Navin Vettamvelil, Senior Director of Total Rewards, describes SoftServe's approach to identifying and meeting the needs of 13,500 associates in a fast-moving and competitive environment. 

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.

THE SECRET SAUCE

SoftServe’s focus on nurturing a people-centric culture has been at the heart of what has helped shape its vision and how we do business, says Navin Vettamvelil, Senior Director of Total Rewards. This unwavering focus has been the secret sauce behind the company’s long-term growth, workforce globalization, and remaining an employer of choice.

"When designing any corporate solution, we always strive to look at things from the lens of the impact it will have on our associates' well-being. The goal of every decision and solution is to enable our associates be productive and creative, build positive relationships with others, better cope with stress, and make meaningful contributions," explains Navin.

LISTENING TO AND VALUING EVERYONE’S FEEDBACK

Since 2017, SoftServe has held quarterly employee satisfaction surveys (ESAT) to receive feedback on topics most relevant to well-being and benefits, working environment, team dynamics, career opportunities, and sense of accomplishment. Based on the results, managers and company leaders understand the main areas for improvement to provide people with the best career opportunities and working conditions. This has been a powerful tool that has enabled us to always listen to and value what our associates have to say about their employee experience. Navin and the Total Rewards team uses ESAT to gain feedback and insights on all aspects of Total Rewards that associates across the globe share with us.

"Each quarter, we receive over 12,000 comments from our associates! Each of these comments are reviewed, valued and actioned upon as needed by various teams and groups across the company. This dedication to listening to and valuing everyone’s feedback is a key reason why the general eNPS score has been steadily scaling new records. During our last ESAT round, we received over 19,000 comments and reached an eNPS score of 80 Points, which is 15 points above the technology benchmark," shares Navin. He adds: "We understand that the needs and expectations of our associates vary across countries and regions. As a global company, it is our responsibility to ensure we deliver what is best, most needed and relevant for our associates, no matter which part of the world they are in."

ADAPTING TO A CHANGING WORLD

The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped a lot of things and has ushered in a new wave of increased flexibility in where we work and the way we work. Similar to many places, at SoftServe too, we quickly adapted to shift from our offices to remote work arrangements, and further to a flexible work model. Many of us have since returned to offices and spend a lot of time in our workplaces focused on challenging digital projects and innovations. So, the company needs to make sure that its offices are convenient, comfortable, well-equipped, and accessible. This was true before the pandemic, and it will remain so afterward. At the same time, as part of adapting to a changing world and workforce dynamics, Softserve has been broadening its geographic footprint, opening new offices in new locations and countries and extending benefit packages that are relevant to our associates.

The pandemic has also had a big influence on our lifestyle and needs. People started to take more care of their physical and mental well-being and focus a lot more on striving to lead a more well-balanced life. Many associates have voiced their need for more specific medical insurance plans or benefits substitutes. At SoftServe, we’ve always tried to listen to our associates and improve processes and offerings that align with what our employees need the most. A few things that we did recently included - increasing the number of eligible sick days to cover for Covid-19 related illnesses, extending the range of services covered by the corporate medical insurance package, providing options for sports and wellness cards reimbursement, as well as extending the duration of the annual leave benefits.

ADJUSTING FOR LOCAL AND INDIVIDUAL NEEDS

SoftServe currently has 13,500 associates and is constantly growing. The larger a company grows, the harder it is to optimize benefits in a way that all employees remain fully satisfied with the offerings.

"While some benefits such as a competitive vacation policy are easier to implement, there are others that are more difficult to implement. The difficulty often arises due to a global vendor’s inability to service a specific country or due to a limited understanding of the local market nuances and trends. We therefore follow a blended approach where we engage with large global vendors wherever appropriate as well as with various smaller local vendors who are experts in a given country/region. Whenever practical and relevant we try to standardize a benefit offering across multiple countries and adapt or introduce different benefits that align with local needs. Apart from the insights we gather from the ESAT surveys, we engage very closely with the local country leadership and managers to continuously evaluate the effectiveness of our offerings and adjust based on the changing market trends," says Navin Vettamvelil.

Today, the company is increasingly focused on trying to provide employees with a wider array of flexible benefit choices that suit their specific needs. This will allow us to expand on what’s working well today as well as providing associates the flexibility and freedom of choice over benefits. So, it will be up to an associate to decide if they want to get an extended medical coverage plan OR opt for a basic medical plan as well as a membership to a sports facility or something else that meets their needs.

BUILDING A CULTURE OF CARE AND SUPPORT

The benefit packages we offer differ from country to country due to different needs as well as differences in self-awareness and a culture of self-care. In some locations, in addition to established medical insurance plans, the company runs health related programs to raise awareness on the importance of maintaining good health and mental well-being.

In Ukraine, for example, SoftServe still has the service of corporate doctors and organizes in-office health check-ups. On the other hand, in the USA and Latin America, there is a certain interest in well-being and wellness programs, and the company tried to meet these needs.

"To attract and retain our biggest asset — healthy and motivated people, we are doing our best to remain a top employer of choice, and we proudly show it by our eNPS being in the top 5% among companies in IT sector," says Navin.