Experience in the development of modern companies across Europe and the world has shown that the success of a company depends on the work environment in which each team member can maximally express their potential and be motivated to strive to apply these potentials to the benefit of the company, and hence as part of that collective. An interesting theory is commonly seen in practice through successful teams that grow together, as individuals, professionals and creators. They create their reality and future every day by mastering the external and internal challenges.
Today’s IT sector is in a specific situation where, for example, in BiH, as a country with an unemployment rate of over 40%, there is a huge demand for IT specialists (developers, software developers, system administrators, designers …), while the offer is very scarce. Do companies have the luxury to build quality teams as rounded entities in which the core and working atmosphere, loyalty to the core values of the company, the correctness of the work and all the items mentioned in the previous paragraphs are important and which form a successful company? Or does the supply/demand ratio impose on the maintenance of (below) average standards? The answer to this question can not be solved in one sentence. The answer depends on the core of the company, just like the future success.
Companies that recognize that their members, regardless of internal roles in the hierarchy, can invest an “extra mile” effort in their business because they believe in what they do, because they are together with the collective and because they go together for the same goal, companies that cumulatively get an additional “mileage” that undoubtedly creates a competitive advantage in the market.
It’s great to see that a large number of today’s IT companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina recognise the importance of creating teams that consist not only of experienced professionals but of quality full-time personalities who respect it through teamwork, continuous learning and good communication. To attract such people to their teams, these companies knowingly create environments where such behaviours come to fertile ground.
Professional education for employees does not end at the end of the seminar but continue with the return of educated colleagues in the collective and sharing of the learned knowledge and impressions. Accumulated knowledge matures and expands, and the whole collective becomes stronger and more stable. Some of the HR practices that have shown extremely positive results have been mentioned in the HR Guide “Inspire & Innovate”, which was published by SPARK, Market Makers and The Government of Switzerland, and here is a fragment of text from the guide:
“There is indeed a special world being built at SPARK: open offices where employees can communicate and cooperate constantly, an exceptional corporate culture where happiness comes first, and creativity and excellence as the company’s core values. We also have a variety of entertainment facilities: table tennis and soccer, billiard, PlayStation and Xbox, pinch, trampoline, hoverboard, electric bikes and similar. Working time is flexible. Every employee has their own tasks, but they organise when and how much they will work. We tested this kind of work and it was evident that employees are much more productive. But the rule of flexibility, as we like to say “the rule of no rules” actually shows that strength is based on teamwork and trust. There is, therefore, no need for constraints, and there is always need for opening up the opportunities for experts to work as they find fitting being focused on solving problems.
We reward success and progress of our employees not only with a certain amount of money on their bank account but also with various team building activities. We have monthly visits to the movies, theme parties, concerts, performances, stand-up comedies, nature walks, conquering mountain peaks, spa weekends, winters and summer holidays, barbeques and everything else we can think of and find interesting, valuable and positive.
While going through all the daily challenges of our work, we acknowledged the fact that all these perks, gadgets and privileges would not mean a lot without a culture which constantly supports dreams and ambitions of every single team member, cherishing the efforts invested each day in our common goals and ideals.”
Interesting HR practices, (creative) work conditions and professional development at SPARK and 10 more IT companies (Ministry of Programming, Galileo, NSoft, ICC-Zeda.ba, EMC, DVC Solutions, Mistral Technologies, Networks, Symphony and UNIS Telekom) can be read on the abovementioned HR guide and the topic of human resource management in the IT sector will also be addressed in future blog posts on spark.ba!
