Last year was definitely a crazy year filled with many ups and downs. One of those ups, however, was that in December 2020 Admios was recognized and awarded as the Best Employer for Youth in Panama. The study consisted of a survey in which 25 other companies participated. These companies included big names such as Kimberly Clark, Under Armour, Unilever and Pepsico. The participants included both young professionals with three or more months in the company and those that were born in 1985 or after.
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The study explored ten categories that could score a maximum of 100 points each. These categories included working environment, quality of life, talent, innovation, infrastructure, recognition, diversity and culture, reputation, career development and benefits. In all of the ten categories, Admios scored higher than the average of all companies surveyed as well as than the average of the top 10 companies.
Participants answered that the decision to choose Admios was mainly based on working environment and constant learning and development. In addition, they would recommend the company based on these 2 factors as well as quality of life (being in the top 3 answers).
When thinking about the factors and practices that have made this achievement possible, especially in such a tough year, five things come to mind:
- Trust
- Transparency
- Communication tools such as Slack
- Agile Methodology
- Iterate to constantly optimize processes
One of the major trends worldwide that we could note is that young professionals have demonstrated their need for accelerated career development. The way we’ve approached this new drive is with transparency and communication. Everyone on the team has clear expectations and goals from day one that are tied to the career path they’ve decided to take. These important conversations about career development take place during our Manager in Training Program and our Developer Progression Meetings. Our Manager in Training Program came to be as we learned that there weren't a lot of management training resources for want-to-be managers in the field of software engineering. This is why we set out to create an internal management-in-training (MIT) program. We’ve been building, iterating, and improving on our MIT program for the last 10 years.
We also have mentorships throughout the team but are also very focused in mentoring potential team leaders to improve their soft skills. This open communication culture has helped us create a bond with our employees where everyone feels comfortable and supported to openly share their thoughts, feelings, and the direction they want their careers to take.
Most of our employees at Admios are millennials which has definitely shaped the way our culture has come to be. What we’ve come to realize is that this demographic is all about being heard and find imperative that you value their ideas. They are motivated to share input, make changes and leave a mark which is something we’re truly thankful for here at Admios. We’re all up for bringing new ideas to the table and constantly challenge ourselves to keep a dynamic workforce going.
2020 was definitely a year for a lot of growth for us at the company which helped us definitely improve our remote work culture. Admios has always been a strong advocate of work-life balance which is part of our DNA, but the current pandemic definitely made us want to be more present in our employees’ lives and for them to feel our support throughout this difficult time.
When it comes to making sure that our team doesn’t burn out we keep the following things in mind:
1) We try to be very aware of who has to go on vacation so that they take some valuable time off. Being in lockdown in our houses has shown us that it can be even more exhausting than going to the actual office so we want to make sure that our team is feeling 100%, stress free and well rested.
2) We are always present in making sure how the team feels both with work and in their personal life. We motivate employees a lot to take time for themselves, to exercise, etc. We have Slack channels where we share everything from exercise to daily family things which motivates the team to keep that balance. One of our most important phrases is "Family First" and our team knows that if there is a family emergency they have all the freedom to take care of their matters. They also know they have a family of 60+ people supporting them in whatever they need. We also created a “Yelling” channel which has been a true hit. Sometimes writing in all-caps can be very liberating, don’t you think?
Since 2020 was almost a fully remote year, it was a bit more difficult to realize how the team was as one does not engage with them face to face to know if they’re poorly motivated, sad, tired, happy, excited, etc. So the biggest challenge in 2020 was definitely learning to know how the team is emotionally with everything that is going on which has made communication a key.
Unquestionably, in 2020 we’ve learned to be even more present than ever before. We wanted to find a way to encourage the team to keep on going so we sent everyone a care package filled with Admios goodies this past September. The response was amazing, everyone was thankful and excited for the thoughtful gift and the feeling belonging to the organization was reinforced. Another initiative we took in 2020 was creating spaces where everyone could release their stress such as virtual happy hours, game nights and virtual escape rooms. The latter was an all-team favorite! We also made everyone aware that not being/feeling ok was totally valid and reassured them that we would get through this together. Everyone was welcomed to take some time off for themselves, whether it was for their mental or physical health.
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Winning this award was amazing and it also showed us many points we want to improve further upon like diversity and continuing to support women in engineering programs both inside and outside the organization. This award is a reflection of our values and the importance of living them in everything we do and it is also a reminder of everything that can be accomplished when an organization prioritizes the health of its organizational culture.
We are looking forward to 2021, doing what we love, delivering quality work, and working on projects that challenge us. We are excited about all while keeping the team united while we overcome these unprecedented times.
Interested in joining our award winning team? Click here to see our open positions and apply.
