The discretionary funding program gives leaders a way to spend money that benefits one or more people, whether of a cross-functional team or a single service area, recognizing them for making a positive difference in Axelerant’s awareness, morale, and productivity.
Typically, only people’s efforts within the past two months are eligible for discretionary funding because special recognition must be timely to demonstrate a genuine appreciation for their endeavors. Award for beyond two months is allowed people’s efforts to be planned and carried through.
More on Discretionary Funding Eligibility.
Fund Usage
Any Axelerant team member recognized as a *leader may utilize discretionary funding for other team members for going beyond Being Axelerant expectations. When in doubt, ask for peer vetting.
Discretionary funding recipients shouldn’t feel insulted, nor should they tempt abuse by being overly generous for the funds granted. Use the Discretionary Funding Requests Form to submit a request.
Within 24-hours of submission, you’ll be notified of the Jira ticket tracking the request. After passing fairness vetting by People Operations, the funds will typically be released for that month’s pay cycle when the request is submitted by the 25th.
The People Operations team will track discretionary funding usage alongside the accounting team for auditing and representational purposes.
(*Note: The term Leader refers to designations where you are leading 1 or more team members in a functional/project/inter-department team. This means, apart from Directors we currently identify Project managers and Program Leads also as Leaders. In the future all team members falling under this definition of Leader will be eligible to give Discretionary funding to their team members/reports.)
Funding Coverage
These are possibilities and not inclusive.
Celebrations (Pizza party, Get Together, etc.)
Certifications over and beyond mandatory expectations
Community contributions
Event attendance or sponsorship over and beyond typical sponsorship
Service area initiatives (Pilot Projects, Additional contracting needs beyond customer projects, etc.)
Special recognition or thanks
Support of objective completion
Training over and beyond mandatory expectations
People Operations should handle general gift-giving through team engagement programs like Christmas or other holidays. For example, request them to send $20 Amazon gift cards to their engagement team for Christmas–as thanks for their extra effort to meet holiday deadlines.
Budget
Axelerant sets aside 0.2083%–1/12 of an annual 2.5%–of the organization’s salary for fair and equitable discretionary funding each month. When giving people discretionary funds, use the value of that person’s efforts by the impact upon Axelerant. Some ideas:
1,500 INR to 3,000 INR for exceptional performance in their current role
3,000 INR to 5,000 INR for going over and beyond their call of duty
Full event sponsorship–travel, lodging, meals, event fees, etc.
Tax Considerations
Discretionary Funding is typically considered a taxable event. As a recipient, please plan your tax payments accordingly.