It's always sad to see a Casconaut go. There are usually two reasons for why a Casconaut leaves: voluntary and involuntary.
Voluntary offboarding
In this case, the Casconaut chooses to leave Casco. We ask for 14 days of notice by default and for team members to work during that notice period. This is so we have some time to find someone to hire and to enable a handover. Please assume by default we will expect team members to work all of this period.
Involuntary offboarding
In this case, we are letting a Casconaut go. This is a decision that the founders (Rene + Ian) own. If the decision is down to performance issues, we will have already communicated feedback to the individual and given them time to take the feedback on board. However, performance issues sadly can't always be resolved, which means we might ultimately need to end someone's employment. This is usually performance related.
We use the following general process for managing Casconauts whose performance isn't up to the bar. We modify this slightly depending on the role and how long they have been at Casco, so the process isn't identical in every case:
- The founders will raise performance concerns to each other based on data gathered through day-to-day operations. Founders then discuss the performance issues and what an improvement plan looks like.
- The founders will have a meeting with the Casconaut about their performance. We will outline exactly what good performance looks like. We collaborate with them to come up with a plan (e.g. specific things to ship), and a timeline for improvement. Usually this is a few weeks for someone new to Casco, but may be longer if the person has been at Casco for a while. We schedule a time for a follow up conversation at the end of this period. If the person doesn't accept the feedback at the time and/or we don't feel like there is a realistic path to them improving, we may follow up to let them go sooner than this.
- At the follow up meeting, we either confirm that performance has improved and they are on the right track, or that we have decided to let them go right away.
Communicating departures
In the case of voluntary departure, we will ask the Casconaut if they wish to share what they're up to next with the team. If you have resigned, please speak to the founders to agree on who will communicate you are leaving. Please don't announce your resignation until the founders has given the go ahead as they may need to prepare accordingly for the impact of your resignation.
In the case of involuntary departure, we will aim to be assome h transparent as possible about the reasons behind the departure, while respecting the individual's privacy. Usually this is posted in the #general channel.
Please be aware that Casco cannot always provide context around why Casconauts are leaving when they do.
References and employment verification
Casco doesn’t give personal or professional references for former Casconauts. When someone asks about a past or current employee, the only information we share is their dates of employment.
Expectations for current Casconauts: If someone contacts you directly about a current or former Casconaut:
- Don’t answer the request yourself — just forward it to the founders.
- Don’t share opinions or details about someone’s performance or why they left.
- Don’t speak (or appear to speak) on behalf of Casco.
- This helps us keep things consistent and protects everyone’s privacy.