Regional entrepreneurs reveal how they manage to retain specialists – up to 500 euros higher salary and love like a brother

Aistė Micevičiūtė, a 38-year-old from Raseini, works as a commercial manager and says that in 5 years she has already bought into the mindset of the “metalists” – the employees of “Ferumetas” companies. The company has 30 employees, of whom only 5 are women, and the main activity of the company is various metal products or their parts for construction companies, shipyards, bunk beds.

Residents of the surrounding villages also work in the company, located 7 km from Tauragė. Respect, love like a brother, appreciate – these are the 3 mottos of A. Micevičiūtė, who works in the metal industry.

Similar principles are followed by Julius Dombrauskis, who heads the glass fiber parts production company “Stido”. This company’s “trump cards” against its competitors are half a thousand euros higher salary and a machine that pours broth for 10 cents.

“There is nothing to save for salaries and bonuses, otherwise you will have a lot of problems,” says J. Dombrauskis. In the company he leads, 6 employees have changed in 5 years. Two Ukrainians joined the community, learned the language, but returned to their homeland, another 4 employees chose the path of a truck driver or work abroad.

Most of the employees are in their 40s – just like Julius himself. They also suggested the discipline of free time management – “you have completed the assigned tasks, you can rush home and pull catfish from the Sea”.

“Some guys start gluing details at work as early as 6 o’clock in the morning, and finish work around noon – and those hours are really productive,” says Julius.

For some time, the company’s management was also consulted by a psychologist about the psychological twists of the employees, but now his services are no longer needed – there is a line of people who want to get a job. People who live 15-30 kilometers away come to work, some of them have recently returned from emigration.

Meanwhile, Jūratė Dovydėnienė, who has been managing the 17-year-old cooperative “Pieno puta” in Kupiškis, is reluctant to emphasize the salary. “It is dictated by the market. We don’t have any change of employees”, says the manager of “Pieno putos”.

According to J. Dovydėnienė, the most important thing is the approach to the person, help in solving work and not only work problems. “It is extremely important that there is no tension. An employee must feel needed, humanity comes first”, – the manager of Pieno putos shares the recipes for maintaining the team.

Advisor of the Association of Lithuanian Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Crafts Dr. Gediminas Rainys says that regional management models are sometimes more successful than endless theoretical studies in Vilnius or prestigious foreign universities.

“The sense of family in the collective is the behavior of Scandinavian collectives, which, if easily copied, is well accepted here as well,” claims the expert.

He also emphasizes the importance of light discipline – in the regions, young men also have farms – cows to be milked or fields to be looked after, so let’s let them make their own schedule”.