6. Please note that you should not be running a criminal background check for the Netherlands, because they'll be doing a different process (Certificate of Good Conduct/VoGS) instead. Please only run an employment verification.

The People Operation Specialist are in charge of contract renewals. The process the end of the first 12-month GitLab BV Netherlands temporary contract is listed in their Netherlands Renewal Process section of the Contracts, Probation Periods & PIAA handbook page.

GitLab IT BV contracts should only be used for contractors. All Netherlands employees should be issued the GitLab BV contract.

Process for GitLab Team Members in Australia

GitLab has an entity in this location. All team members in this location are employees.

Always ensure the start date is on a Monday, unless Monday is a holiday or the non-Monday date is legally required.

Process for GitLab Team Members in New Zealand

GitLab has an entity in Australia, and New Zealand falls under that entity. All team members in this location are employees.

Always ensure the start date is on a Monday, unless Monday is a holiday or the non-Monday date is legally required.

Process for GitLab Team Members in Ireland

GitLab has an entity (Ireland LTD) in Ireland . All team members in this location are employees.

Always ensure the start date is on a Monday, unless Monday is a holiday or the non-Monday date is legally required.

Process for GitLab Team Members in Singapore, South Korea, or France

GitLab has entities in Singapore, South Korea, and France. All team members in this location are employees, but payroll will be processed through Global Upside. Please be sure to select the correct docusign email template so they will be CC'ed as the final step of the offer process.

Reminder: France requires contracts to be individually drafted by the Legal team. There is a SSOT document where we keep track of these requests.

Always ensure the start date is on a Monday, unless Monday is a holiday or the non-Monday date is legally required.

CXC

GitLab is working in partnership with CXC Global to employ GitLab team-members located in Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Russia, Serbia, & Slovenia. The actual employment contracts will be sent and issued by CXC and are in accordance with local labor law. CXC also handles the processing and payment of payroll and associated taxes and compliance in each of the countries on behalf of GitLab. The contracts themselves are between the individual and CXC.

CXC provides a 12 month contract in these locations, and this can be extended. They are only able to support contractors that have an established entity/company in these countries (listed above). The offer details will be provided to CXC by GitLab's hiring team.

To create the contract:

  1. Offer is made by the recruiter per the hiring process.
  2. The Candidate Experience Specialist emails the new team member the Contract Info Request - CXC from GreenHouse. -Click “Email CANDIDATE NAME” -Select “Contract Info Request-CXC” from dropdown. -CC Recruiter -Click “Send Email”
  3. Ensure the start date is on a Monday, unless Monday is a holiday or the non-Monday date is legally required.
  4. The Candidate Experience Specialist will check if there is a probationary period.
  5. The Candidate Experience Specialist will check if the contract is indefinite or fixed.
    • If the contract is indefinite, select "Indefinite" from the dropdown in "Offer Details".
    • If the contract is fixed, select "Fixed Contract" from the dropdown in "Offer Details" and enter the end date under "End Date".
  6. Once the additional information is received, The Candidate Experience Specialist will generate the PEO form out of GreenHouse. -Click “Generate” -Select “PEO New Hire Template” from the dropdown -Click “Generate”
  7. The Candidate Experience Specialist will stage the form for their own signature via DocuSign, the new team member and the appropriate CXC contact. Contact details can be found in 1password => People Operations Vault => Entity & Co-employer HR Contacts.
  8. The Candidate Experience Specialist should add the candidate to the PEO Tracking Sheet and keep track of communication between GitLab.
  9. CXC will then prepare the SOW and contract.
  10. CXC will then reach out to the candidates directly to coordinate the contract signing and onboarding to CXC's payroll.
  11. Kindly allow a duration of one week for CXC to complete their process. This might mean that a two week notice period to start at GitLab, could increase to three weeks, its important to communicate this duration to new hires in this location.
  12. CXC will inform the Candidate Experience Specialist when the contract is signed.
  13. The Candidate Experience Specialist will mark the candidate as hired.
  14. The CES will adjust the 'Accepted' date to match the 'Sent' date.
  15. The Candidate Experience Specialist will now mark the candidate as hired. See steps 10-12.

Safeguard

GitLab has partnered with Safeguard to hire in Switzerland, Italy,and Brazil. You can also review this document that Safeguard created regarding frequently asked questions about their process.

To create the contract:

  1. The Offer is made by the recruiter per the hiring process.
  2. The Candidate Experience Specialist emails the new team member to gather additional details required to generate the contract.
    • From the GreenHouse profile, under tools, click to email the new team member
    • From the template drop down list select: Contract Info Request - Safeguard
    • Send Email
  3. Ensure the start date is on a Monday, unless Monday is a holiday or the non-Monday date is legally required.
  4. The Candidate Experience Specialist will check if there is a probationary period.
  5. The Candidate Experience Specialist will check if the contract is indefinite or fixed.
    • If the contract is indefinite, select "Indefinite" from the dropdown in "Offer Details".
    • If the contract is fixed, select "Fixed Contract" from the dropdown in "Offer Details" and enter the end date under "End Date".
  6. When the new team member provides the necessary details, the Candidate Experience Specialist will update GreenHouse offer details and generate the PEO form out of GreenHouse.
    • Offer Details
    • Update
    • Nationality
    • Probationary Period
    • Indefinite or Fixed Contract
    • Save
    • Navigate to Offer Documents
    • Generate
    • Click in the white space below Select templates
    • Select PEO New Hire Template from the drop down list
    • Generate
    • Send with DocuSign
    • Template: Offer through DocuSign - Safeguard
    • To User: yourself
    • Add our single point of contact at Safeguard and the global email address to the list of CC email addresses. If they are not populating automatically you can find their contact details in 1password => People Operations Vault => Entity & Co-employer HR Contacts.
    • Preview on DocuSign
    • Select the new team member's name in the upper left hand corner
    • Edit Recipients
    • On the new team member's block change Needs to Sign to Receives a Copy
    • Edit the signing order to yourself 1 and everyone else 2
    • Done
    • Add fields to Section 5 of the form if they do not auto populate: Name, title, email, and date
    • Send
    • Do you want to sign this now? Yes
    • Sign the form
  7. The Candidate Experience Specialist should add the candidate to the PEO Tracking Sheet and keep track of communication between GitLab.
  8. Once Safeguard receives the form they will contact the candidate directly to onboard them. This first contact usually takes 2-3 days, but can take up to a week.
  9. If the Candidate Experience Specialist does not hear back from Safeguard within 72 hours, they will follow up to check if the start date is viable, get timing on when they will hear back and when the new hire will receive their contract and other important employee information.
  10. The new hire should be kept updated by the Candidate Experience Specialist or Recruiter by email. If the contract has not been received by GitLab 5 business days prior to the start date, we'll need to reconsider the start date.
  11. SafeGuard will inform the Candidate Experience Specialist when the contract is signed.
  12. The Candidate Experience Specialist will mark the candidate as hired.
  13. The CES will adjust the 'Accepted' date to match the 'Sent' date.
  14. The Candidate Experience Specialist will now mark the candidate as hired. See steps 10-12.

Preparing Employment Agreements for GitLab team-members employed via Global Upside

GitLab is working in partnership with Global Upside for employing GitLab team-members located in:

The process for creating and sending an agreement is as follows:

  1. The Offer is made by the recruiter per the hiring process.
  2. CES sends “Contract Info Request-Global Upside” email to the new hire to collect additional details.
  3. Ensure the start date is on a Monday, unless Monday is a holiday or the non-Monday date is legally required.
  4. The Candidate Experience Specialist will check if there is a probationary period.
  5. The Candidate Experience Specialist will check if the contract is indefinite or fixed.
    • If the contract is definite, select "Indefinite" from the dropdown in "Offer Details".
    • If the contract is fixed, select "Fixed Contract" from the dropdown in "Offer Details" and enter the end date under "End Date".
  6. Once additional details are obtained, update the offer details to reflect all information. The CES should be the signatory.
  7. Generate “PEO New Hire Template” in Offer Documents to Send through DocuSign
  8. Choose template Offer through DocuSign -Global Upside -To User, Self (CES) -Sign and complete
  9. Download the completed Statement of Work in PDF form to upload it into Egnyte. -Make sure the downloaded file is titled with new hire’s full name
  10. Once in Egnyte, navigate to “/Shared/GPS/Active Clients/GitLab/IN/HR/Employee Master/Client Upload/New Employee Information”
  11. Click Upload to place new hire’s statement of work in this folder
  12. Inform the Global Upside team (gitlabHR@globalpeoservices.com) of any new hires by sending email template Email to Global Upside under “Email the Team” in Greenhouse to let them know that a new SOW was uploaded into Egnyte and the employee’s name.
  13. The Candidate Experience Specialist should add the candidate to the PEO Tracking Sheet and keep track of communication between GitLab.
  14. For candidates from Costa Rica, you will be asked to provide a translation of the job description in Spanish. In this case, you should reach out to the appropriate person in the Localization page.
  15. Once Global Upside has drafted up the contract, they will place it in Egnyte and email the CES to review and approve. -CES should double-check that the contract reflects all the correct information that we sent to them.
  16. Once the contract is signed by the new hire, Global Upside will notify the CES.
  17. Proceed with marking them as hired in Greenhouse, adjusting the ‘Accepted’ date to match the ‘Sent’ date, sending the welcome email, and making sure all other candidates have been rejected prior to marking as hired and closing the req.
  18. Lastly, once the background check is completed for the new hire, the CES needs to share that background check with Global Upside. - Send the new hire the 'India - Background Check Notification' email that is located in the candidate email templates. This notifies the new hire that GitLab will be sharing their background check with Global Upside.
    • The CES will upload the PDF of the completed background check to the safe and encrypted portal, Egnyte, in the 'Background Checks' folder under Client Upload.

Remote.com

GitLab has partnered with Remote.com to hire in South Africa, Mexico, Austria and Hungary. The actual employment contracts will be sent and issued by Remote and are in accordance with local labor law. The offer details will be provided to Remote by GitLab's hiring team.

To create the contract:

  1. Offer is made by the recruiter per the hiring process.
  2. The Candidate Experience Specialist emails the new team member the Contract Info Request - Remote.com from GreenHouse. -Click “Email CANDIDATE NAME” -Select “Contract Info Request-Remote.com” from dropdown. -CC Recruiter -Click “Send Email”
  3. Ensure the start date is on a Monday, unless Monday is a holiday or the non-Monday date is legally required.
  4. The Candidate Experience Specialist will check if there is a probationary period.
  5. The Candidate Experience Specialist will check if the contract is indefinite or fixed.
    • If the contract is indefinite, select "Indefinite" from the dropdown in "Offer Details".
    • If the contract is fixed, select "Fixed Contract" from the dropdown in "Offer Details" and enter the end date under "End Date".
  6. The CES will change the signatory to themselves to stage the offer for their signature.
  7. Once the additional information is received, The Candidate Experience Specialist will generate the PEO form out of GreenHouse. -Click “Generate” -Select “PEO New Hire Template” from the dropdown -Click “Generate”
  8. The Candidate Experience Specialist will choose template Offer through DocuSign -Remote.com and will copy gitlab@remote.com on the email.
  9. In DocuSign, the CES will update the signing order to CES/Signatory as number 1 and all other copied individuals as number 2.
  10. The Candidate Experience Specialist should add the candidate to the PEO Tracking Sheet and keep track of communication between GitLab.
  11. Remote will prepare the New Employee Contract and will inform the Candidate Experience Specialist when the contract is sgined.
  12. The Candidate Experience Specialist will mark the candidate as hired. See steps 10-12.
  13. The CES will adjust the 'Accepted' date to match the 'Sent' date.

Employment Agreements for GitLab team-members in China

GitLab is working in partnership with CIIC to employ GitLab team-members located in China. Signed agreements between GitLab and CIIC are required to employ any new hire. Therefore, there will be a lead time of approximately three weeks prior to starting. As soon as it becomes clear that an offer to a candidate is going to be made, People Ops will reach out to CIIC to begin the process. The process for preparing the agreements between all parties is as follows:

GitLab and New Hire:

  1. Once the verbal offer has been made by the recruiter hiring process complete the Template-GitLab China Employee Offer letter as per How to use this page to prepare a contract.
  2. CIIC require a Chinese version of a Letter of Employment Intent.
  3. Complete the Letter of Intents with all of the information required/known. This should be completed in English first then translated into Chinese using Google Translate.
  4. Once this has been done send the GitLab (Chinese & English) versions of the Letter of Employment Intent to the new hire for their review, completion and signature using DocuSign. Ensure that Peopleops and CIIC are copied.
  5. Once everything has been signed, print and FedEx the Chinese and English Letter of Intents to CIIC. The address can be found in the PEO China folder > China Employment Options > CIIC in the Google Drive.
  6. The Candidate Experience Specialist should add the candidate to the PEO Tracking Sheet and keep track of communication between GitLab.
  7. The PEO will inform the Candidate Experience Specialist when the contract is signed.
  8. The Candidate Experience Specialist will mark the candidate as hired.
  9. The CES will adjust the 'Accepted' date to match the 'Sent' date.
  10. The Candidate Experience Specialist will now mark the candidate as hired. See steps 10-12.

GitLab & CIIC:

  1. GitLab has a Secondment Agreement in place with CIIC, this may need to be updated but CIIC will confirm.
  2. Once CIIC have received the documents they will prepare a payment notice and send this to GitLab (peopleops) for payment. This must be paid upfront and may need CFO approval.
  3. After CIIC receive payment they will reach out to the new hire to complete a Labor Contract.

CIIC & New Hire

Once the Labor Contract has been signed by both CIIC and the new hire the individual can now commence their work with GitLab.

Employment Agreements for GitLab team-members in Germany

Please note, due to German labor law, the stock options are not included in the contract template and are not to be listed on the contract. If the candidate asks specifically for this information to be listed on the contract, please seek guidance from the CES Team Lead and/or Legal.

It is important that the start date for German new hires is far enough out that we are able to mail the contract out for wet signature. If there is a candidate that is able to start within 2 weeks, the electronic DocuSign can suffice as an intent to sign the contract, however, the contract should be sent out with a reasonable amount of time before the start date to ensure it is signed and sent back in a timely manner.

A wet signature is required for German employment agreements the following process must be followed:

  1. The Offer is made by the recruiter per the hiring process.
  2. Ensure the start date is on the first of the month.
  3. The Candidate Experience Specialist sends the new team member the GreenHouse email template: German Contract Step 1.
  4. The Candidate Experience Specialist generates the German Contract form out of GreenHouse and stages for signature though GreenHouse and DocuSign. The Talent Acquisition Manager or the Senior Director of People Success (as listed on the signatory chart above) signs the German Contract.
  5. The Candidate Experience Specialist saves the unsigned contract to be used in a future step. It may require a manual edit to remove the signature tokens.
  6. Once the DocuSign contract is signed you may hire the candidate and send the Welcome Email in Greenhouse.
  7. Using the Greenhouse email template "German Contract to Mail" the Candidate Experience Specialist emails the unsigned contract to a Talent Acquisition Manager, or the Talent Acquisition Director or CPO as backup. Be sure to attach the unsigned contract to that email. Information that will auto populate in the email includes;
    • German Power of Attorney (POA) document (Google Drive: Employee and Contractor Templates and Staging => German Contracts)
    • new team member's name
    • new team member's name address
  8. The CES will then add the candidates name to the Germany Contracts Tracker.
  9. The Talent Acquisition Manager or the VP of Talent Acquisition will print two copies of the unsigned contract, sign and then send them to the new team member by postal service or FedEx (details of the fedex account can be found in 1Password => Secretarial Vault => Fedex).
  10. Once the documents have been sent the Talent Acquisition Manager, they will add the tracking number to the Germany Contracts Tracker.
  11. The Candidate Experience Specialist should set a Greenhouse reminder for 1 week time to follow-up with the new team member if they have not received an update.
  12. When the new team member has emailed stating they received and signed the paper version, the Candidate Experience Specialist will email them back the GreenHouse email template German Contract Step 2.
  13. Once the law firm has received the contract they will scan and email a copy to People Operations Specialist to file in BambooHR.

Employment Agreements for GitLab team-members in Japan

GitLab has an entity in Japan (GitLab GK) and use the GitLab GK contracts in this location. All team members in this location are employees.

Always ensure the start date is on a Monday, unless Monday is a holiday or the non-Monday date is legally required.

Employment Agreements for GitLab team-members located everywhere else (IT BV contractor agreements)

  1. Review the Hiring Status of the location you are working with. If the location has not been evaluated yet, we issue a IT BV contractor agreement.
  2. If the candidate would like to use their own entity for the contractor agreement update the offer details with the Contractor Name and Address. You will use the IT BV Contractor Agreement - C2C in these cases.
  3. Generate IT BV Contractor Agreement - Independent or the IT BV Contractor Agreement - C2C
  4. Select Send with DocuSign
  5. Select the "Offer through DocuSign-IT BV" email template
  6. Update the "To" field to include the GitLab signatory and include the hiring manager in CC field
  7. Select Preview on DocuSign
  8. Once in DocuSign, update the signing order as you would with other contracts and hit send

Adding Relocation Verbiage to Entity Contracts

  1. Candidate Experience Specialist will ensure that there is verbiage clearly stating the terms of the compensation changes for relocation after the new hire’s start date.
  2. CES will ping the Total Rewards team in the Approval Notes.
    • Navigate to the bottom of the candidate’s GH profile
    • See “Approval Notes”
    • Click “Leave a Note”
    • Tag Brittany Rohde in a note to confirm that both compensation values have been approved
    • Tag the Recruiter as CC
  3. Once Total Rewards has confirmed both have been reviewed, generate the appropriate contract
  4. Download the Word version of the contract and upload into Google Drive for editing
    • Navigate to Google Drive
    • Click “New” in the upper corner of the left toolbar
    • Select “File Upload”
    • Select the contract
  5. Add lines at the top of the document for categories to include Compensation for the relocation
    • Example for relocation from ID to CA:
      • CA Compensation: $ USD
      • ID Compensation: $ USD
  6. Update Section 10 Location verbiage:
    • Original
        1. Location. Your employment with GitLab is conditioned upon your permanent legal residence being near Boise, ID. If your permanent legal residence changes from that location you must notify the Company prior to any such changes. Changes to your permanent legal residence could result in a change to your compensation, benefits, and in some circumstances, termination of your employment.
    • Updated
        1. Location. Your employment with GitLab is conditioned upon your permanent legal residence being near Boise, ID and you've disclosed a planned move to San Francisco, CA on or around January 1st, 2021. If your permanent legal residence changes from those locations you must notify the Company prior to any such changes. Changes to your permanent legal residence could result in a change to your compensation, benefits, and in some circumstances, termination of your employment.
  7. Delete out all Tokens
  8. Save and download the contract
  9. Upload in GH by selecting “Upload Replacement”
  10. Ping the Contracts-to-sign channel in Slack and let the recruiter know that you are sending a contract staged for a future relocation
  11. Stage contract as normal
  12. Add tokens back in after changing signing order
  13. Send
Git is a trademark of Software Freedom Conservancy and our use of 'GitLab' is under license
View page source — Edit in Web IDE — please contribute. © GitLab B.V.