Employee Handbook

TheSoul Group Employee Handbook is designed to provide our teammates with a comprehensive guide to all main processes at the company.

We’ve chosen to share it externally to give you a greater understanding of what it’s like to work here.

The majority of topics covered in this guide apply globally—across all job roles—unless otherwise stated. Curious about what’s inside TheSoul? Let’s find out!

[EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK] ✦

We understand that new opportunities bring both excitement and nerves.

When joining a new class, group or company we don’t always know what to expect and need guidance. We fully understand and therefore we offer a seamless onboarding program to all new soulmates. Every newcomer starts their journey with us through 2 days of online onboarding. We want to make sure you have enough time to learn and embrace our company’s specific communication style, corporate tools, technology, and culture at a comfortable pace. While these 2 days are enough to dive into all these topics, learning at TheSoul never stops.

Your colleagues are here to help you if anything is unclear. We’ve observed that the onboarding period typically lasts between 1 to 3 months, depending on your individual pace. The ability to adapt quickly is a crucial quality at TheSoul Publishing, as we are a fast-evolving company and always welcomes change.

We’ve taken the time to develop the best approach to onboarding, which consists of two parts:

Company onboarding to help you understand company-wide processes and systems.

Professional introduction to your team, department and provide a deep dive into your initial projects and responsibilities.

Company onboarding

The first day for a new soulmate is dedicated specifically to learning about the company, with the help of our Asana onboarding project, which will be assigned to you automatically.
It will help you learn about:

Logging into the systems

Setting up accounts in Asana, Slack, Confluence, TheSoul, BambooHR (see the “What tools will I use in my work?” section for more details)

The company and our policies.

We are continuously improving this process to make the new soulmate's experience the best it can possibly be.

Professional introduction

Now, the next step is when your onboarding experience is customised for you!

Your department will decide the most effective way to introduce, present, and organize information about your expected duties and tasks.

And soon you’ll receive your first tasks from your manager... Exciting, right!?
Of course! We encourage you to take the lead in identifying important areas and projects that will help you improve and set the pace for your own professional achievements. Our People Growth team is also here to support your learning.

We have an educational portal called TheSoul Academy, which is our home for learning. Currently, it offers over 470 courses. Whether you’re looking for technical training specific to your role or e-learning content to develop soft and managerial skills, you’ll find it all in TheSoul Academy.

You and your manager can keep track of all your progress — you can set developmental goals and create a suitable learning journey within the Academy to achieve them.

And it never gets boring — our learning content ranges from online courses, tests and quizzes, videos, educational presentations, reference guides and much more.

We are a groundbreaking company in many ways, which is why the majority of our educational courses are based on our internal successes, failures, and the insights of our people—making them incredibly valuable.
Anyone on your team of course. Asking for help is the best way to ensure success. We’ve created an atmosphere where it’s totally ok to ask your teammates for help if you don’t know how to resolve a problem or can’t find information you need.

In addition, we have HR Business Partners — HR representatives who look after our soulmates on a day-to-day basis and are ready to help with questions about development, career, and more.

Make sure you know who your HR Business Partner is, as they are your “one-stop shop” for any questions you might have about your employment.
Feedback is an important part of our culture, and we encourage soulmates to openly and frequently share feedback to each other. Feel free to ask your manager, supervisor and colleagues to share their honest opinion about your work.

It is important to take into account and listen to different perspectives, especially when they differ from your own. Feedback is something that strengthens your professional development.
We do not want our team to waste time or resources. Creativity is our priority, and we strive to avoid unnecessary complications. We follow general rules that apply to everyone at the company: we respect each other, and regardless of our location, we maintain our core principle of asynchronous, written communication—a style where responses aren’t expected immediately.

Why asynchronous communication?

It has the following advantages:

It encourages you to describe tasks more clearly and concisely.

There’s no need for constant clarification.

There’s no need for everyone to be at their workspace at the same time.

We use synchronous communication tools only when there is a real need for them — when it’s impossible to proceed without them.

We save time for people reading our messages and keep in mind that things we write once will be read many times.

We record everything in written form (no oral agreements).

We always think before giving an answer. That way, our answers come out better. And we also think before asking a question so that we don’t turn our interaction into asynchronous ‘ping-pong’. We strive to maximize the value of each iteration to move forward effectively. At the same time, it’s important to let your colleague know that you’ve received their inquiry on the same day and that you need some time for a thought-out response.

We save our colleagues’ time when we use the tools properly.

We respond within 1 business day across all company systems (Slack, Google Calendar invitations, etc.).

Email

What’s that?

Jokes apart — we do not use email for internal communication within the company. Completely. Totally.

Meeting

As we mostly work in an asynchronous environment, we hold meetings only when necessary. We're very mindful of our colleagues' time and strive to ensure that meetings are purposeful and efficient.

When a meeting is essential — whether it’s with a teammate or even the CEO — our process remains simple and respectful of everyone’s time. You can check their calendar availability and send a well-prepared invite.

When setting up a meeting, make sure you:

Have already discussed the issue asynchronously (in written form) and reached an impasse.

Prepared a clear agenda for the conversation and shared it with participants in advance.

Invited only those who absolutely need to participate.

Scheduled the meeting to last no longer than 30 minutes

Schedule the meeting at least 1 day in advance.

And remember to not set up meetings “just to brainstorm” or according to the scenario of “there’s a problem — let’s get together and think it over.” It’s more productive when everyone thinks things through independently and shares their ideas in writing.

We recommend that you follow the same guidelines for any scheduled or unscheduled 1:1 meetings.

After meetings

The person in charge of the meeting logs the results in the location where the project documentation is stored.

They should also share a link to the record, if necessary.
At TheSoul we embrace a tech-savvy approach to all of the processes in our company: from video production to operation, at every moment of work, everywhere, always. Our tools support collaboration, help to reduce the work cycle on documents/tasks/projects, and establish an effective ecosystem for collaboration and communication. Simply put, our processes and workflows are impossible without the best solutions that can be found in the market.

Here’s how we do it:

Need to track the progress of a task? Use Asana.

Have a quick question for a colleague? Slack is your go-to. Don’t forget to use emoji — we really like them.

Rolling out a new process and want everyone to know? Confluence is the place to document it so everyone can stay aligned.

Let’s take a closer look at the main tools we use on a daily basis — just the essentials, since each team has their own go-to stack and the list keeps growing:

Asana

As mentioned earlier, we don’t use email for internal communication. For many, this approach can be unusual — especially if you’re coming from a big corporation. But let’s be honest — emails often get lost, ignored, forgotten. Do you remember receiving emails with FW:FW:FW:FW:RE:FW where you weren’t even sure what action was needed? At TheSoul, that’s a thing of the past. Meet Asana.

Asana is our primary system for coordinating our work within the company. It provides us with the capability to manage projects and operational processes. Tasks in Asana always have an assignee (a person who should perform the task), a deadline, details on what needs to be done, collaborators, projects that are connected with the task, all the necessary context. With Asana, we always know what needs to be done, when, how and by whom. Anyone in the company can create projects and tasks, and assign them to any soulmate — making our workflow transparent and organized.

Slack

Slack is our center for notifications regarding news/changes and a convenient tool for team communication.

Confluence

This is where we store and discuss documents. Think of it as our company’s internal wiki! Confluence allows you to structure and organize work within your team, and also provide access to the organization’s knowledge base and the information you need to work effectively.

Google tools — Calendar, Meet, Drive and other

Team Drives (Shared Drives) are used to store and share non-text files (video, audio, images, etc.) within teams. The files in the team drive are visible to all of the users that are connected to it. Since most of our communication and workflows happen in Asana, Slack, and Confluence, we use Gmail only for external communication and verification purposes.

BambooHR

This is an automated, integrated system for HR management. Using the BambooHR service, you can see the current organisational structure of the company or request vacations/sick leave/work from home.

If you are a manager, you will have additional access to additional functionality — such as viewing your team’s contact details, leave history, promotions, and salary changes.

TheSoul.io

This is our magic software created by TheSoul Publishing for automating the production of original and translated content — including filmed and animated videos, compilations, articles, and postcards. TheSoul.io automatically creates tasks, assigns them, and manages their execution based on predefined workflows - it is a production-boost system that helps projects reach their goals and grow fast.

SSO (Single Sign-On)

Access to all company services is managed through Single Sign-On (SSO), meaning you’ll use one login and password for everything. Each soulmate has a personal account where access data and contact information are stored.

You’ll set up your account — including your password and two-factor authentication — when you join the company.

DocFlow

DocFlow automates employee payments through two main modules. It lets you request payments, track your account status, and transfer funds to your bank or external payment systems.

Specialized tools

Qlik Sense

This is an advanced tool for collecting data from different sources, and for analyzing and visualizing it.

With this tool, the company consolidates data from YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Google Analytics, Google AdManager, Navision, Tetc., — making it available in a variety of formats for in-depth analysis.

Jira

This tool is actively used by the IT department to manage development processes. It’s primarily focused on supporting agile team workflows and integrates seamlessly with the toolkits used for software development.

GitLab

GitLab is another essential tool for the IT department. It’s used to store code repositories and to configure pipelines for building and deploying our services.

1Password

This is our company’s password manager, used to securely store credentials for accessing third-party services. Credentials are organized into dedicated vaults, which are accessible to soulmates upon request.
If you face any difficulties with existing tools, there’s no need to call tech support and wait on hold for hours — instead, you can post your issue with a screenshot in dedicated Slack channels and IT professionals will reply to you shortly.

For issues not related to tools, you can visit the Request Management Catalogue page on Confluence to create a request for the responsible team. After submitting, you can track who is handling your request and its progress.

Additionally, we have comprehensive guides on Confluence to help you find answers quickly through the search function. You’ll never feel left without support.
TheSoul Group is led by Chief Executive Officer Artur Mamedov, Chief Growth Officer Anastasiia Vinogradova and Chief Operating Officer Aleksandra Sulimko.

Company’s founders Marat Mukhametov and Pavel Radaev serve as members of The Board of Directors.

Diversity and Inclusion

We see YOU. We accept you the way you are and want you to stay true to yourself—on your first day, and every day you spend with us. At all levels, in all locations, and at all times, you belong here.

We know that the best ideas come from a mix of different people, backgrounds, and perspectives. That’s why diversity and inclusion are at the heart of how we work every day.

We’re a global team, and we love that about ourselves. No matter where you’re from, who you are, or how you identify, you’re welcome here.

In practice, this means inclusion is built into how we hire, collaborate, give feedback, make creative decisions, and grow as a team.

We know we still have things to improve. We explore both our strengths and the areas where we need to grow. This approach shapes not just our culture, but our work. We value empathy, openness, and curiosity — because we know diverse teams build stronger connections and better ideas.

Our team represents over 75 nationalities, working across continents, time zones, and cultures.

We developed and implemented a variety of TheSoul specific D&I training materials for hiring managers, recruiters, remote and on-site teammates and leaders to continue raising awareness on the matter.

We conduct inclusive hiring practices to reduce bias and ensure fair opportunities for everyone.

80% of our teammates work remotely, allowing for more inclusive and flexible work styles across time zones and personal needs.

Your kind of career calling?

Take the next step — find your next role or learn about our hiring process before you apply.