It is much better when we are together

Nobody could have predicted that something like Coronavirus would happen to us. In a short time, we needed to adjust to this situation to, first of all, protect our employees, and then to organize in a way to keep business activities as normal as possible.

Maybe it will sound like an exaggeration, but we enjoy working in our offices. Our company culture is primarily based on friendships, so we really feel good when we are together. If you could sneak peek at our team chats, which are active more than usual these days, you would understand our culture clearly. We wanted to keep that team spirit in the same intensity throughout this quarantine period because it is one of the greatest things about our company.

We tried to adapt some team rituals as well. Every last Friday each month we have a “Happy hour“ in or kitchen, during which we sit and chat with beer and burgers. Every time it lasts longer than one hour for sure. Now we brought it to our homes. We gathered virtually and shared pictures to our chat, and the conversation lasted, and lasted, and lasted…

Organization of business activities

The fifth week of working from home is ongoing. At first, it was a little chaotic until we figured out the best way to organize ourselves and until we opened all the necessary accounts on the platforms that are used to work and communicate. Now, everything is fine, we are used to remote working, meetings and other activities are held in the same dynamic as before.

The main tool we use is Microsoft Teams, where we have a “General“ channel used to share information that concerns everyone, and there are also many thematic side channels in order not to burden team members who are focused on another topic.

As I mentioned, we have meetings at the same schedule as before, the only difference being that they are online now. Usually, one of us shares the screen, and we all participate in the discussion. The good thing is the ability to save meetings, which is later helpful if somebody is presenting how to implement new functionality, so it can be used as a video manual with all necessary explanations. To communicate with foreign partners, we use Webex. Our daily work is organized through JIRA, mails and Mattermost.

Recruitment of new employees

Regarding the activities of Jovana, our HR manager, they are mostly involved in recruitment and selection because we are continuing to hire during the pandemic. In our company, the recruitment and selection process takes place in three steps, which are now being done on the phone for security reasons.

The first step is a classical interview, where we introduce our company and the position for which the candidate applied, and we try to get to know the candidate better. From this interview, we evaluate whether the candidate and the company are a good fit.

The second step of selection is a technical interview with the colleagues from the team with whom the candidate would work, such as software engineers, project managers, system engineers… The goal of this part is to determine the candidate’s knowledge and skills through specific tasks.

After that, if everything goes well, the whole process is finished with the third step, a call with the CEO. After this round, we summarize the impressions and then give feedback to the candidates.

This situation is a new experience for all of us, and we are all aware that it is very challenging and not easy at all. It took some time, a lot of honesty and self-discipline to find the right solution for our team and business during these times.

We always strive to find the best ways of work, to combine different experiences to make the best fit for our needs. That would be our advice to you, to find the model that suits you and your team, to keep the team vibe and good energy. This virus will pass, life will return to normal. It is important to remain healthy and well, and not to forget the solidarity and empathy.