Outside Employment (Paid or Unpaid), Projects, and Potentially-Conflicting Activities

Outside Activity Guidelines

How Teammates spend their non-working hours is up to individual discretion. While some Teammates take that time to rest and recharge, we recognize that others may wish to use their non-working time to engage in outside employment (paid or unpaid), personal projects, and/or potentially-conflicting activities (collectively referred to as “outside activities”).

While we are not prescriptive on how people spend their non-working hours, we do have some ground rules when it comes to pursuing outside activities:

• Primary work: your job at Sourcegraph should be your primary work responsibility. If outside activities lead to poor performance, PTO abuse, or other negative outcomes relating to your position, Sourcegraph has the right to initiate performance management, which can lead to termination.
• Full time hours: your job at Sourcegraph is considered a full-time job. This means that no outside activity should detract, in any way, from your ability to meet or exceed the expectations of your primary job. If outside activities contribute to poor performance or other negative outcomes relating to your position, Sourcegraph will pursue performance management, which may lead to termination.
• No conflict of interest: you are prohibited from engaging in outside activity that, in any circumstances, creates an actual or apparent conflict of interest with Sourcegraph. Conflicts of interest resulting from outside activities may include performing work for direct competitors of Sourcegraph, leveraging knowledge you gain from working for Sourcegraph for the benefit of others, and re-prioritizing your work at Sourcegraph to benefit outside activities, among other actions. You can read more about what constitutes a conflict of interest and when and how to report relationships that create conflicts of interest here.
• Protect confidential information: you have an obligation to protect Sourcegraph’s confidential information at all times, including when pursuing outside activities. Any outside activity cannot leverage Sourcegraph’s proprietary or confidential information. Violating your confidentiality obligations will result in discipline, up to and including termination of your working relationship with Sourcegraph.
• Use of Sourcegraph resources: you may be provided with certain devices and assets (such as a laptop computer) and access to systems (“Sourcegraph resources”) as necessary to perform your work for Sourcegraph. You are strictly prohibited from using Sourcegraph resources for outside activities that are not for the benefit of Sourcegraph in any manner that is inconsistent with Sourcegraph’s Asset Management Policy and Information Security Policy. Violation of these policies may result in discipline, up to and including termination of your working relationship with Sourcegraph.
• Use of Sourcegraph PTO: in most cases, you are not permitted to use Sourcegraph PTO to engage in an outside activity (as defined in this policy). Limited exceptions may be permitted as long as the outside activity (1) constitutes a permitted use of PTO under Sourcegraph’s PTO policy and (2) participation in the outside activity does not violate the other outside activity guidelines specified in this policy. If you wish to use PTO for an outside activity, you must obtain prior approval from both your manager and your People Partner.
• Representing Sourcegraph: as a Sourcegraph Teammate, you likely have public ties to your relationship with Sourcegraph (such as specifying Sourcegraph in your LinkedIn profile). You must avoid creating any implication that Sourcegraph sponsors or has any association with your outside activities. We may require you to discontinue any outside activities which negatively impact Sourcegraph’s brand or reputation.

Required disclosure and approval of outside activities

If you have employment outside of Sourcegraph, we require that you disclose and request approval if it exceeds** 15 hours **of your time per week. Approval will not be granted if Sourcegraph determines that the proposed outside activity would be a conflict of interest, inherently require disclosure or use of Sourcegraph’s confidential information or impair your ability to satisfactorily perform your job duties. Even if your outside activity does not exceed 15 hours of your time per week, you are encouraged to be transparent with your manager about outside activities.

Investing in and / or advising for other companies

We encourage our Teammates to be entrepreneurial and support them investing in and/or advising for other companies. That said, we have some guidelines. Please report the potential conflict to legal via this form if you are unclear about whether your situation presents a conflict of interest.

How to disclose outside activity

If you’re uncertain whether your outside activities, including but not limited to a second job, side project, consulting role, or investment, violates the above guidelines, it’s best to disclose it to the legal team. To do so, please fill out this form.

Violations of this policy

Teammates who engage in outside activities in violation of the above guidelines may be subject to discipline, up to and including termination of the Teammate’s working relationship with Sourcegraph. Additionally, any Teammate who is not meeting performance expectations, irrespective of whether the Teammate is engaged in outside activities, may be subject to performance management processes, which may result in termination.