Author: Ivana

With the rapid spread of the COVID-19, many companies have now shifted to working from home. Some may find this challenging. We all have our little routines, coming to the office and sharing a morning cup of coffee with our coworkers before diving into the daily grind. You might ask yourself: Will I be as productive? How do I organize my time? Will I be able to work with my kids around? How long will I last before going coo-coo?

Well, don’t you worry about a thing! We’ve got you covered!

We’ve compiled a list of useful resources, to make it easier for you to adapt to your new working environment.

Stay Productive Working From Home

If you don’t know where to start, now that you’re stuck at home yet still need to deliver on your tasks, read this amazing article by PC Magazine with 20 Tips for Working From Home, that covers all the basics of how to organize your time and space in order to stay productive.

It may be a bit of a challenge to find a spot in your home, where you won’t be disturbed and have everything at hand, for when you need to stay at your laptop and work. Here are 8 Ways to Turn Your Tiny Desk Into an Awesome Home Office that we’ve already tried out and can say for a fact that they work.

Who knows? Maybe this whole work from home ordeal won’t be as bad as it sounds. If you do it right, you might even get something good out of it. There’s even solid evidence that working from home might actually have some benefits, as you can see for yourself in the blog post with a pretty neat infographic visualizing how New Research Shows Remote Work Allows Us To Live Better Lives.

When working from home, it’s important to maintain a good work-life balance, so that you don’t get overwhelmed and stay on top of your tasks, without neglecting your family at the same time. Read another article from The Muse on Separating Work from Life: 3 Habits for Remote Workers to see if you’re doing everything you can to stay in touch with reality and not bite off more than you can chew.

If you need some advice on how to be productive even if not in the office, check out How to Work From Home: 20 Tips From People Who Do It Successfully. There’s lots of great advice on how to stay in the zone and do it right. After all, many people work from home on a daily basis and somehow manage to balance their life perfectly fine. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to do it as well.

Time magazine offers another short guide on how to handle remote work in 5 Tips for Staying Productive and Mentally Healthy While You’re Working From Home, focusing more on finding your own pace and working effectively as a team.

And while you’re at it, check these 23 Essential Tips for Working Remotely. If all that doesn’t get you covered, then we don’t know what else!

Once You’re Done Working For the Day

Now that you know how to make the best of your working hours while staying at home, it’s important to remember to switch off and “come home” at the end of the day. Make the best of this time by spending it with your family or having some quality alone-time. Get some ideas from USA Today’s blog post 100 things to do while stuck inside due to a pandemic.

If you don’t feel like doing much after you’ve spent your whole day working, you can always unwind with a good movie. This is also a great time to work on your cooking skills and teach yourself a few new recipes. Check out the NY Times article on What to Watch, Listen to and Cook During Your Coronavirus Self-Quarantine to get some ideas.

If you’re stuck with your kids at home, first of all, we all feel for you! But you can use this alone time with your offspring for good. It’s important to keep your kids entertained so that they don’t go bouncing off the walls. Check out Parade’s 125 Ideas to Keep Kids Entertained During the Coronavirus Crisis.

Another great way to spend all the time you’ve freed up now that you don’t have to spend hours on the commute to and from work every day is to do something for your inner growth, be it self-education, or enriching yourself culturally. Who’d believe, that now you don’t even need to go anywhere to explore the world’s greatest museums or watch theatre plays and operas? Check out a comprehensive list of all the virtual museums and concert halls in the blog post Explore everything from the Louvre to the Met Opera while you’re stuck at home.

To sum it all up, check out this Wired article on Gear and Tips to Help You Get Through the Coronavirus Pandemic that touches upon all the basics that you need to know when staying at home for the time being: anything from foods you need to stock up on, to games that you can play with your kids while on quarantine.

Now that you’re all geared up and ready to spend the next few weeks at home, don’t forget to stay positive and practice your patience. Let’s make this the best experience it can be and come out as better people in the end.

.Woman 1:  You live in Skopje, North Macedonia, you are 31, you went to University. You have a job you really like and are motivated to work hard to reach the next level. You are responsible, professional.  There is a guy on your floor who does the same type of work that you do. He has less tenure than you.  He is well liked and ingratiates himself among others.

He has just received a big promotion and salary raise for a position that you wanted.

Though you are equally qualified, you were never considered for this job.

Woman 2:  You live in Skopje, North Macedonia, you are 27, very attractive, very hard-working.  You always dress and behave professionally. You have done well in your career and have the drive to succeed.  Though sexually based comments from men are familiar to you, you know to handle them.

Until you got fired for not accepting an invitation to your boss’s hotel room.

---

SHE. Skopje, April 2019

North Macedonia is behind western cultures in their attitudes toward women and women’s roles in society.  Western cultures have made great strides since the 1960s and ’70s, but it takes decades, and still, things have not gone far enough.

Only 5% of leadership roles in North Macedonia are held by women.  There is legislation on the books to improve this, but it has not yet been enacted. In terms of women in tech roles in North Macedonia, information is not even recorded:

What To Do About It?

The Psihesko Psychology Students’ Association in Skopje decided to conduct focus groups to illuminate attitudes and practices toward women in the workforce.  The result of that research was presented at the recent SHE. Talks event in Skopje in April to a sold-out audience.

SHE. Talks

Findings came from 6 focus groups, 1 among men and 5 among women. They conveyed experiences and observations, most of which related to outright discrimination and inappropriate behavior toward women.

• Gender-biased questions during job interviews (“Are you planning to have a child soon?”);
• Assumption of lesser abilities of women;
• Credibility gaps toward women vs. men;
• Ignoring the opinions of women on the team;
• Sexual harassment:

Comments related to physical appearance;

Comments alluding to sex;

Direct sexual advances;

Repercussions for women who do not respond to advances.

HE. Talks

Focus groups among men centered around women as more emotional than men.  Men tend to equate this to lower performance at work:

• Emotions can impair the course and quality of work responsibilities;
• Women have more difficulty coping with stress;
• Women suffer deeper consequences from stress than men;
• Reduced control of emotional reactions during PMS;
• The lowered expectation of achievement among woman with babies.

THEY. Respond

The audience of 70 people was highly vocal in their response to these findings.  Women say that the old societal stereotypes of women as housewives still exist.  They wonder how women with aspirations for professional achievement can 1) find a good job and 2) succeed against such bias.

Women say that their emotional nature is often helpful at work, because women are more empathic, more understanding, but men choose to focus on emotions as negative.  Additionally, women have learned to live with their emotional nature and as such, might even be better at coping than men.

The real success of the evening was from the attendees, one of whom was Valentina Disoska, business leader, entrepreneur, and mother of two.  She stressed the importance of this work and that it should be continued. Several HR professionals in the audience want to join future efforts to advance the image of and opportunities for women.

This is very heartening.  In fact, Symphony’s own Front-End Developer in North Macedonia has this to say about her own efforts and success:

SHE.

SHE. is an opportunity to see prominent women whose journeys, success and vigor open the minds and hearts of those who attend.  The objective is to bring talented and accomplished women to an audience of primarily women, who are eager to hear stories of achievement from other women in varied fields in the arts, business, fashion design, technology, and government.

The SHE. series was launched in July 2018 with conductor Oksana Lyniv. The 9^th SHE., “SHE. Brands” will occur in July in Lviv, Ukraine.

2018 was a milestone in our journey. It was our 10th anniversary year. And all big milestones mean a celebration. Especially in the Symphony Solutions world, where one of our goals as a team is celebrating company achievements.

In January, we went all out to celebrate our 10-year anniversary. Over the course of 3 weeks, each location hosted their own art-themed party that brought over 700 people for a night of inspiration, fun and togetherness. We called it the X-Gala Ceremony.

X Gala Ceremony: The ART-Themed Party 

Since opening our doors back in 2008, we’ve started a tradition of hosting an annual grand party. Events like this are important for us especially because they reflect our company culture.

We threw 3 separate art-themed parties, honoring the 20th century artists such as Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Karel Appel, Wassily Kandinsky and many more. The event organizers from Symphony created an art exhibition that featured paintings of local artists and sketch and one-line drawing artists who did hand-drawn quick portraits of our guests. They mingled in the crowd adding surprise and excitement and left our guests with a gift they’d never forget. Guests and Symphonians were greeted by hostesses who wore Mondrian face makeup.

The art installations, which were specially designed for the party, were inspired by the American sculptor Calder, best known for his innovative mobiles that embrace chance in their aesthetic and his monumental public sculptures.

X Gala Ceremony: The Celebration

Our first celebration party started in Skopje, then the second one followed in Krakow and the final one happened in Lviv. We had clients, partners and community members also join us in on our milestone anniversary celebration.

Classical music has always been very close to us, as our approach to work has much in common with the symphony orchestra. So, as a surprise, at each location we had a local Philharmonic Orchestra open the night with a passionate performance of Carmina Burana.

From Founder Theo Schnitfink:

“Each one of us contributes to the overall success of Symphony Solutions and celebrating company achievements creates a sense of pride and belonging for all employees.”

The night carried on with look back videos and images, beautiful music, toasts and dancing.

X Gala Ceremony: Symphony Solutions awards

Over 40 awards were given out to those who most embodied Symphony Solutions values in their hard work and actions throughout 2018. We recognized top individuals in categories including Top Performer, Top Motivator, and Top Innovator.

From Symphony 2018 Award Winner, Dimitar Venov:

“I am honored to be part of Symphony Solutions and thankful for the support provided by my colleagues. I will continue my adventures with the same enthusiasm and dedication.”

X Gala Ceremony: Art Charity Auction

Although we have evolved over the past ten years, we have always held steadfast to our commitment of giving back to the community. As a part of our anniversary celebration, we held separate art charity auctions in Skopje, Krakow and Lviv, raising money for the Center for People with Mental Handicap in Macedonia, Foundation ISKIERKA in Poland and Ukrainian art critic and curator battling cancer.

The 10-year anniversary celebration is over, but we’re not finished celebrating. We are excited about becoming the most innovative solutions company in Europe and see what the future holds!

“Who is she?” is a common question when people hear a beautiful new singer, see an attractive woman, or a compelling actress on stage. Recently at Symphony Solutions, the question is not only “Who is she?” but “What is SHE?”

Many may know that a hallmark of Symphony Solutions’ success is gender balance, equal pay for equal jobs, and favorable policies and attitudes toward women. These have guided the company since inception 10 years ago.

Adding to the roster of special events and meet-ups hosted by Symphony Solutions is a new recurring program called SHE. SHE is an opportunity to see prominent women whose journeys, success, and vigor open the minds and hearts of those who attend. Each evening begins with an interview of the guest, followed by questions from the audience, and ends with a champagne reception.

SHE. Conducts

Lviv, July, 2018 launched the SHE event with conductor Oksana Lyniv, a Lvivian who studied music since childhood, locally and later in Germany and Austria, and who is now the chief conductor of the Graz Philharmonic and Opera in Graz, Austria.

She co-founded the MozArt Festival in Lviv in 2017, which was repeated in 2018, and is now projected as an annual highlight. Throughout the 2-week festival, her varied and deftly-curated concerts play to sold-out houses every night.

Her presence is almost as mesmerizing in a personal interview as it is in front of an orchestra, and her inspired, expressive style captures an audience just like her dramatic and explosive conducting. In her own words,

Ms. Lyniv spoke about her early life in Lviv as the daughter of 2 musicians, about her intense studies, and about the difficulty achieving success in an arena where only 5% of the world’s conductors are women. Her passion to achieve propelled her forward:

“I simply knew that no one could help me; therefore, I had to work as hard as three people to have results.”

Attendees fell in love with the natural chrisma of Oksana Lyniv, as an artist, as a person, and as a woman.

SHE. Empowers

Lviv, November, 2018 was the second SHE event featuring Katarina-Kit Sadova, wife of the Lviv City Mayor, mother of 5 boys, and an active woman in her community. Her arresting good looks and graceful carriage immediately attract attention. And then one realizes it is her inner light that is so captivating.

Her interview was like a look into her soul at times and like laughing with a friend at others. She spoke about searching for what she wanted to do, about trying different paths. Then her 5th son was born, and she realized that her true calling was to be a mother.

Ms. Sadova speaks freely about her faith and connection with God as her rock, her place of retreat at chaotic times. Then she quickly pivots, saying:

“I envy women who seem to have it all – they look amazing, their husband and kids are taken care of, they read, they entertain socially, I am not like that. I can’t do that. I need a different approach.”

Her whole demeanor and revealing good nature reinforced that there is no perfect route, no magic answer, that one must be true one’s own aspirations to achieve satisfaction.

When asked, “Do you think the world will become more feminine?” she said:

SHE. Leads

Skopje, December, 2018 was the third SHE event at Symphony Solutions’ Macedonia office. The guest was Valentina Disoska, president of the Association of Business Women, Founder of the Association for e-commerce in Macedonia, Founder of the Balkan Coalition of Business Women, and an entrepreneur.

She is the recipient of recognitions and awards for promoting entrepreneurship among women and a compelling leader in Skopje. Additionally, she is mother of 2.

Among the attendees were some impressive guests, one of whom was a consular of the President of Macedonia. His interest must have piqued as a discussion about opportunities and pitfalls for women in Macedonia took center stage. Less than 5% of top management positions in Macedonia are held by women, and most jobs for women are low level staff positions. New legislation for female entrepreneurship is planned, for enaction sometime in 2019.

When asked by the moderator, “Are you saying that women entrepreneurs are still a taboo?” she replied:

Ms. Disoska is an approachable woman who welcomed engagement with audience members, as they lingered in the warm embrace of good conversation, champagne and cakes, before departing into the night chill.

What Tipped in 2018

Many have written quite elegantly about the effects and contributions of women in professional environments. And many others have shared studies about positive changes in government and business as a result of women in leadership roles. But women in leadership roles declined globally in 2018 (Grant Thornton: Beyond Policy to Progress, 2018). Additionally, The World Economic Forum in November, 2017 reported:

The industries most lacking in women hires for leadership roles in 2017 include manufacturing, energy and mining, software and IT services, finance, real estate, corporate services, and legal.

Since Symphony Solutions competes in the software and IT services sector, it seems relevant, not to wail about inequities, but to celebrate the policy practiced at the company since its inception 10 years ago.

Why Gender Balance

Founder and CEO Theo Schnitfink envisioned a company which reflects the feeling of natural balance when men and women are in equal number. He saw it as more harmonious and comfortable. He has held to that, and employees are reaping the results. Women at Symphony Solutions do not feel pressure to prove their equality, in intellect or output, to that of men. That equality is understood from the beginning. This means that they are free to do their jobs and do them well just like their cohorts. Nor do men feel competition from or resistance to women as equal and respected colleagues.

This attitude is reflected throughout the company. The Leadership Team is 52% women, especially significant because the Leadership Team is comprised of department heads, team leads, agile training experts, and others.

Further, equal pay for equal work has never even been an objective, something to work toward or achieve. It is rather an assumption and a habit. It is not even thought of or discussed. It just is.

What’s Happening in Ukraine

Symphony Solutions is headquartered in The Netherlands with delivery centers in Ukraine, Poland and Macedonia. In Ukraine, home of their largest office, the technology community is 20% women. Until society and local business can attract more women into computer science and software engineering, these functions will remain male dominated.

What else is male dominated in Ukraine, however, is salaries. A compensation gap is present, even in areas such as HR where women are effective and well-respected, with a 60% gap in pay for equal jobs. QA, Team Leads and Project Manager positions see a 25 – 35% gap. Only Business Analysis and Software Engineering roles have more equal salary distribution.

These numbers seem to make the Symphony Solutions practice of Zero Pay Gap even more notable.

It’s All in the Culture

The Symphony Solutions culture is seen by employees as the deciding factor which separates the company from others. Gender balance is part of that culture. Benefits which distinctly appeal to women support gender equality. And the Agile-driven, flat management style contributes to the open friendly culture. Management has long said, “It’s not what we do, but how we do it that is differentiating.” This statement pays homage to successful competitors for their equal skill in delivering quality results to demanding clients. But Symphony Solutions’ style and culture are palpably, attitudinally, and practically different. This culture puts people first, in recognition of the value of their most important asset. Employees, then, transfer that respect and care toward service of the business, which then prospers and grows.

What’s Next

Symphony Solutions continues active participation in events aimed at women. One such event is the SHE. Series, which features prominent women in varied fields and their struggles and successes. The first such event in July, 2018 welcomed Oksana Lyniv, conductor of The Opera and Philharmonic in Graz, Austria and founder and conductor of the MozArt Festival in Lviv. The second on 16^th November features Katerina Kit- Sadova, artist, mother of 5 boys, and wife of Lviv city Mayor.

Please click here for future events in Lviv, Krakow, and Skopje.

Women in business and other professional roles is a discussion that has been the subject of articles, books, and debates for decades, actually centuries. Why does this remain on so many agenda, and why not instead focus on issues everyone faces to improve, learn, grow and succeed.  Because, until the glass ceiling for women is broken or role disbursement stabilizes, it will remain a hot topic in global dialogue and local communities.

The issue is deeply rooted in society evolving over millennia and raises questions about natural tendencies and long-held attitudes and practices.  It has always been men who chose to go to war over territory and power, while women stayed close to home to care for and nurture development of the young.  While women have evolved beyond their classic roles, they still try to make best use of their natural tendencies while competing in more male circles.  Should we live in a world that denies our DNA or should we use these differences to the larger advantage in a more advanced society.

It seems that embracing the fact that men and women have different qualities for leadership can combine in organizations to get the best of each.   Goal 5 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is aimed at achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls.  When women grow up with ideas that they can achieve, they often do.

Studies have shown that companies with women at board and executive levels actually perform better than those with a mostly male demographic.

And McKinsey estimates that advancing gender equality could add USD 12 trillion to the economy by 2025, or 11% of global GDP.

McKinsey has also reported that “more women in Parliament leads to greater expenditures on education”, and in India, “women’s leadership in local politics has been found to reduce corruption”.

Central to these conversations, however, is always money, especially because more women live in poverty than men. In Ukraine, woman make only 60% compared to men in equivalent roles.  This compares to the U.S. where the number is 80% and Poland, where the number is 84 %.  This varies by country and industry.

It’s no secret that the IT sphere has always been occupied primarily by male professionals.

In fact, only 25% of candidates who apply for IT vacancies are women, most of whom apply for non-technical positions.

The HR, recruitment, QA stay predominantly covered by women and only around 3% of female professionals work directly with technology.

STEM roles have not been as popular among woman, but that is because those roles were not encouraged among women in education and society.  Harvard University President Larry Summers was fired in 2005 for his remarks that men outperform women in math and sciences.

And still attitudes are slow to change.  Not enough time has passed for actions to raise awareness and opportunities for women, to allow real equality when reaching the next stage of advancement in a career.

Women have qualities that men do not, which can both work well for them and hinder their advancement at the same time.  They tend to be more emotional, which also means they have more empathy and are able to manage problems with employees better than men.  They analyze well which is why they are excellent at testing and making smart decisions after careful consideration.

But women have more difficulty promoting themselves and speaking up about sensitive issues such as money and sexual harassment.

Although women haven’t started their own IT companies and are less likely to be appointed to board positions, new opportunities emerge.  After all, the first programmer in the world was a woman. Ada Lovelace wrote the world’s first machine algorithm for an early computing machine. Today, the CEO`s of IBM, Yahoo, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are women.  Apple has a number of strong, independent and confident women in senior positions, and these figures are growing.

As Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook and the author of bestselling book Lean In, says – “We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored.”

Symphony Solutions has long demonstrated interest in women as employees and as people. This is one reason we are beginning an Event Series called “SHE.” to showcase high-profile, original and accomplished women in Lviv.  We expect this series to have dual-audience appeal and sold-out capacity. See the Facebook page for series description.

On July 14th-16th we were happy to host training Software Architecture for Engineers in Symphony Solutions Lviv office. The event consisted of 24 lecturing hours and embraced a fairly wide range of topics.

The main aim of the training was to provide participants with deep and enhanced knowledge of software architecture, its place in Software Development Lifecycle and role and scope of the responsibilities the Architect should embrace.

The trainer Victor Teslenko (Kyiv, UA) also explained how Architectural Design occurs. He covered the topic of common architectural concepts and principles and disclosed Data and Object Modeling, Qualities of Distributed Systems, State and CAP theorem and analysis of Software Architecture.

During the event all participants got the chance not only to learn how to deliver software of the excellent quality but how to translate business ideas into efficient engineering solutions. Agenda consisted of lectures as well as of group practical part, which allowed the participants to apply gained knowledge and test it in the safe environment. The participants were given three real cases to examine and elaborate.

Dmytro Babchuk, Software Engineer at Symphony Solutions:
“It was an amazing training. The trainer was really experienced and willing to share. There were many practical cases, which are always cool to investigate and learn from. I am very satisfied with the content of the training as I gained many ideas which can be easily applied within my project”.

Corporate values are often referred to as “guiding principles that help define people’s behavior in a company”. They provide internal and external advantages to the company, and educate clients and potential customers about what the company is and how it operates.

“The values of a company define its ‘how’ side of achieving the business result. The values of a business help to present a consistent ‘face’ of the company to its stakeholders. This tends to make the Company more trustworthy and its employees more confident in knowing how to deal with situations.”

Anna Lewis, Organizational Development Professional.

A Symphony in Burgundy

We are not different in what we do. We are different in HOW we do it.

We are different because our corporate values are an integral part of our culture. They are the essence of our identity, the principles that guide us, the beliefs we stand by, and the philosophy that shapes our everyday actions and interpersonal interactions.

We take our values very seriously since they are essential to properly execute our strategy and ensure the environment which supports personal and professional growth, inspires productivity; all the while supporting the company’s objectives.

Living by the values makes Symphony a reliable company: our customers prefer to do business with us because they trust us and know that we will be open and honest with them every step of the way. They are confident in our ability to deliver what we promised no matter what challenges we face. Our employees enjoy working here because we constantly encourage them to grow personally and professionally, feel free to be who they are, excel at what they love and find their place in the company.

Trust At The Heart of Symphony

Trust is the foundation on which we’ve built Symphony Solutions. On top of trust, we have 5 values which steam out from it, are deeply rooted in and shape our corporate culture, as well as guide all our actions. They keep us in check, help us make the right decisions and always do the right things, even in the toughest situations.

TRUST: The foundation!

We value trusted relationships within Symphony, with our customers and partners

Trust is the foundation and the main building block on which we rely. We believe trust is crucial when establishing and developing both, internal and external relationships since it is the basis of good communication. That leads to forming stronger bonds and reliable partnerships, which result in achieving personal and professional success.

1. INTEGRITY: Always do the right thing!

We always act with honesty and fairness, even when no one is watching

Standing by your principles and being honest about what you say and do are very important qualities that make us more reliable and true to ourselves, our colleagues and customers. Trusting our employees to do the right thing, even when no one is watching, inspires them to deliver excellent results and strengthens our interpersonal relationships.

2. INNOVATION: Keep innovation as your state of mind!

We constantly strive for progress and improvement of our people, services and our organization

If you want to succeed in a fast-changing world, you must constantly evolve. Innovation is the key for staying up-to-date with the changes around you and becoming better than you were yesterday. We encourage our employees to be constantly curiuos, keep learning and think creatively, be in an innovative state of mind. That helps them work better and smarter, therefore the whole organization becomes more efficient and more successful.

3. INITIATIVE: Be the change you want to see around!

We are proactive when we see an opportunity and always do what needs to be done

We find the best way to make a change is to start with ourselves. We instigate our employees to be proactive and seek alternative ways to do things in a different and better way. We encourage them to act in every opportunity they feel they can or need to, to solve a problem or simplify and improve a process. We value their input, encourage them to speak up, empower them to take responsibility and act upon their suggestions and ideas.

4. INSPIRATIONAL: Whatever you do, do it with passion!

By doing everything with passion, we do extraordinary work that exceeds our customers’ expectations

Being passionate about your work is what adds that extra quality which often results in exceeding expectations. The eagerness to do your best, constant dedication to your work, and the way you put your heart and soul in whatever you do, shape you as an individual and make your work exceptional and inspirational. It shows how gratifying it feels to do what you love and what amazing results one can achieve when working with passion.

5. INTIMACY: Intimacy matters!

We aim to be close to our colleagues and customers in order to better understand each other and build relationships based on trust

When you are close and communicate on a more personal level with your colleagues and customers, you create stronger relationships based on trust, mutual understanding and loyalty. And when you have that closeness within your organization and with your customers, you can easily come up with better solutions and go through whatever situation you may find yourself in, because you know that you can trust and rely on each other.

This set of values influences each one of us and the way we work. They are what makes us different in HOW we do things, inside the company as well outside, with our clients. And here’s how our fellow Symphonians incorporate values in their everyday work:

“Intimacy. We have a transparent relationship in our team. Our teamwork is based on complete trust and understanding so that together we can initiate and innovate bringing to life new and sometimes the craziest ideas ever, inspire each other as well as those around us, e.g. when teaching our students and opening the door to new horizons for them.”

Sofia

“Being inspirational, for sure. I am passionate about everything I do – I go to work with passion, I work with passion and every day I try to improve myself and complete my tasks better, therefore complete the projects I work on more successfully. And by delivering high-quality solutions to our clients, we provide a better experience for the end-users and makes their world a better place.”

Oleksandr

When people know they are trusted because there’s a deeper, more intimate relationship between them and other members of Symphony-family and customers, they keep their integrity, are always fair, correct and honest, feel free and empowered to be innovative in their work. They are not afraid to take initiative to change and improve things, which makes them inspirational for other Symphonians and customers. That strengthens the trust we put in them in the first place, and makes the circle complete.

Two weeks ago we had a very special guest – DOU Revisor in our office, who published an article about Symphony Solutions on their website – the most popular web-source for developers in Ukraine.

You can read translated article below. Enjoy!

On New Year’s Eve our DOU inspector team headed to the cultural capital of Ukraine to review Symphony Solutions office. It’s a young European company, head offices of which are situated in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and in Lviv. Recently Symphony Solutions has also opened two small offices in Rzeszów (Poland) and Skopje (Macedonia). The company was established in 2008. Currently it employs approximately 250 specialists.

Not long ago the company moved to a new office (Lviv, Naukova str, 2b) The premises consist of 3 floors and occupy 2800 square metres. The initial idea was to recreate the setting of one small village in the Netherlands, Zaanse Schans. Its elements have been integrated in the office interior.

It’s difficult for us to evaluate the location of the office, because we are not locals and only managed to stay there for one working day. However, the employees of Symphony Solutions cannot but mention that it’s very convenient, you can easily get to any part of the city, which is even easier if you drive. In front of the office you can find a roomy outdoor car park for the employees. Whereas bicycle lovers can leave their vehicles in the outdoor bicycle rank just in front of the building. You won’t find many cafes or canteens in the vicinity, the closest spot is restaurant “Gopak” where you can get a full meal at a price of 80-100 UAH. Considering that fact, the company provides its employees with free meals. Free breakfasts for early birds and organized lunches for all employees with great selection of dishes. You may find more information below in “Leisure and Inspiration”.

Working space

While planning a new office, it has been decided to place all working space on the second and third floors.

It’s a bit unusual that there’s no hierarchy at Symphony. No matter whether you are a programmer, tester, PM, or even Bill Gates himself, you still get the same desk and working space as the others do. There are no separate rooms for “bosses”.

There’s one interesting thing about little Dutch houses on the first floor, they function as meeting rooms for discussions and skype calls with clients. However, most meeting rooms are on the first floor, e.i. to have a 15 min skype-call, you need to go downstairs. Symphonians say they’ve got used to it now, and in case they need a quick sync up with their team, they may do it without leaving their working places.

They’ve got rid of all possible barriers at Symphony. It’s all about self-management here. It is believed that this kind of organization will attract more good specialists and professionals as well as will be a great environment for their full potential development and growth. According to Symphonians, their schedule is quite flexible: it’s possible to work remotely. The main requirement here is a sufficient amount of hours worked per month, work of a stellar quality and satisfaction of client’s needs.

One person has as much as 12 m² of green area + 1 plant + 1m³ for our water inhabitants (turtles and fish), who are considered to be a great part of the community (according to company data).

Leisure and inspiration

The first floor of Symphony Solutions is a relax zone for all developers which consists of Symphony Park, «Old Amsterdam Café» and Wellness Zone. You don’t need a foreign passport to go to Holland. It will be enough just to see our office.

Symphony Park is the imitation of a picturesque Dutch village Zaanse Schans with a windmill, small houses, bright green grass and wooden picnic tables. You can relax as well as work still staying close to nature. To maximize the effect, they play birds songs in the Park. Very soon there will be audio transmitters installed on trees branches to create a perfect harmony.

The second part of the first floor is occupied by «Old Amsterdam Café», designed in the style of Dutch Brown Cafes, where you may have fresh aromatic coffee or just enjoy a friendly chat with your colleagues. Cute barista girls are happy to serve you drinks all days 8:00-20:00 except for Sundays. Employees may pay by their access cards, from which the necessary fee is withdrawn monthly. The prices are really low: Americano, Espresso or Ristretto will cost you 5 UAH, Latte or Cappuccino – 7 UAH. You may also order fresh juice here for 10 UAH/250 ml and snacks at the cost of 5-15 UAH.

Every morning you can have breakfast in «Old Amsterdam Café» till 9:30 (normally it’s muesli and cereal with milk), and lunch from 12:00 to 15:00. You may choose your own menu no matter whether you are a vegetarian, fruitarian or a raw food eater.

On the first floor there is also a Wellness Zone: massage and manicure rooms, a yoga room (which is used as a table tennis room during the day), and the most interesting place – a Nursery – the room where a baby-sitter takes care of employees’ babies.

The company supports gender equality policy 50/50, which is depicted in its logo that looks like Yin and Yang sign. Balance is often maintained here, 50% of the employees are male and 50% – female. The nursery room was equipped with two baby cots to make it easier for mothers to come back to work after the maternity leave. A baby-sitter hasn’t been found yet but it is said that the room will have started its work by spring.

One more unusual thing about the company is its benefits. Symphony Solutions does not provide medical insurance, but offers general practitioners’ help who come to the office once per week or to employee’s home if needed.

Frankly speaking, it seems that Symphony Solutions is not fond of clichés. It differs from other IT companies by offering things that we have never met in any other office before.

Dou Inspector asks

We’ve decided to talk to employees and find out about their lives by asking two simple questions:

“What do you like most about the office?”, “What would you like to change or improve?”

Oksana, QA lead, has been working for Symphony Solutions since 2009

“I like our Amsterdam café. We have free lunches here and our wonderful baristas make late that is even better than at some coffee shops in the city center. We can also have massage and manicure. It is very convenient to have your nails manicured during the work day. As for another things that I’d like to see in our office, ….maybe a gym. We have a room for yoga and fitness, but no swimming pool or training equipment. However, they are not the most important things and we can do without them, of course.”

Misha, jun. Salesforce developer, has been working for Symphony Solutions for 2 months

“I like all company’s benefits and enjoy working with my team. All the employees here are very friendly. That is why working at my previous job was more difficult than working for Symphony. The project that I am working on now is also very interesting. It is even difficult to say what I want to be improved here. I am absolutely satisfied with the open space, with my comfortable chair and so on. The only thing that I’d like to be changed – is to make our kitchen (the one with the fridge) bigger. It is a very tiny room and there is not enough space for everyone. And if we have 50 more employees, we will need one more fridge. Everything else is great. If to compare with my old job, I must say that Symphony Solutions is just like paradise”.

Andrew, senior Windows app developer, has been working for Symphony Solutions for 3 years

“It feels like my second home here. A very cosy and beautiful place. What else…comfort and again cosiness. I do not like a so called ‘conveyer’. There are such big companies that function as some kind of plants or factories, it feels like working in an anthill there. And it is so great here. What to change? I do not know. If we wish something or have some concerns, we say about it and everything is settled. For instance, we moved to this office about a year ago and a lot of things were missing. We did not even have water supply in some of the taps. But a lot of things have been changed since that time. All our suggestions are now in an Idea Box and Theo is happy to study and integrate all the ideas, even the ones not connected to our work. I mean our band. Once all people who could play or wanted to learn to play some musical instrument got together and formed the band. We have already had two little concerts. It did not take a lot of time to have all the things we needed, e.g. a place for rehearsals, a stereo system and an amplifier. This is an excellent example of how the initiative is realized here”.

Roman, mid .NET developer, has been working for Symphony Solutions for about 2 years

“The thing I like the most is our green zone. You can take your laptop and sit comfortably on the puff. It is much easier to breathe here than in the open space, there are less people and you can even enjoy birds singing. And it is also cool when our rocking chair is not occupied. What would I change in our office? For some period of time it was impossible to open windows which I didn’t like, but the situation has changed now. New windows have been installed and we have more fresh air now. I think that we need a booth for phone calls as to make them we have to go downstairs. Everything else is awesome. I like our comfortable chairs and desks with great space division system.”

Yulia, QA lead, has been working at Symphony Solutions for about 7 months

“I feel very comfortable here. At first I thought that it would be quite uncomfortable to work in the open space, as at my previous job workspace was organized in a different way than it is at Symphony. I do not know how they managed to do that, as a lot of people work here and everyone has their own space, and also a large number of plants make this place even cosier. If you want to relax a little bit, you can go to the park or have a cup of tea in our café. I have been working here for about half a year and I do not see any obvious downsides. Everything is getting better. For example, some new trees have been planted recently. I have no concerns about the working conditions. It is great that we have our Idea Box. If we do not like something, we immediately write about it and ask people to like our idea. By the way, this cow hanging on the ceiling was also somebody’s crazy idea which got the largest number of likes.”