Staff retainment

Examples of member initiatives to retain employees.

The labour market remains very tight and members develop various activities and benefits to retain employees.

Sports

In September IT system integrator IWConnect had the second edition of their internal Olympic Games.

Nine teams spent in total some 30 hours together competing in 14 disciplines.

Themed Parties

In addition to their CSR activities (see elsewhere in this magazine) recruiter Frontwise Group continued organizing themed parties at the office.

Next to their Champagne Fridays, they celebrated Halloween, while also honouring the National Waffle and Nachos Day as well as World Pizza Day.

christmas celebrations

And of course everybody seizes christmas to pay a little extra attention to each other. There were company dinners, for example by software developer Symphony Solutions.

Transport company Boekestijn surprised its clients with a christmas cake and the manufacturer of heat exchangers Holmak in Bitola treated the staff to a “grazing box”.

Others organized Secret Santa gatherings at the office, like the Skopje team of Dutch marketing agency STEETS did on a Friday evening in December.

Rooftop Socializing

Some companies are blessed with a marvellous rooftop ter- race as an excellent location for socializing. Intertec is known for its rooftop parties, but also newcomer Scopisto Advanced Technology enjoys the luxury.

Company Birthdays

An easy occasion for a party is the birthday of the company.

Team Building

Although all those activities contribute to a greater cohesion between the staff members, dedicated events to focus on team building are also widely used, especially in the sectors IT and business services. Symphony Solutions used the winter season for a scenic team building weekend in the snowy mountain village Mavrovo.

members

Education: relations for the future

The business community maintains close ties with educational institutions.

The worlds of business and education are very different, but through the development of future staff the strong connection is undeniable. Various companies maintain relations with educational institutions. On this page a few recent examples from our members.

Summer Camps

Where the educational systems focus on theory, knowledge and skills, companies can contribute with practical insights and experience. The a group of students from the Faculty of Biotechnical Science.

Job Fairs

The other way around, faculties host trade fairs at which companies present themselves as internship provider or future employer to the students. The previous edition of this magazine already showcased some serious investments in education under Corporate Social Responsibility, such as the summer camps of Pivara Skopje, Boekestijn Transport Service and IWConnect.

Open House

But also the day-to-day life at university provides various opportunities for connections. The BiMilk dairy plant in Bitola traditionally holds an Open House on World Quality Day and this time welcomed best known brand is probably Job Fair, an annual event organized by student association Board of European Students of Technology (BEST) at the technical faculties in Skopje. Several members have been participating at this fair. In De- logy now considers a partnership to boost their R&D efforts through student assignments.

Guest Lecturer

Recently, the faculties of Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering in Skopje hosted a guest lecture by Maurits van Tol on the future of hydrogen technology.

cember the Technical Faculty of Bitola organized a similar event in which the local branch of Dutch Holmak HeatX participated. The Skopje branch of Dutch e-commerce agency DEPT advertized their offer for paid traineeships in Salesforce at the Faculty of Informatics in Stip.

Partnership

Following a visit to the technical faculties in Skopje, the Dutch digital product developer Scopisto Advanced Techno-

Dutchman Van Tol holds a PhD in chemistry from Leiden University and spent almost two decades at Dutch DSM. Since October 2019 he is CTO of Johnson Matthey, a British multinational in specialty chemicals, running a factory for catalysts in the Free Economic Zone Bunardzik near Skopje.

Members

CSR Circle

News about member initiatives in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility.

NL Chamber members increasingly initiate activities for the greater good of the local society, for example in education, sports and environmental care. Below is an overview of the current initiatives.

our pride our responsibility

Pivara Skopje dedicated the platform of its flagship brand www.skopsko.mk to environmental protection under the slogan “Our pride. Our responsibility”. The platform focusses on cleaning of national landmarks and protection from pollution. Partners are Pakomak, the Ministry of Environment and the municipalities of Debrca, Ohrid and Struga.

Environment

On International Volunteer Day (5 December) a hundred volunteers, including diving clubs Amfora and Akvatek gathered in Ohrid to clean the bottom and banks of Lake Ohrid on seven locations.

Tree Planting

By the end of December, the ministers of Agriculture and Environment joined the volunteers of Pivara Skopje and partners to plant 40,000 trees in Kjojlija near the airport and in the vicinity of Lake Mladost near Veles. This action was the result of the massive litter cleanup campaign Generalka Weekend that Pivara, Pakomak and partners organized in May 2022, where they promised to plant a tree for every 10 kg of waste collected. part of a teambuilding event organized by eco tourism agency Kajak.mk. film festival sponsor our members Symphony Solutions and Bimilk as well as the Netherlands Embassy also made donations.

Frontwise was also sponsor of the international film festival Kinenova that took place in Skopje from 7-14 October.

Last but not least, Frontwise donated 30 laptops to Donate Computer, a private initiative started in the early days of the pandemic to enable children to follow online lessons.

From Laptops To Blood

With that action they found themselves in good company:

Early February IWConnect invited the Institute of Transfusion Medicine to organize blood donations at their offices in Bitola, Prilep and Skopje. For technology director Lazo Ilijoski it was the tenth blood donation.

Renovation Project

Under its donation label IW4U, the IT system integrator from

Bitola launched a big project in its hometown: the renovation of the sports ground in the Brusnicka neigbourhood. In the first phase, IWConnect arranged for the renovation of the basketball field, which was officially opened in November. The second phase consisted of the complete renewal of the adjacent children’s playground which was finished shortly before New Year.