At Scoro, we believe that the well-being of our team drives our company’s success.

Here are 10 ways Scoro supports employee mental health and well-being.

1. Flexible Work Schedules & 4-Day Work Week

At Scoro, we believe in working smarter, not harder. That’s why we’ve redefined the traditional 5-day, 40-hour schedule. Instead, we’ve opted for a 4-day work week with 32-hours – without compromising full-time salaries. This allows our employees to enjoy more quality time with family, pursue personal interests, handle essential tasks, or even take a long weekend trip to recharge. Regardless of people’s role, team, or location.

As a result, our team feels more motivated and productive during their working hours. While many team members prefer the classic 9-to-5 schedule, they also have the flexibility to adjust their work hours to better suit their personal and family needs. Clear guidelines on our ways of working make this flexibility smooth and effective.

2. Remote Work Opportunities

In today’s digital age, remote work is more of a necessity than a luxury. We embrace this by allowing our employees to work from wherever suits them best. Many team members use this flexibility to travel and work from abroad occasionally. Escaping the dark European winters, for instance, helps them stay healthy, energetic, and focused, significantly boosting their overall well-being.

This approach benefits employees and the company by enabling a more motivated, engaged, and creative workforce. To support this, we use Scoro Software to efficiently manage work processes and communication, no matter where our team members are. 

3. Paid Health Days

We prioritize the well-being of our team members by offering three paid health days each year. Whether you need time to recharge, relax, or seek professional care, you can use these days freely without fear of stigma or negative consequences. 

It’s also possible to take unpaid leave and use vacation days, even during probation. 

Caring for your health should always come first.

4. Access to Specialists

Everyone is vulnerable to mental health issues at different times. We encourage Scoro team members to seek confidential support for stress, anxiety, or other concerns. To make this easier, we provide full or partial compensation for up to five visits annually to mental health professionals. 

People can choose from our partnered services or visit a specialist of their own choice. Additionally, our health insurance plans cover physical and psychological health costs across all our locations, ensuring our team members always have the support they need.

5. Well-being Squad

At Scoro, we prioritize health and well-being through our Well-being Squad—a group of volunteers from various divisions and locations dedicated to keeping well-being on top of mind. 

The Well-being Squad organizes monthly challenges and training sessions focused on health and wellness. They lead discussion groups and book clubs and share valuable insights in a dedicated Slack channel. The squad also addresses essential topics like stress management and the importance of seeking help.

This ongoing effort encourages everyone to make health-conscious decisions and maintain a balanced lifestyle.

6. Reasonable Workloads and Clear Roles

Handling too much or unfamiliar work can be stressful and impact mental health, so we regularly check how our team manages their workloads.

We aim for a smooth start with a thorough onboarding program. New hires have weekly meetings with a mentor and regular check-ins with their team lead. Both new hires and mentors keep a journal for the first 8 weeks to track progress and get the needed support.

Our quarterly OKRs keep everyone focused on individual and company goals. Most team members have regular catch-ups with their managers and hold bi-annual reviews to discuss career goals, workloads, and priorities. Many teams also have a career matrix that outlines the steps and skills needed for advancement so everyone knows how to grow in their roles and what’s expected.

7. Working Environment and Office Space 

Creating a comfortable and productive working environment is essential for both collaboration and individual focus.

Our largest office in Tallinn offers various amenities, including a game area for breaks, a massage chair for relaxation, and even two bedrooms equipped with yoga equipment and acupuncture mats for power naps. The lounge and kitchen are central hubs for lunch breaks and casual meetings. Plus, they’re always stocked with healthy snacks!

Each office features a terrace or balcony, providing a refreshing space for fresh air breaks and outdoor meetings. We also have a pet-friendly policy, welcoming well-behaved pets into the office. Having pets around reduces stress, boosts happiness, and fosters a more relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

8. Management Training

We train our managers to recognize signs of mental distress and provide the necessary support. This ensures that employees receive timely help and that concerns are handled with empathy and care.

Building a trustworthy relationship and showing vulnerability is crucial for both. Managers are encouraged to use 1-on-1 meetings to connect with employees personally, not just to discuss tasks. Additionally, we organize on-site events at least twice a year for face-to-face interactions, helping leaders and team members build strong, supportive relationships.

9. Inclusiveness

A strong sense of belonging and psychological safety are crucial for mental well-being. That’s why maintaining an open feedback culture is important to us. 

We regularly check in with our team through weekly catch-ups and monthly non-anonymous surveys that ask about overall happiness. Additionally, we run bi-annual surveys on satisfaction and leadership to pinpoint areas for improvement and make necessary changes.

Our open-door approach ensures everyone feels comfortable sharing concerns or ideas directly with leadership. We encourage team members to contribute and take the lead on various initiatives, whether working across focus groups to improve processes or initiating sports groups, game nights, and other activities.

10. Celebrations and Recognition

Celebrating achievements is a big part of our culture, as it boosts morale and supports mental well-being.

To foster this, we use Leapsome for public peer-to-peer praise, which is shared in a dedicated Slack channel for everyone to see. Our Extended Happiness Survey also allows us to recognize coworkers who make the workplace enjoyable. Regular All-hands meetings and newsletters highlight successful projects and standout employees. Additionally, during our annual January review, we celebrate and honor team members who have been specially recognized by their peers.

We’re always looking for new ways to improve mental health and well-being and will keep working hard to support our team.

If you want to be part of our journey, check out our Open Roles and send your application today. If you cannot find a suitable position, save your interest on our Connect page, and we will contact you when a job that matches your profile opens.

Originally from Spain, Juan has lived abroad for quite some time and has been living in Estonia for over five years now. In Juan’s words, his love for computers goes back as far as he can remember. He’s worn many hats, from software engineer and agile coach to managerial positions. A curious mind and desire to learn and improve himself have led him into the role where he’s now, being responsible for the entire Engineering unit in Scoro. Juan’s colleagues describe him as one of the best managers you could wish for (and, for sure, he receives the most #kudos in the company).

1. You have an impressive career history in different companies and countries. How did you find your way to Scoro?

After working many years in big companies, I had the opportunity to experience the entrepreneurial atmosphere and energy while trying to build my own business. Although it didn’t work out as planned, I decided to continue my career in a start-up environment and joined Pipedrive as an Engineering Manager. Three years went by, and I got an offer from Scoro to become the VP of Engineering. With an offer like that, how could I resist?

Scoro appealed to me for several reasons. First off, Scoro’s a seasoned and well-established company that’s big enough (100+ people) to make an impact. It has an excellent and powerful product, good product vision, strong international business, and exciting challenges from a technical and organizational perspective. Also, I liked the unique culture around timing as the ultimate asset. Not to mention Scoro’s international, very strong, welcoming, and heart-warming team!

Throughout the recruiting process, I got to talk to many people from different teams and I was really blown away by how friendly, smart and professional the people were. In addition to that, the perks and benefits Scoro offers are awesome and definitely help in the decision-making process. – Karl Markus Jõgila, Server Infrastructure Engineer

2. Today, you’re responsible for the entire Engineering Department. How big is it, and how is the work organized?

The Engineering teams are in Tallinn and Riga, and there are about 40 people total. We have an international team, including people from Estonia, Latvia, Spain, Turkey, Nigeria, and Brazil. The division has three units: Software Engineering, Infrastructure and Development Operations, and Internal IT and Security.

The teams own different areas: 

• Core Product (main Scoro functionality around work and time management, and sales and finance)
• Ecosystem (dealing with everything around the Core Product such as integrations, API, automation, etc.)
• Conversion (responsible for the customer life cycle: acquisition, conversion, engagement, activation, etc.)

Working in Scoro is like hanging out with good friends. We know how to have fun and, at the same time, deliver world-class software to our clients. In QA, we focus on the quality of our product but also make sure that everyone else around us does the same. – Liis Pass, Global Lead QA

All those teams are very independent and include roles like software engineers, product managers, designers, QA, etc. Our teams are bigger than usual and use a non-standard setup (compared to the industry-standard Scrum like set-ups) that we called Bases and Missions, inspired by the Pipedrive framework. In short, we are constantly re-teaming inside the bases as people move between time-bound missions with a very focused and clear objective or stay in Launchpad working on maintenance and small improvements. Having a stable entity (the base) is important as that provides structure, stability, and a sense of belonging. Having dynamic entities (the missions and launchpads) is important because they bring a lot of flexibility and adaptability while keeping some focus and highlighting the need for knowledge sharing.

“Having a true partnership with the product department is the key – we see each other as different sides of the same coin.”

3. You mentioned previously that exciting technical challenges were one reason Scoro attracted you initially. Can you name your leading technologies and highlight some of the challenges your team currently faces?

Our primary technology is PHP, MariaDB, VueJS, and GraphQL, and all our infrastructure is in AWS. We are currently modernizing how our software is structured as we are scaling up. That means moving towards a hybrid architecture with a smaller core PHP modular monolith, surrounded by non-core services in PHP, NodeJS, or Go.

At the moment, we are releasing monthly. The more services we have, the more often we will release. Our vision is to reach a “versionless continuously deployed Scoro”. Additionally, we need to find the best way to do it steadily while still solving customer issues, providing new and exciting functionality, and improving current ones. This cannot be done within a few months, it’s a long-term vision and journey, and that’s also part of the challenge. I find it very exciting!

“We strongly believe in experimentation as a way of learning. In experimentation, failures are embedded, and that’s fine, as long as we fail in a controlled environment and learn from it.”

4. Let’s talk about people! How do you motivate and develop your team?

We believe in intrinsic motivators rather than extrinsic ones. Money is important, but reaching a certain level won’t keep people motivated or loyal to the company. I admire Daniel D. Pink’s principles that declare autonomy, mastery and purpose as the main motivating factors.

We do a lot to push those forward; for example, we have 

• Very high flexibility at work
• Internal and external trainings, monthly knowledge sharing sessions by external speakers, training wallet (without the need of manager approval)
• Mission selection
• Focus minded environment
• Different career path choices

Recently we introduced a new career path structure, which includes specific career path choices for all the domains (software development, QA, etc.). Seniority levels are defined by pillars (technical, leadership, team, people and communication). Each pillar has its own areas (like design and architecture, security, ownership, etc.). Seniority is then defined by different levels in those areas. The aim is to create a career system that considers people’s strength areas and creates clarity about vertical and horizontal growth opportunities and the steps they need to take.

It's really an outstanding group of people who are excellent at what they do and keep a big smile on their faces, making them feel more like friends rather than colleagues. The opportunity to be around them, learn, grow and have fun in between is bigger than any Christmas bonus. – Edmunds Pūce, Software Engineer

5. What are the key competencies you’re looking for in a candidate?

Being good in the technical area is obvious, so I will not go deeper. However, I consider equally critical (or even more at times) the non-technical competencies, such as:

1. Adaptability. Change is the only constant we have. We need to keep ourselves open to new things, learn and relearn, adapt to changes and be flexible.
2. Ownership. I believe in people making their own choices and taking action. You do not need approval for everything. If you see a problem, you have to make it your own and fix or improve it.
3. Being humble and open. Listening, having an open mind, and respecting other points of view. I value people who can explain things without arrogance and treat everybody equally. 
4. Having some business acumen. People should understand that making software is not only about writing code. We do it to solve somebody’s problems, and the ability to see things from a customer’s point of view is essential. The goal is always to find the best solution from a product and technical perspective.

“It’s not only about being technical savvy, but genuinely understanding that we create value for customers.”

6. Why do you consider Scoro to be an attractive place for talented people?

We are in an exciting phase right now. We’re constantly adapting and reinventing ourselves as we grow, without forgetting our unique start-up culture. This creates many thrilling challenges from a technical and organizational perspective and a lot (I really mean a lot) of growth opportunities. Joining Scoro now will mean you will participate in that, not as a follower but as an active participant. You will take part in those decisions and significantly impact how the company adapts and improves.

“Our motto is ‘We make dreams come true’. We make real things happen – dreams, desires, and even unknown needs from customers that we transform into a reality.” 

If you would like to join Scoro’s Engineering team, check our Careers Page. Currently, we are looking for Software Engineers, DevOps Engineers, and Technical Support Engineers. If you cannot find a suitable role, send us your application and we will contact you to discuss what could be a match now or in the future.

I’m Hiie-Liin, a recruiter in Scoro, and my job is to manage the full cycle of the recruitment process and make sure the right people find their place in Scoro. As a recruiter, I go through massive loads of resumes and see similar mistakes that could easily be avoided.

Read on to get some tips directly from our recruitment team on how to improve your job application and secure yourself an interview.

1. We want to know “why”: always include a cover letter

Even if a cover letter is not required, a short summary of yourself and “Why are you interested in the company and role?” is essential. A good explanation can be particularly useful if your previous experience is not an exact match. From the Scoro application form, you can find a special section of ‘Why do you want to join our team?’, do not forget to fill it out!

Keep in mind:

• Use fewer words to say more! We respect each other’s time. Be concrete and don’t write an essay about your life (or repeat your entire resume). Two to four paragraphs are more than enough.
• Do not use the formal template available on the Internet. The standard motivation letter doesn’t give us much information about you. Let us see your personality and show your excitement!
• Tailor your cover letter to a specific job – understand the role you’re applying for and demonstrate to us, you have put some thought there.
• Tell us about your motivation and ambition – what could Scoro do for you and how your previous background could help us! Many applicants just cover the first part (talking all about me) but don’t give us much information on how their experience can benefit Scoro. This is especially important if you’re changing your career or entering the job market!

2. Reassess your resume: keep it short, structured and clean

Recruiters usually go through hundreds of profiles a day and, on average, spend just 7 seconds reviewing a resume. Therefore, a well-organized and targeted CV is crucial.

Things to remember:

• Include only necessary information and job experiences relevant to the role – no need to cover all the jobs and projects you have done since high school. Try to fit all the information on one page (or a maximum of two). When describing your experience, start with the latest and most important.
• In addition to your work title, add an explanation of your main tasks, technologies, and accomplishments. The same job title can have a very different meaning in another company.
• Make your resume look pretty, easily readable, and structured. Be sure it doesn’t have any grammar mistakes or do not use too small a font, dark colors, or crowded text as it can be challenging to read, and essential details can accidentally be missed. There are a lot of classical and more fancy templates available online. As long as the information is well presented and correct, it doesn’t matter which one you use. A resume looking like a marketing advertisement is not the most crucial factor to focus on.
• When applying to an international company, always write your resume in English. Most tech companies have English as their official communication language, and the hiring managers might not speak your native language.
• Add your current location (city & country) to your resume. If you’re planning to move, would like to be relocated, or seek a fully remote role, mention this in the resume and cover letter. Some companies automatically reject people with the wrong location, and you don’t want to be one of them.

3. LinkedIn 101: make sure your profile is up to date

As recruiters use LinkedIn daily, it’s effortless to absorb relevant information about the candidate from there. While your resume should consist only of relevance to the specific job, the LinkedIn profile highlights your professional career and can have more personality. 

In many companies (including Scoro), you can just use your LinkedIn profile to apply and do not need a separate resume. Thus, make sure your profile is updated, looks professional, and has all the information. There are a lot of online guides describing step-by-step how to make your LinkedIn profile stand out.

Don’t forget to:

• Add a profile picture – we don’t make any decisions by look, but a professional photo can be important, especially while applying for sales or client-facing positions. 
• Write a summary to highlight your personality and work experience – you can also add what kind of opportunities you are open to.
• If you’re actively looking for a new job, do not keep it to yourself! Additionally, to the header, where you can mark ‘open to finding a new job,’ add a frame #OpenToWork to your profile picture and a longer description in the summary area.
• Grow your LinkedIn network – especially when you’re applying for roles that require a lot of communication and the presence of a network.

4. Show and tell: include samples of your work or accomplishments

A lot of job seekers just list their tasks and day-to-day responsibilities. Highlighting your achievements and adding samples of your work and projects can be a great idea if you’re looking to stand out.

Good examples include links to your GitHub, a mobile app you’ve built, your website, a portfolio of designs, a publication in a magazine, a blog post, or a hackathon experience. These can boost your resume and tell much more about the candidate’s skills, personality, and fit for the company. 

Suppose you have recently finished school and probably don’t have much actual work experience. In that case, you can bring out school projects you have worked on or volunteering experiences that give the company an idea of your skills and personality.

Although cultural fit and soft skills are usually assessed during the interview phase, highlighting your not work-related projects can also show you another perspective and support your candidature. 

5. It’s good to be picky: choose the role you’re applying for carefully

It’s expected that sometimes more than one role can get your interest in the company, and it’s tempting to apply to them all. However, let’s assume these positions are entirely different e.g. Marketing Specialist, Product Manager, and Software Engineer. Applying for totally different roles can send a message that you’re a serial job applicant who doesn’t read the job description and is not aware of your existing skills.

But if there is more than one position that relates to your experience and you’re not sure what can be the best for you, I would recommend the following options:

1. Mention in your cover letters that you’re applying for more than one position in the company and explain why you’re the best for each of them.
2. Send an open application form together with a well-explained motivation letter. Most companies, including Scoro, have an open application form on their website.

You can also connect with the recruiter directly on LinkedIn and ask for their advice. Sometimes, landing an interview with a company requires a more strategic approach than just sending in your resume so don’t fret and let that chance slip away.

Interested in working in Scoro? Then check our open roles on the Careers Page, follow the 5 steps you’ve just read and apply!