Wright-Way Employee Handbook

wright-way rescue’s

EMPLOYEE Handbook

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WELCOME TO THE WRIGHT-WAY RESCUE TEAM! Mission statement: Wright-Way Rescue seeks to reduce the number of homeless adoptable pets euthanized in the Midwest each year through an adoption program, community education, promotion of spaying and neutering, and a shelter medicine outreach program.

— 3— Welcome to Wright-Way Rescue!

We are excited to have you as part of our team. You were hired because we believe you can contribute to the success of our shelter and share our commitment to achieving our goals as stated in our mission statement.

Wright-Way Rescue is committed to quality and unparalleled customer service in all aspects of our animal shelter. As part of the team, we hope you will discover that the pursuit of excellence is a rewarding aspect of your career here.

This employee handbook contains the key policies, goals, and expectations of Wright-Way Rescue, and other information you will need.

At Wright-Way Rescue, we pledge to provide homeless animals a safe, secure, and healthy temporary home until a permanent adopter is found. We also promote spaying and neutering of all pets. Our key distinctive quality is unparalleled customer service as we strive to gain the respect and trust of our adopters and guests in the community.

The success of our efforts is determined by our success in operating as a unified team. We have to earn the trust and respect of our adopters and donors every day in order that the person makes the decision to choose our services. We must keep our facility in a manner that promotes excellent health and well-being of the animals housed here. This may sound simple, however, it is a great deal of work. Communication is key. There are no magic formulas.

Our success is built by creative, productive employees who are encouraged to make suggestions while thinking outside the box. Your job— every job — is essential to fulfilling our mission everyday to the animals who rely on us for their care and the employees and donors that trust and respect us. The primary goal of Wright-Way Rescue and yours, as one of its employees, is to live our mission statement and continue to be an industry leader. We achieve this through hard work and commitment from every employee. It is the desire of Wright-Way Rescue to have every employee succeed in their job and be part of achieving our goals.

You should use this handbook as a ready reference as you pursue your position with WrightWay Rescue. Additionally, the handbook assures good management and fair treatment of all employees. At Wright-Way Rescue, we want to recognize the contributions of all employees as an important part of our team.

Welcome aboard! I look forward to working with you.

Sincerely, Christy Anderson Wright-Way Rescue Founder and Director of Operations

Thank you for being a part of our history in the making.

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Goals, Values, and Beliefs Our goal at Wright-Way Rescue is simple – provide excellent care for the animals in our program, provide adoptive homes for as many homeless animals as possible, and promote spaying and neutering of all pets through education and low-cost surgical opportunities. We accomplish this by providing information and resources that help our adopters and the public understand the necessity of what we do. Our goals are accomplished by the commitment of every employee and volunteer.

Our values and beliefs require that we: Treat each employee and animal with respect and continually try to improve upon our goals.

Treat each employee and animal fairly. Wright-Way Rescue does not tolerate discrimination or poor treatment of its animals. When problems arise, the facts are analyzed to determine ways to avoid similar problems in the future.

Provide the most effective and efficient corrective action in resolving issues to ensure the health and well-being of our pets and the satisfaction of our adopters.

Have an open-door policy, which encourages interaction, discussions, and the exchange of ideas to improve the work environment and increase our productivity.

Deliver competitive and outstanding service to our supporters and adopters and, where required, partner our adopters with other organizations who share our vision.

Make “do it right the first time” our commitment as a team.

Equal Opportunity Wright-Way Rescue is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This means that we will extend equal opportunity to all individuals without regard for race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, handicaps or veterans status. This policy affirms Wright-Way Rescue’s commitment to the principles of fair employment and the elimination of all vestiges of discriminatory practices that might exist.

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Staff Educational Material Regardless of the position you hold within our shelter, it is important that you understand animal sheltering and its basic functions in order to be an effective team member. Many people wish to work at an animal shelter without truly understanding its fundamental function or the reality of the challenges that a shelter faces on a daily basis.

The information below is information that will enable you to understand your position and the positions of those around you better. In learning this information, you will be able to better serve the animals whose lives you will directly affect.

UC Davis Shelter Medicine 101 – A series of 10 online lectures that are available to view online. Books to go along with these lectures are available at the Wright-Way Rescue Admissions and Care Center in Murphysboro. Please ask to use them. http://www.sheltermedicine.com/education/class.php#top4 Petsmart Charities Webinars – Specifically please view “Preventing Infectious Disease: Strategies For Saving Lives”, “Canine Parvo Virus” & “Canine Distemper Virus” by Sandra Newbury and most importantly “Saving Lives Through Sanitation” http://www.sheltermedicine.com/education/webinars.php#top4

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Rules of Conduct Rules of conduct for employees are intended to promote the orderly and efficient operation of the shelter, as well as protect the rights of all employees. Violations, therefore, shall be regarded as cause for disciplinary action.

These rules are published for the employees’ information and protection. Ignorance of work rules is not an acceptable excuse for violation. It is each employee’s responsibility to know the rules and abide by them. These rules are not all-inclusive, and other rules may exist.

Employees are expected to know and abide by these rules as well.

Safety & Accident Rules Safety is everyone's job at Wright-Way Rescue. Wright-Way provides a clean, hazard-free, healthy, and safe environment in which to work. As an employee, you are expected to take an active part in maintaining this environment. You should observe all posted safety rules, adhere to all safety instructions provided by your supervisor, and use safety equipment where required. Your workspace should be kept neat, clean, and orderly.

It is your responsibility to know the location of all safety equipment such as ear plugs, goggles, protective clothing, gloves, etc. If there is a true medical emergency, please dial 911.

All safety equipment will be provided by Wright-Way Rescue. Employees will be responsible for reasonable upkeep of this equipment. Any problems with or defects in equipment should be reported immediately to your supervisor.

Employees may report safety issues or injuries to the Director of Operations. If any deliberate or ongoing safety violation or creation of hazard by an employee occurs, it will be dealt with through disciplinary action by Wright-Way Rescue, up to and including termination.

All work related accidents are covered by Worker's Compensation Insurance pursuant to the laws of the state in which we operate. Any accident must be documented in writing immediately via an incident report. These reports are available in the main office.

Any injuries must be reported immediately to the Kennel Supervisor AND the Director Of Operations. They must also be documented in writing via an incident report. Any employee that reports any injury must return to work with a doctor's certificate stating the nature of the injury and the employee's fitness to return to duty.

MSRP safety data sheets are available in the main office for each employees review.

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smoking Wright-Way Rescue endeavors to provide a healthy work environment. Therefore, any form of tobacco consumed in company buildings is prohibited. Additionally, no smoking is allowed within 15 feet of the exterior entrance ways. Smoking is also not allowed in the front of the building.

Drug Free Workplace Wright-Way Rescue prohibits the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensing, possession, or use of a controlled substance in the workplace. All employees must abide by the terms of this Drug-Free Workplace policy. Employees violating such prohibitions will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including discharge.

The term “controlled substance” refers to all illegal drugs and to legal drugs used without a physician’s order. It does not prohibit taking prescription medication under the direction of a physician.

Attendance Employees are expected to arrive at work before they are scheduled to start and be at their work station productively engaged in Wright-Way Rescue business by the scheduled start time.

All time off must be requested in advance and submitted in writing, with the exception of sick days. Days requested off must be covered by other employees. Requested days off are subject to the approval of the manager. Days off for vacation/leisure time are not guaranteed and covering your scheduled shifts are your responsibility. Schedules will be made for an entire month, requests must be received before scheduled is posted.

Wright-Way views attendance as an important facet of your job performance review.

All unapproved absences and tardiness will be noted in the employee’s personnel file.

Excessive absences and shifts where an employee leaves before the end of their scheduled shift, including sick days without medical documentation, will result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

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Scheduling & Breaks Employees must take off one calendar day each week. If they choose to work and there are available hours, they must sign a form from the Department Of Labor to permit this.

Otherwise, employees will only be scheduled a maximum of 6 days per week.

Employees who will be working 7.5 continuous hours must clock out for a 30 minute break no longer than 5 hours after the start of work.

Smoke breaks are allowed, without punching out, one time at the end of every two hour period worked. These breaks are not to exceed 5 minutes. Employees who do not smoke are welcome to take the same amount of time for a personal break. Employees are not permitted to accumulate minutes for multiple smoke breaks.

Use of Equipment Wright-Way Rescue will provide you with the necessary equipment to do your job. None of this equipment should be used for personal use nor removed from the physical confines of the Wright-Way Rescue facility unless it is approved and your job specifically requires use of company equipment outside the physical facility of Wright-Way Rescue.

Computer equipment, including laptops, may not be used for personal use — this includes word processing and computing functions. It is forbidden to install any other programs to a company computer without the written permission of your supervisor. These forbidden programs include, but are not limited to, unlicensed software, pirated music, and pornography. The copying of programs installed on the company computers is not allowed unless you are specifically directed to do so in writing by your supervisor.

The telephone lines at Wright-Way Rescue must remain open for business calls to service our customers. Employees are requested to discourage any personal calls — incoming and outgoing ­— with the exception of emergency calls.

Intentional damage to Wright-Way Rescue property will not be tolerated and will be reported to authorities as such.

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Professional Etiquette Employees must maintain professional etiquette whenever representing Wright-Way Rescue.

This includes maintaining a professional and friendly attitude when dealing with customers, employees, and professional contacts in person, email, and over the phone. Employees are asked to always come across as respectful, friendly, and approachable.

Employees should not convey their own feelings, biases, or prejudices to customers or professional contacts. When an employee engages in conduct in violation of this rule and the conduct is committed off-duty and not on shelter property, Wright-Way Rescue may discipline the employee, up to and including termination, whenever the conduct causes unfavorable publicity to Wright-Way, impairs the credibility of the employee to perform the employee’s job, or is otherwise connected to employment at Wright-Way Rescue.

The opinions and policies of Wright-Way Rescue should always be promoted. Negative personal opinions are not appropriate while representing Wright-Way Rescue and will result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

Attire It is the policy of Wright-Way Rescue to present a professional image to the customers we serve.

Because every employee may at one time or another come in contact with our customers, it is important for all staff members to be dressed appropriately every day. The way you dress also has an influence on how you are judged in the workplace; so dress for success.

In addition to proper dress, employees are expected to present a clean, neat and businesslike appearance. For example, employees are expected to have neatly combed hair and male employees need to be clean shaven or to have neatly trimmed mustaches and/or beards.

All employees are prohibited from wearing extreme or eccentric hairstyles and clothing or jewelry that does not present a professional appearance.

Reasonable accommodations will be made for employee’s religious beliefs consistent with business necessity to present a conservative and professional appearance to our customers.

Managers are responsible for enforcing the dress and grooming codes within their areas of responsibility. This includes counseling employees who are inappropriately dressed. If an employee dresses inappropriately, he or she may be sent home without pay to change clothes.

Repeated disregard for the dress policy may result in disciplinary action up to and including discharge.

If you have a question about whether something is appropriate or inappropriate, please check with your manager.

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Tattoos/Piercings/Body Modifications Piercings: Men may wear one small hoop (1/2 inch or smaller in diameter) or stud (1/4th inch or smaller in diameter) earring per ear. Women may wear one small (1/8th inch or smaller in diameter) nose piercing and up to two matched or complimentary earrings per ear.

No other visible piercings (lip, tongue, eyebrow, etc) are permitted. Body piercings should be inconspicuous and not draw attention. Staff with a recent piercing may wear a discrete clear plastic spacer during the healing period. (Note: additional restrictions may be added by the department manager in order to maintain an appropriate level of appearance or professionalism).

Tattoos: While on Wright-Way Rescue premises or while working, tattoos that could be offensive, disturbing, or distracting to our guests should be covered and non-conspicuous.

(Note: additional restrictions may be added by the department manager in order to maintain an appropriate level of appearance or professionalism.)

Time Clocks & Time Cards Wright-Way Rescue employees must punch in before beginning their work shift and punch out at the end of their shift. All such employees are expected to work their entire shift. Without prior authorization, an employee will be paid for their scheduled time only. Failure to clock in/out will result in that employee not being paid unless a supervisor can verify the times worked. Any digression from the above requirements could result in disciplinary action.

overtime Overtime will not be paid to an employee unless specifically discussed in advance and approved in writing. Employees are not permitted to work over 40 hours. Clocking in early or out late may cause overtime in the schedule, so avoid doing so when possible.

holidays Employees who work on the following holidays will be paid one and 1/2 time their normal wage: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years.

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Sick Days Any employee that is out on sick leave longer than two days must return to work with a doctor’s certificate stating the nature of the illness and the employee’s fitness to return to duty.

Any employee who is injured must return to work with a doctor’s certificate stating the nature of the injury and the employee’s fitness to return to duty.

If an employee is unable to work due to illness or injury, the employee must notify their immediate supervisor as soon as possible after the onset of the illness, and certainly by the time the employee was to report to work. It is not permissible to be gainfully employed elsewhere while out on sick leave. Any employee doing so will be considered to have voluntarily quit without notice and to not be in good standing at the time of resignation.

Getting Along With Coworkers The workplace, like anyplace you bring a bunch of people together, is a jumble of many different personalities. In addition to coworkers who are easy to work with, you will also find difficult people at work. What sets the workplace apart from many other places is that everyone — even the difficult people — must cooperate in order to be productive.

Wright-Way Rescue employees are expected to maintain a professional workplace by respecting one another. If you find yourself having a legitimate issue with a coworker, please report this to the Director of Operations. Unprofessional conduct, including employee disputes that escalate to create an unprofessional work environment, will result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

Performance Reviews Performance reviews help employees understand their role working at Wright-Way Rescue.

It also helps management communicate effectively with an employee and set clear goals to work toward. Random performance reviews will be given in writing to all staff members. These reviews must be signed by the employee and will be kept as part of their file.

Adopting a wright-way Animal While Employed Employees wishing to adopt an animal owned by Wright-Way at the time of their employment must go through the same adoption process that is required of all adopters. No special considerations will be made as the welfare of animals is our top priority. The adoption fee must be paid upon adoption. The same policy is required for friends or family of the employee who wish to adopt a pet from Wright-Way Rescue. Offering to personally take in an animal offered to Wright-Way is strictly prohibited.

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fostering a wright-way Animal While Employed Employees wishing to foster an animal owned by Wright-Way Rescue at the time of their employment must go through the same foster process that is required of all potential foster homes. No special considerations will be made as the welfare of animals is our top priority.

All laws regarding fostering animals in the state of Illinois must be met. The foster pet must be returned to the shelter at their request and at the end of employment. The same policy is required for friends or family of the employee who wish to foster a pet for Wright-Way Rescue.

Offering to personally take in an animal offered to Wright-Way is strictly prohibited.

Guests Guests of any age are not allowed to accompany an employee during work without the expressed written permission of the Director of Operations or the Board of Directors. Because of the nature of shelter work, a person not properly trained may cause unintentional damage or create liability for Wright-Way Rescue. The shelter is unfortunately not a good place to bring friends, family, children or other pets.

Corrective Disciplinary Action For the commission of any of the offenses, an employee shall be subject to disciplinary action up to and including discharge. Disciplinary action for the same or different offenses shall occur as the Board of Directors and/or as the Director of Operations see fit and may or may not progress in the following order. This list of termination offenses is not all-inclusive. An employee may be automatically terminated based on the severity of their offence as seen fit by either the Director of Operations or the Board of Directors.

1.Verbal counseling - Verbal counseling sessions should be documented by a formal memo or informal note in the employee’s personnel file.

2. Written warning - This is generally preceded by a verbal warning. The manager or supervisor will meet with the employee as in a verbal counseling session, but the employee will be given and allowed to review a formal written warning. The written warning will have a place for the employee to sign, acknowledging that he or she has received the warning, regardless of whether he or she agrees with the contents of the warning. If the employee refuses to sign, another person will be called as a witness to observe that the employee has been presented with the warning and refused to sign it, and in that case the witness should sign the warning.

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Corrective Disciplinary Action continued A written warning will typically include the following elements: The date of the warning The employee’s name The name of the manager or supervisor administering the warning A description of the misconduct or inadequate performance The date of the misconduct or poor performance (if appropriate) A signature line for the manager or supervisor A statement of the policy, rule, or practice that was violated, the steps which the employee agrees to follow in order to correct the problem or meet the desired level of performance, attendance, or behavior, any commitments of assistance or support that the manager or supervisor has made, the time frame to be followed in achieving the goal of improved performance, attendance, or behavior; and the consequences that will occur if the performance, attendance, or behavior is not improved within the specified time frame.

3. Suspension - This may range from one day to two weeks or more, depending upon the circumstances, and is always unpaid.

4. Termination - The employee will be asked to leave their employment at Wright-Way Rescue.

At-Will Employment Wright-Way Rescue may terminate the employment of any individual at any time for any reason. An employee may discontinue employment with Wright-Way Rescue at any time for any reason.

Acknowledgment Form This Employee Handbook has been prepared for your information and understanding of the policies, philosophies, practices, and benefits of Wright-Way Rescue. Please read it carefully.

Upon completion of your review of this handbook, sign the statement below, and return it to your supervisor by the due date.

I, __________________________________, have received and read a copy of the Wright-Way Rescue Employee Handbook which outlines the goals, policies, and expectations of WrightWay Rescue, as well as my responsibilities as an employee.

I have familiarized myself with the contents of this handbook. By my signature below, I acknowledge, understand, accept and agree to comply with the information contained in the Employee Handbook provided to me by Wright-Way Rescue. I understand this handbook is not intended to cover every situation which may arise during my employment, but is simply a general guide to the goals, policies, practices, benefits, and expectations of Wright-Way Rescue.

I understand that the Wright-Way Rescue Employee Handbook is not a contract of employment and should not be deemed as such. I understand that failure to adhere to the above policies may result in disciplinary action and/or termination of employment.

Employee Signature: ________________________________________________ Please return by: ______________________ (date here)

Confidentiality Agreement It is understood and agreed to that the below identified discloser of confidential information may provide certain information that is and must be kept confidential. To ensure the protection of such information, and to preserve any confidentiality necessary under patent and/or trade secret laws, it is agreed that: 1. The Confidential Information to be disclosed can be described as and includes: Invention description(s), technical and business information relating to proprietary ideas and inventions, ideas, patentable ideas, trade secrets, drawings and/or illustrations, patent searches, existing and/or contemplated products and services, medical records, research and development, production, costs, finances and financial projections, customers, clients, marketing, and current or future business plans and models, regardless of whether such information is designated as “Confidential Information� at the time of its disclosure.

2. The Recipient agrees not to disclose the confidential information obtained from the discloser to anyone unless required to do so by law.

3. This Agreement states the entire agreement between the parties concerning the disclosure of Confidential Information. Any addition or modification to this Agreement must be made in writing and signed by the parties.

4. If any of the provisions of this Agreement are found to be unenforceable, the remainder shall be enforced as fully as possible and the unenforceable provision(s) shall be deemed modified to the limited extent required to permit enforcement of the Agreement as a whole.

WHEREFORE, the parties acknowledge that they have read and understand this Agreement and voluntarily accept the duties and obligations set forth herein.

Recipient of Confidential Information: Name (Print or Type): ___________________________________________ Signature: _____________________________________________________ Date: _________________________________________________________ Discloser of Confidential Information: ___________________________________________ Name (Print of Type): _________________________________________________________ Signature: ___________________________________________________________________ Date: _______________________________________________________________________

thank you for joining the wright-way team!

wright-way rescue adoption center 7136 w touhy ave niles, illinois 60714 phone: 773-353-9931

hours

Monday – Closed Tuesday – 3pm-8pm Wednesday – 3pm-8pm Thursday – 12pm-5pm Friday – 3pm-8pm Saturday – 11am-5pm Sunday 11am-3pm