employee_handbook

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Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 5:04:57 PM UTC.

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Mentions over time

HN mentions by month4 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2015-06-23 23:17:20 UTC to 2016-11-01 15:27:09 UTC.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

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Period	Start (UTC)	End (exclusive, UTC)	Mentions	Comments
Jun 2015	2015-06-01 00:00:00 UTC	2015-07-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1
Jul 2015	2015-07-01 00:00:00 UTC	2015-08-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Aug 2015	2015-08-01 00:00:00 UTC	2015-09-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Sep 2015	2015-09-01 00:00:00 UTC	2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Oct 2015	2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC	2015-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Nov 2015	2015-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	2015-12-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Dec 2015	2015-12-01 00:00:00 UTC	2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Jan 2016	2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2016-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Feb 2016	2016-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	2016-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Mar 2016	2016-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	2016-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Apr 2016	2016-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	2016-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
May 2016	2016-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	2016-06-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1
Jun 2016	2016-06-01 00:00:00 UTC	2016-07-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1
Jul 2016	2016-07-01 00:00:00 UTC	2016-08-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Aug 2016	2016-08-01 00:00:00 UTC	2016-09-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Sep 2016	2016-09-01 00:00:00 UTC	2016-10-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Oct 2016	2016-10-01 00:00:00 UTC	2016-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Nov 2016	2016-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	2016-12-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1

What Hacker News says

4 sources

ncd·Nov 1, 2016

Seneca Systems | Redwood City, CA | ONSITE If you want to... * Work on the platform local governments use to manage their city services * Solve interesting problems that are having a daily impact on the way communities function * Work at a company dedicated to upholding strong values externally and internally * Work with team members who personify those values * Get your own private office because we hate open space set-ups * Work at a YC company (though this should be the least important thing on this list) * Have this dog randomly stop by your office to say hello: https://i.imgur.com/kTUBQLD.png ...then we want to talk! See the positions we're hiring for at http://seneca.systems/careers View our employee handbook at https://github.com/SenecaSystems/employee_handbook

In Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2016)

tyre·Jun 3, 2016

Two things we have done to fix the waste of time, human energy, and shenanigans around salaries: 1) Post salaries with job descriptions. (e.g. seneca.systems/careers/growth/go-to-market-strategist-product-marketer) 2) Pin salaries to job position[1]. We do not allow individuals to negotiate their salary separately from their position. If you have the same position, you make the same salary. [1]: https://github.com/SenecaSystems/employee_handbook/blob/mast...

In Salary Negotiation

tyre·May 13, 2016

Businesses are a means to an end. Personally, we are building a company[1] to have an impact. Profit is part of that, since how large of an impact is correlated with the number of customers we can serve which requires certain fixed costs (e.g. salaries.) Profits also allow a company to weather market fluctuations and be free of the hype-cycles of investors. The product or service are equally means to an end. Building a CRM for local government isn't a goal in or of itself. We don't win when the code is shipped or even when the customer buys it, only when we affect change on the world. The one thing required to do that is people. And not just anyone is passionate about empowering public servants (which is pefectly fine.) So, in fact, creating a great place to work _is_ one of the few things we build the company around. At the end of the da

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y, it all comes back to human happiness. Not the spurts of dopamine from Candy Crush or Snapchat, but real fulfillment. (Check out our values[2] and employee handbook[3] for how we put that into action.) When I was younger, my dad used to always ask me, "What is your goal in life?" I'd say stupid things like a Ferrari or a big house and he would ask "Why?" Because I wanted to drive fast or have room for toys and video games. "Why?" And so on... All of those "Why"s led to one answer: My goal in life was to be happy. Everything else is a means to that end. That's why a few of the things I listed in the original comment had little to do with product or profit. Build something you're proud of, for no other reason than that you have to live with yourself. Do the right thing. It's harder, but you'll make people, most of all yourself, happy. And if you die in 30, 40, or 2 years having made a bunch of people happy, I think that sounds pretty great. [1]: http://seneca.systems [2]: http://seneca.systems/values [3]: https://Github.com/senecasystems/employee_handbook [EDIT] - added a story from my childhood

In Tech layoffs more than double in Bay Area

tyre·Jun 23, 2015

Great question. This post focuses on what commission structure optimizes for customer happiness. We need to recognize that, especially in startups, early products aren't a perfect fit for everyone in our target market. That's okay, we just need to align incentives so that our sales team closes customers where the product can provide a Fuck Yes Experience. In terms of general employee salary correlating to happiness, coincidentally I studied the philosophy and psychology of happiness so I'd be happy to shed more light here. I think you're referencing the study by Daniel Kahneman. Roughly $75k is the point at which additional income has severe diminishing returns, but it doesn't necessarily peak (you just see a tiny effect.) That number is not as specific as it sounds. $75k was about what it takes to not have to worry about money. You can't

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drink champagne at every meal, but you have enough to live comfortably and sprinkle unnecessary purchases, travel, and vacation without additional stress. It also doesn't control for cost of living. $75k in San Francisco isn't worth the same, in terms of quality of life, as $75 in Lafayette Louisiana. Furthermore, within a given company, the absolute dollar amount matters far less than the comparative dollar amount. This[1] study demonstrates that people would rather be paid less money overall as long as they make more than their coworkers at a similar level. To combat this and to avoid horizontal discrimination, everyone at Seneca Systems who does the same job gets paid the same amount.[2] [1]: http://www.econ.ucsb.edu/~charness/tenure_papers/happiness.p... [2]: https://github.com/SenecaSystems/employee_handbook/blob/mast...

In Correlating Commissions with Happiness