Maria Bakalo, Director of Total Rewards, spoke about identifying and meeting the needs of 13,500 employees and constantly improving the working conditions to compete with other companies.

This article is a part of a series of materials about corporate social responsibility at SoftServe. If you want to know more about our CSR activities, click here.

How does the SoftServe benefit system work?

The company believes that it needs to take good care of its employees. All the benefits that SoftServe provides to its employees (health insurance, including some medical tests and check-ups, vaccination against COVID and flu as well as quick communication on all matters related to vaccinations, annual gym membership in any part of Ukraine) are the results of ongoing surveys and studies.

To determine the needs of its employees, the company conducts a quarterly employee survey aimed at measuring the so-called Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS). The survey shows how likely it is that an employee will recommend the company as an employer to their friends, colleagues, and family. It is completely anonymous, allowing people to leave feedback and criticism.

Of course, you can’t meet everyone’s needs in full, but it at least lets us see what needs attention and improvement. I believe that it is very important to understand what our employees need. Safety is a basic need. COVID was a big challenge in this respect.

BY MARIA BAKALO | DIRECTOR OF TOTAL REWARDS

The pandemic forced the company to review and improve its insurance package, adding COVID treatment. There was a lack of awareness about vaccinations, so the company organized a meeting with UNICEF doctor Kateryna Bulavinova. This was all welcomed by the employees.

If there are many people, for example, opting out of part of an insurance policy at the end of the year, it is reviewed and changed for the next year.

How to satisfy everyone and all their myriad needs?

The larger the company, the harder it is to optimize its benefit system so that all the employees are satisfied. SoftServe has 13,500 employees. Some benefits are difficult to implement due to the current situation in Ukraine, such as the pension savings system that many people have requested. Some things are easy to arrange, such as a pet friendly office, but the demand for them is quite low. But when a request is repeated in the survey a hundred times, it is a sign that it needs addressing here and now. And this is what the company usually does.

“It is important to understand that if we discard an idea it does not mean that it will never happen. We keep all ideas in mind, because we may have to use them at a later date. We also constantly monitor the offers of other companies, and work closely with brokers to keep us informed of developments in their market,” says Maria Bakalo.

Today, the company is more focused on providing flexibility in current processes than on creating new benefits, thereby expanding the scope of what is working well.

The company also wants to transition towards the model of European companies, where employees can choose their benefits up to a certain amount of money every month. The company believes that flexibility and freedom of choice are benefits in themselves.

A swift response from the management is also important. At the beginning of the pandemic, the company promptly organized an emergency team including representatives of various departments to discuss the situation from different angles and search for solutions. Such a team also has been workings since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. This ensures rapid communication with stakeholders and immediate decision-making.

“From my experience, the worst thing is when an employee or company is in an information vacuum. Because when there is no information, people begin to come up with explanations themselves, twist and misinterpret things.

Having lawyers, financial experts, and HR employees working together facilitates rapid communication and ensures employees remain informed. We even have a dedicated email where people can ask questions and receive prompt responses, as well as a Workplace group where we post updates. It helps us to react to situations very quickly,” says Maria Bakalo.

Not by money alone. Why care about the health of employees?

As for things like gym memberships and medical checkups, SoftServe fosters a culture of healthy living in its team. For example, the individual health insurance market in Ukraine is not well developed: the service is not in demand, so insurers work mostly for large companies. This allows these same companies to dictate terms and create the most efficient benefit packages. The same is true for the annual medical examination: the probability that people will consider it themselves is very low, because it is not common practice.

“Money is not a benefit. It’s human nature to get used to money very quickly, so if you increase employee salaries so that they spend the difference on benefits, they will quickly get used to it and will simply spend it, as before, on their everyday needs. On the other hand, when you are offered a benefit beside your salary package, you feel like the company cares for you, and it gives you a sense of the principles and values of the company,” Maria Bakalo explains.

Such a policy facilitates employee retention, because it is always cheaper to retain an employee than recruit and train up a new one. Furthermore, it is also important for the employer’s brand, because it increases the company’s attractiveness for new talent. The IT market is a competitive environment, and many companies are trying to enrich their employee value proposition by offering the best benefit packages to retain their highest value—healthy and motivated personnel.