CENTRIC: Lessons Learned in Creating a Remote Company Culture A healthy company culture is one of those things that every organization strives to achieve and every employee has come to expect. And for good reason. When it’s right, it’s magic: people feel better at work, they achieve more, and enjoy spending time with their colleagues. This helps the company reach their goals, innovate, recruit and retain more employees, and gain a competitive advantage. It’s a win-win. Like most companies, we have had our ups and downs with finding (and holding onto) a thriving company culture. Over the 10 years the Iasi branch of Centric has been active, we have dealt with stressors that have tested the strength of our company culture: move to a new headquarters, changes in leadership, the growing pains of adding two new floors and reaching a 300-employee milestone, among other things. But nothing has tested our company culture quite like COVID.
Since the majority of our colleagues have been working remotely for almost a year now, we have had to adapt quickly in order to make sure we continue to support our colleagues in the best way possible, so that they can help create the best products possible for our customers. This has meant changes in how we communicate, how we engage in team activities, how we hold events, and how we learn and grow - basically, we have had to rethink how we all engage with our culture. This process has been a struggle at times, but it has given us the opportunity to dig deep, be creative, innovate, and come out stronger in the end.
Lesson 1: Leaving the office does not mean leaving behind your core values. For 10 years, we have been building and adapting our culture – all with office life in mind. Transitioning to an almost fully remote workforce has given us the opportunity to take a closer look at our core values and to make sure that we
are still sharing and living by them. This has been a test, to see if we have values that live in our people, not just in our office. Putting people first, creating stability, and focusing on growth have always been at the heart of our culture and we have worked hard to provide the same feeling during this challenging time. For us, this has meant making sure we show trust and respect: trusting that our colleagues will adapt to remote work and deliver, and respecting people’s work styles and time schedules. We have to say, we have been pretty luck through all this. One of our biggest business areas, Public Sector Solutions for Dutch municipalities, has really grown since COVID has shown the need for e-services and better online apps. This has allowed us to remain more stable, meaning we did not have to layoff anyone during this time. It also means that Centric has continued to grow throughout this period and that our colleagues continue to learn and develop through new challenges.
Alexandru Mînzățanu, Software Developer Anul 5, nr. 14
Dec ’20 - Ian ‘21
33
