Our Serbian colleagues do everything we do

Post by Emanuela Jovic

November 16, 2021

IBEO was the first business in the Netherlands to hire Becky employees. IBEO now has a fully functioning ‘Team Belgrade’, with the same number of employees there as in the Netherlands. Assistant accountant Dave Beijer talks about the teamwork with his Serbian colleagues.

‘I was invited for the first visit to Belgrade. Not only to train new employees, but also because I am genuinely curious about innovations. I enjoyed getting to know a completely different work culture and immediately had a good connection with my first Serbian colleague. We exchanged a lot of knowledge and ideas. Working with him was the start of our Team Belgrade and the ball started rolling there and then.’

Belgrade as the focus of the business

‘Soon more Serbian colleagues joined us. We now have Serbian colleagues in every IBEO team. It all started with simple tasks. Nowadays, except for customer relations, our colleagues in Belgrade do everything we do. They also communicate directly with our English-speaking customers and are fully competent to deal with all these tasks. The focus of IBEO is now situated in Belgrade, and the employees there do all the planning for our teams.’

Becky Ambassador

‘I’m pretty much the Becky ambassador for IBEO. In the beginning, I put a lot of time and energy into explaining the added value to other colleagues, but that’s no longer necessary. In the beginning, they were a bit wary of our Serbian colleagues. “What exactly are they going to do? I hope they won’t ruin my admin!” I checked all their work and gave feedback, but that is no longer necessary.

It soon became clear that the colleagues in Belgrade delivered excellent quality and they proactively took certain things over from us. That gave me a lot of confidence. Now we hardly have to train them, which makes a massive difference. All Dutch colleagues have now embraced Team Belgrade. The added value of having the Serbian team has been fully accepted within the company. It doesn’t feel like two separate groups of employees, it feels like one team.’

The added value of having the Serbian team has been fully accepted within the company.

The extra mile

‘How I would characterize our Serbian colleagues? I think they are very disciplined and take the job seriously. They are highly educated, familiar with laws and regulations, they speak good English, including financial jargon. What I really like is that they are very curious and like to figure things out. They often go the extra mile.

At the start, I went to Belgrade three times. I really liked seeing our colleagues in a different environment, outside the office. You get to know them differently and you can build a really good relationship. I also enjoyed the lingering atmosphere of the past in Belgrade during my work visits.’

Better customer relations

‘It’s great to have support. I am currently working closely with a Serbian colleague. I train her on the job. One-on-one works the easiest and is the most pleasant. I have contact with her every day, mainly via chat and sometimes via an online meeting. I have transferred part of the annual accounts to her, so that I can spend more time and energy on customer relations and advice. Since Becky’s with us, I have a very good relationship with certain clients. This makes me want to go the extra mile and I can also include them more in what we do for them.’