Work-life balance at Kiwee

If you wonder how it's like to be a part of Kiwee Team, I have an answer for you. I’ll tell you my story but also share my coleague’s opinion on work-life balance.

I joined Kiwee in September 2015. At that time I was exhausted after working over hours on a daily basis in a posh corporation. I was really glad Kiwee could offer me relief. For over 6 years of my work I didn't work a single overhour!

A little about the pets

Since the beginning of my journey at Kiwee a lot of things have changed in my life and they somehow were interconnected with my work. At the beginning I was working in the office. I used to take my two dogs with me, as Kiwee offers a pet friendly office.

But a few months after I started my work I found a stray, old and sick dog on the street. I was able to use my three Volunteering Days to take care of her. I spent long hours at the vet with Tereska.

Remote: work-life balance under control

I took care of the doggo and due to her illness I started work remotely to be able to keep work-life balance and to look after her. Remote work and flexible work time is something that we value and use a lot.

Kiwee's remote-first approach and flexible working hours were very beneficial for me. My cat got sick some time ago. Unfortunately it was very serious and his treatment required visiting a vet every couple days. Thanks to Kiwee's work-life balance policy I could work from home and change working hours to have time for taking care of my cat. —  Konrad

Flexible hours and care-taking

But it’s not only about animals of course! Ewa, our Designer used to take care of her eldery aunt, Antonio – Senior Developer, on the other hand is a young parent of two. It is not easy to balance work with household chores, but Kiwee has our backs.

One of the biggest perks in Kiwee is the possibility to work fully remote with flexible working hours. From time to time I am taking care of my elderly auntie and I need to spend time out of Wrocław – remote work comes in handy then. It is also a perfect solution for me in my daily life, as I am taking care of a pretty anxious dog. For her, the fact that I am with her all day long is a blessing.  —  Ewa

A great aspect is having flexible working hours, which helps to keep the work-life balance. In my case, being a father of two, I can plan my day to be productive at work and sometimes take a few minutes break to pick up my children from preschool, and continue working right afterward or at any time it's convenient for me. In addition, I've always been able to plan long holidays and paternity leaves, thanks to the company's well-organized processes and rules. —  Antonio

Work-life balance in difficult time

But sometimes you have to take care of yourself. That’s what happened to me – I got sick, and I had to be on sick leave for a whole year. I didn’t have to worry about my work for a second. Ania – our CEO and co-owner of the company was reassuring me that Kiwee is waiting for me. She prioritises our wellbeing, from time to time she was asking how I was doing, if I was getting better and if she could do anything to help me. It was amazing to feel support from her side.

It’s not my only long-term absence. Our planning allows us to take longer vacations. I spent a month in Vietnam, and three weeks in Switzerland. Antonio passed a month in his home country – Mexico. It’s especially important for our foreign teammates to be able to go home. 

Talking about home. Kiwee is based in Wrocław, but it’s not a problem to live and work anywhere else. I made my dream come true and now I live in a small village by the lake with my partner and four dogs. I have loooong way to Wrocław, but it’s fine - as our processes allow me to be truly and fully remote.

Sometimes the absence is not about the sick leave or the vacation. For instance Ewa used to work part time: 

At some point I couldn’t combine my full-time professional work with care-taking, so I decided to work part time for some months. I discussed it with our CEO and we organised the work plan, so my restricted presence didn’t disorganise design processes nor work-life balance. —  Ewa

Learning and growing

And few of our teammates started as students. Like Krzysiek:

I really appreciate the possibility to work fully remotely at Kiwee. It was a huge advantage for me when I was still a student  and I could save the precious time on commuting and spend it on studying instead. Currently, I continue to benefit from the flexible and remote working policy. It comes in handy when I need to take care of something during working hours or spend a few days outside of Wroclaw. —  Krzysiek

Starting as a student or professional is always difficult so we have a mentoring program: 

Kiwee gave me an opportunity to greatly develop my career. I was just beginning my journey with IT development and therefore I was assigned to a mentor that was very helpful during the first weeks and, thanks to him, everything went as smoothly as possible. He introduced me to Kiwee’s culture and values, developer’s workflow, all of the tools, and everything else that you need to know to work at Kiwee! —  Kamil

For all Kiwee has a great support in boosting our careers:

I am really grateful that I can grow and develop in a direction chosen by me. Every quarter we have 1on1 with the CEO to discuss our career path and possibilities of development. Last year I decided to extend and structurise my UX knowledge by starting postgraduate studies. Thanks to Kiwee I could apply for a subsidy program. —  Ewa

So as you can see Kiwee is a caring Company where people are the value. If you value work-life balance and you would like to join us, check our openings!

 

• work-life balance