In March of this year, we learned that one of the most desirable Canadian employers, IT company FreshBooks, is opening a development center right in Croatia and is hiring around 40 software development specialists.
FreshBooks is an online accounting application designed for small and medium-sized enterprises that allows them to easily manage their finances – without the need for an accounting service or hiring someone to handle it exclusively.
Although the FreshBooks application itself will not be available in Croatia for some time, the company has opened its development center in Zagreb for which it is hiring developers. According to Oliver Fisher (Senior VP of engineering), their goal is to form the ‘strongest Python engineering team in the country’.
Their business model makes them one of the most desirable employers in the country, and this year they were included in ‘Greater Toronto Top Employers’ by the portal ‘Canadastop100.com’. The site states that FreshBooks motivates employees through mentoring programs, constant professional development, and a range of social activities.
Mike McDerment, the director and founder of FreshBooks, did not accidentally bring his company to the position of one of the most desirable employers. In an interview with the business magazine ‘Canadian Business’, he states that he always wants to be available and ‘visible’ to employees – that is precisely why his entire office in Toronto is made of glass.
He has provided his employees in Toronto with a gym and a library in the office, which were designed by the employees themselves so that they know it is as much theirs as it is his. In the same interview, he describes FreshBooks employees as ‘a group of people who have the desire to make something bigger than themselves, to make a difference and learn in the process’.
Employers in Croatia often have problems retaining quality workers, but Mike McDerment revealed strategies that FreshBooks uses to retain employees in an interview with CNBC. Mike tells CNBC that he wants every FreshBooks employee at their workplace to ‘make a difference’ to keep them motivated and that by organizing events like ‘blind dates for employees’, he tries to ensure that all employees at least know each other personally.
In addition to placing great importance on employee satisfaction, FreshBooks does not overlook its clients – as evidenced by the numerous awards they have won as a company with the best customer support. In an interview with the well-known magazine Forbes, Mike McDement recounted how, during the launch of a new version of the application, he left the old version for all existing users who had gotten used to it and did not want to change. Customer support also remained functional for those clients.
If Mike McDerment manages to replicate just 50% of the success in Canada in Croatia, our programmers are looking at yet another top employer.
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