We all value companies that not only contribute but actively encourage a work/life balance, and at Subvisual, that’s no different.
We proud ourselves on having a good set of values, that are clearly stated on our website as well as on our culture. Actually, we are pleased to note that many of the applications we receive name our culture as one of the reasons they want to work with us. We stand for a people first culture, where everyone is encouraged to aim higher, to keep learning and staying curious. We nourish empathy, diversity and sustainability and keep an open mind to new ideas. Simply put, we push for transparency in every business aspect as we want everyone to feel good working with us.
For this reason, we have always kept an eye on new things we could do for our team and how we could add perks that they’d value and use. At the same time, we were never interested in adding perks just for the sake of it or because they’re trendy: we want to create real value and that each of our team members feels seen and valued.
People First, Always
As we mentioned above, one of our core values is that people always come first, but how exactly is that reflected on our daily routines? Well, we like to think it comes naturally and that we’ve set processes that welcome transparency and push for an open communication. This means that there are no hierarchies when it comes to having an opinion and every team member is encouraged to speak their mind and making sure they’re listened and push for change.
You’ll see this throughout our online presence, from our website, to our careers page and also on our social media and events. We truly believe that the quality of our work is closely related to the quality of our team’s well being, so it’s really no surprise that most of our perks are meant to make our team's life easier and more enjoyable.
Our team has always cherished continuous learning and that’s why one of our values is called “Stay Curious”. We want a team that doesn’t settle, that loves learning new things and that feels comfortable with being their true selves, so we added some perks that reflect just that. For example, to push for continuous learning opportunities, we have our Friday Talks, where someone from the Subvisual Universe shares more about a specific topic with everyone; and we also assign each of our team members with a yearly personal development budget that they can use to attend conferences, workshops or any other certifications that will contribute to their personal growth. To make sure everyone is covered, we provide full autonomy on how people spend this budget. We don't ask questions, so they can spend it on books, conferences or whatever they think it will help them learn a new topic.
As for their well-being, we give our team access to a health insurance plan that covers both medical and dental care, as well as a personal budget that they can use in healthcare and well-being activities that may help them feel better. Here, just like with the personal budget, we give our team freedom of choice so people can spend their budget on a gym membership, nutritionist, physiotherapy, coaching or any other health-related service that they believe will improve their lives.
But don’t take it from us. We recently asked two of our team members about what perks they value the most. For Miguel Palhas, who’s been at Subvisual pretty much since day 1, it’s mostly about having a personal learning budget and the investment time, which consists in taking Friday’s to work on a personal project and share that with the team. On the other side, Margarida Maia who joined us a couple of months ago, “The perks I value the most are, without a doubt, the learning budget and the health budget. The first because I've always loved to learn by myself, whether by attending conferences, doing online courses or buying an over-the-top amount of books. The latter because I have some chronic health issues that are never covered by insurance - an unfortunately common problem for many people - and I'm able to get better care”.
In rest we trust
Now that we’ve covered how we want our team to feel, it’s time to share a little more on how we keep that work/life balance. Firstly, we’re a remote-first company, meaning that we look for the best talent no matter where in the world they’re based. We have an office in Braga if people want to socialize, but we really just want people to work from wherever they feel the most comfortable. Whether that means that today someone could be working from the office, tomorrow at home and next week at a café in another country, that’s completely up to every individual.
So how do we make sure this works for us? To start with, we make sure everyone has a good setup by providing the software and hardware everyone needs to improve their work-from-home conditions. Starting with the basics like a laptop, keyboard, extra screen, but also going further by adding an extra to spend on what people value most: a good chair, a stand-up desk, or whatever rocks their boat.
At the same time, we don't believe that people only need a fixed amount of days to rest a year or that they need to be productive 8 hours a day. We offer everyone unlimited vacation so they can choose when they need or want to rest; as well as flexible working hours so that they can work whenever they’re most productive.
Lastly, over the last 10 years, we were lucky to welcome some babies to the Subvisual universe. As a way to keep true to our values, and to help new parents settle in this new amazing chapter of their lives, we give them the freedom to take as much time off as they need. We don't establish a fixed monthly amount per person, but rather let each of them decide what works best for them.
We really want to make sure we contribute to an healthy culture, where our well-being is a given and where our team doesn’t need to worry about speaking up. Do you share these values and would you like to be a part of the Universe? Great, we are hiring! Check out our openings here.