Emphasis on empathy — how Empat creates company culture

Many companies believe that productivity is the most important part of the whole ordeal we call business. At Empat we think differently. We prioritize culture over superficial corporate perks like a city-centre office and free lunches. We do not treat the cultural aspect of work as a secondary concern, we believe it to be the main ingredient of meaningful and fulfilling work.

Many Ukrainian companies neglect to create the company's spirit in favour of earnings, but the benefits culture provides are much more long-lasting than a quarter productivity quota. With it employees can happily work in the company for years, bring on board friends and family, and become the moving force of success.

We implement our culture strategy using the PARC model, which stands for:

• People are the foundation of any company — after all, people shape the company, not the other way around.

• Architecture —  core mechanisms that identify company structure and hierarchy; the less the difference between employees and C-level specialists, the better.

• Routines — repetitive processes that develop inside the company over time.

• Culture — the set of shared values that gives work meaning and purpose.

How we applied the PARC model at Empat

We started implementing cultural aspects in our workflow from the point of view of an employee whom the company had just hired. That`s why everything started from HR and C-level employees. From the very beginning, we promoted openness, dialogue, and, most importantly, empathy. We communicate as decent humans and are ready to understand, not just pretend to be empathic.

After setting the company's tone, our culture naturally evolved through team collaboration in regular meetings. According to our internal surveys, our employees describe our company spirit as "collaborative", "supportive", and "innovative".

Speaking of innovations. We discovered that this corporate culture promotes innovation because we let everyone speak their mind and share ideas. When you hire exceptional people and let them breathe, they can create something the world has never seen.

We regularly conduct anonymous surveys to identify potential bottlenecks before they become critical. According to the studies from our HR department and management, 86.2% of our employees have a high level of trust in management, and 93.8% are open to new ideas, which is crucial for innovative development. We are really into professional development, with 52.5% of our employees believing we provide fair market growth opportunities.

Some managers might believe professionalism and empathy don't mix, but we see them as complementary. Why not give it a try?

What we are saying exactly

We can talk for hours about how we value our people, but we are not going to do that. Instead, we will offer short opinions that we believe are the core of our success in terms of company culture.

As soon as your business is created, identify your company culture and implement it in all of its aspects. Hire people who are aligned with your values, and you can predict your company's behaviour for years.

Hire individual thinkers from different backgrounds. Implement questions in the hiring process that assess the candidate's creative capabilities to preserve differences in your company. Exchange of thought and differences in opinions birth the most beautiful things in the world, which also applies to software development.

We hire people not only for their technical skills but also for their personal qualities and interests. Our CEO conducted in-depth interviews with the first 30 people of Empat to ensure that they were aligned in values and had different backgrounds regarding hobbies, interests, and personalities.

Final Thoughts

Culture is not a perk; it's a strategy that leads to long-term success. Aligning with the right values and the right people will bring innovation, motivation, and inclusion to the processes and company life.

Ukrainian tech leaders can benefit from implementing the PARC model into their work to ensure that their business stays afloat no matter what, and that employees support each other, trust in management, and believe in their success as a part of the company.

Now, to the final part: is your company treating culture as a strategic advantage or another perk?