The secret of longevity, or… How to work in one company for more than 5 years.

Our work

Accepting a job offer, do we expect to stay with the company for a long time? Probably not. And the higher our value in the market, the less we cling to a particular company. 

But does the strategy of “speed dating and relationships without commitment” bring the expected effect in the form of a rapid increase in salary and – most importantly – job satisfaction? To find out, we conducted a series of interviews with employees who have been working at Unicsoft for 5, 7, and even 11 years. Some of the answers surprised us, and others made us think and take a new look at the things that employees really value in the company.

Question 1: Is the reason to work for 5 years at Unicsoft more about personal preferences, the desire for stability or the conditions that the company creates?

I came to Unicsoft 7 years ago. At that time, only 4 people worked in the company, not counting developers on projects. 

Therefore, during the growth and development of the company, I had time to try myself in various roles: assistant manager, lead generator and SDR (Sales Development Representative), account manager. 

I dealt with many different clients, I also managed finance. And this was probably the most difficult stage in my career because I had to perform a huge amount of work. As a result, CEO Oleksiy Zavhorodniy suggested that I either continue working in account management or completely switch to finance, so I became the head of the financial department at Unicsoft.

Probably, in this story, there is an answer to the question, why I am at Unicsoft. Because here I always had the opportunity to learn something new and perform various tasks. And even now, after 2 years of working as a manager, new tasks which I have never done before appear every month. They allow me to expand my professional skills and knowledge. Working at Unicsoft in general gives a great incentive to constantly develop and learn new things.

Alona Zhurba, Head of Financial Department, 7 years with Unicsofto

Alyona’s answer gives us a possibility to clearly trace the idea that it is the conditions created by the company that determine our willingness to work for a long time. 

Personality type and attitude to risk, of course, matter, but if there are no objective reasons to stay with the company, the employee will definitely consider other job offers. The format of the search depends on our characteristics: employees who are more prone to risk will actively look for a job, and those who value stability will wait for the first step from the recruiter and choose their next place of work more carefully.

In terms of the specific conditions that the company is supposed to create, one of the most frequent reasons for changing jobs is precisely the lack of opportunities for professional development. 

In other words, when employees get bored doing the same job, they are made to look for offers in the external market. It’s not usually about money: nobody wants to keep staying in the place if there are no prospects in sight. Moreover, promotion (formal advancement up the career ladder) is not of critical importance. It is much more important to always have a part of new tasks in the scope, the performance of which was not experienced before. 

Alyona emphasizes this in her answer: the challenge creates a sense of flow and prevents the employee from getting bored.

Question 2: What helps you sustain interest in work?

Interest supported a variety of projects throughout all these years. There is always something new that creates a challenge for me as a professional. It is also important to feel my value for the company, it motivates.”.
Dmytro Grebennikov, Senior Project Manager, 6 years with Unicsoft

1. A good and fun team (corporate parties, presentations from the management, training, etc.).

2. Many new tasks on projects, the solution of which requires different approaches.

3. Training of new people.

4. Hobby (provides an opportunity to distract and relieve oneself).

5. Growth is not fast, but it is there. 🙂

Andrii Vasiliev, Senior Web Developer, 5 years with Unicsoft

We have a service business, so every day something new happens! Different customers, projects, technologies, non-trivial situations we face all the time as well as look for solutions. 

Interest in work is easy to maintain if you ask yourself the question: “How else can I be useful to the business?”. A focus on the company’s goals helps to look beyond the horizon and motivates to master those skills that may be needed after a certain time.

Also, of course, it is important to openly inform the manager that you have outgrown your tasks. Unicsoft, for example, has a career planning system, within which you can discuss further movement on the career ladder. Even if you do not see clear prospects for growth in your current position, it is better to first talk about it with your manager. Most likely, he or she will try to offer you the most interesting alternatives.

Anna Levkivska, Staffing Director, 8.5 years with Unicsoft

First of all, we grew up! And this is noticeable by all possible indicators. Everyone is a part of the company, and if a person is interested in his or her work, he or she develops personally and thereby develops the company. And it works both ways. As a company grows, the level of tasks constantly increases, requiring employees to acquire new skills.
Artem Sklyarov, Blockchain Tech Lead, 12 years with Unicsoft

What regularity can be traced in the answers?

First of all, the feeling of the value of the applied efforts, which Dima talks about, over time transforms the role of an employee from a simple executor of tasks to a co-creator of the overall result. Few people want to leave a company that they witnessed being built and which was actually built with their hands. Of course, it is important to receive recognition of one’s contribution in the form of an expansion of the scope of responsibility and a compensation package, but if there are no problems with this, the work will please you for many years.

Secondly, an important part is also the co-directed development together with the company, when the organizational strategy stimulates employees to improve the most demanded needs in the competence market and prepares them for tomorrow’s challenges. If your interests and business needs coincide, work ceases to be hard work to earn money, and becomes a means of fulfilling inner potential and talents. With an effective career planning program, which Anya and Artem mentioned, everyone can develop their level of competence and apply it to the realization of the company’s strategic goals.

Thirdly, working on multifaceted tasks within the same project or on various projects is unlikely to be boring, after employees do not feel the feeling of an assembly line, where monotonous actions, repeated day after day, lead to apathy and loss of interest. And if, in addition, you get a fun team, the opportunity to share your knowledge with others, and devote your free time to rest and hobbies, only an adventurer will be able to change jobs.

Question 3: What should you pay attention to when choosing a job and a company in order to work for a long time and with pleasure?

I have worked in many companies, so I can say: it is a success that I ended up staying at Unicsoft. For me, it’s all about the people I know and the relationships between them. Unicsoft is a great example of that! Also, if there are any issues, there’s always a chance to discuss things in a proper way and disease is best for all species.
Artem Sklyarov, Blockchain Tech Lead, 12 years with Unicsoft

The second most important factor determining job satisfaction, after the content of work tasks, is precisely the relationship between people. A company is actually a group of people who work together to achieve a certain goal. The more effective and constructive interaction in a team, the more comfortable it is to work in it. 

The concept of relations between people includes many different aspects: from the style of communication and readiness for collaboration to the default strategy of behavior in a conflict situation and the adopted way of defending one’s interests. Great success occurs when all these aspects of interpersonal interaction create a psychologically safe and ecological environment in which each employee directs his energies to achieving results, and not to political games and the struggle for survival.

Question 4: It’s no secret that each of us receives many offers to change jobs every day. Why do you think Unicsoft has been winning for so many years?

If a company builds a relationship with an employee, if you feel that you are part of a team that supports you, then loyalty cannot be avoided. 🙂 It’s also very important to me that the company’s values match my own. So that you can be proud of the work done and the successes of our clients.
Katya Salamakha, Designer, 7 years with Unicsoft

There are really a lot of offers to change jobs, especially recently, due to the lack of specialists on the market.

In fact, it is much easier and faster to build a career by changing companies, although it sounds paradoxical. In most cases, companies would rather take on a new employee at a higher salary than give an existing employee a raise.

In the case of a choice between a new company and the current one, I would highlight the following factors: team, involvement in the company’s affairs, financial reward, general goals and principles, confidence in the future.

At different points in time, different priorities are possible. Today, these criteria are balanced for me, and I have no need to change the place of work. Therefore, when weighing the offers, the option to stay at the current place of work wins. When I get a job, I always focus on long-term cooperation, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Having worked for the company for over 5 years, I can say that this is unexpected.

Roma Kotenko, Senior PHP Developer, 5 years with Unicsoft

Every day, any company experiences attacks from competitors who try to lure the best employees in different ways. You can win this war for talent only if you meet all your obligations, maintain market-level compensation, and maintain maximum honesty in dealing with employees.

It is clear that there will always be a company that is ready to offer more money and some benefits, but here we need to think about how these conditions correspond to the average market for a specific position. A successful business will not offer non-market conditions, as they reduce the long-term rate of return and limit investment opportunities. Moreover, the more successful and stable the business, the more often the lag-the-market compensation strategy is used for three reasons: 1) the very fact of working for a well-known company gives the employee advantages during the next job search; 2) the supply exceeds the company’s demand for employees (in simple words, many candidates apply for the vacancy, ready to work for less money, if it will be an advantage over competitors); 3) the monetary reward as part of the general compensation package is absorbed by benefits in the form of a fashionable office, extended health insurance, tuition fees, gym, meals, etc. (there is definitely logic in this: the benefits are received by large market players at large discounts due to scale, and are included in the compensation package for employees at market value). 

Therefore, before accepting an offer involving a salary figure that surprises even you, think (or rather ask the recruiter) what motivates the company to offer such conditions and whether it will be able to fulfill them at least in a year’s perspective.

Question 5: You probably have friends who often change jobs. What do they gain and lose? Do you think there are more advantages or disadvantages to frequent job changes?

I think each person has his or her own reasons to change their job. Someone is at the beginning of the path and is experimenting to understand what “is better”. Others simply by nature need frequent changes of places or professions. Someone does not like the profession, but it seems that the new place will be more interesting.

In my opinion, in a more or less strategic role for the business, an employee starts to bring value about six months to a year after starting, depending on the level. Therefore, in the general case, if a person wants to realize himself or herself socially, to gain financial independence, expertise, and a stable circle of contacts, after searching for “his or her place”, the specialist does stay in a certain company or even a role for several years.

Anna Levkivska, Staffing Director, 8.5 years with Unicsoft

At work, as in life, each person searches for himself or herself or until decides what really wants to do and with whom he or she would like to achieve the goals. Once these key questions are answered, the search is usually over. Moreover, the common myth that the ideal job and a team of like-minded people can be found only by “sorting” different companies has little to do with reality. In fact, it is quite possible to create an ideal job in terms of the meaningfulness of the tasks in the current place, if you propose improvements and take responsibility for their implementation. With people, it is more difficult, because the default patterns of behavior are fixed in the cultural code of the company. But there aren’t really many companies with a frankly sick work atmosphere, and the chance of becoming a part of them is not that high if you are careful during the interview.

And finally, a bonus question: how do the employees hired half a year ago differ from the “old timers”? Does the culture change with new hires?

Currently, there are many young employees of generation Z who are different from millennials. They have a slightly different value system, and it is felt in collaboration. Over the past year, many new people have appeared, but the format of remote work does not allow you to fully get to know everyone. What really sets employees apart is how committed they are to the company they work for.

 I have been with Unicsoft for many years, and of course, the success of our company is critical to me. New people who come to us also need to cultivate devotion.

Alyona Zhurba, Head of Financial Department, 7 years with Unicsoft

Definitely, newly hired employees differ from those who have been with us for more than a year, because they have not yet had time to adopt all the values. In addition, in the first months, every employee looks closely at the company and evaluates whether this relationship has potential. It is probably not worth waiting for some extra miles or superpowers at this stage. But, as it is clearly noted in the answer, it is important for the “old timers” to show by their example: the company is worthy of care and effort which are made to achieve strategic goals. So new employees, regardless of generation will integrate into the culture faster and work with pleasure for the overall result.

CONCLUSION

Summing up, we can deduce a simple recipe for an ideal job, to which you can safely devote five or more years of your life:

  • presence of challenges (new, non-trivial tasks);
  • a sense of the value of the efforts made;
  • coordinated development with the company;
  • multifaceted tasks within one project or various projects;
  • good relations between people;
  • market level of compensation;
  • the ability to initiate changes and drive their implementation;
  • willingness to use his or her example to motivate newcomers to care about the company.

At first glance, everything seems simple, but behind these points there are efforts of the entire company, every employee who wants work to be enjoyable. After all, an ideal job is not a mythical philosopher’s stone, but the result of the efforts of caring people who strive to create the most effective and comfortable conditions for themselves and others.

Oleksii Laushkin

Head of People Operations