Welfare Equality Statement

OUR VISION

A world where, regardless of citizenship, race, color, gender, work and career opportunities, people and their family are allowed access to high quality of life.

OUR MISSION

Provide a venue for talented software engineers and skilled individuals to thrive professionally, achieve financial stability and be financially growing adequately, and strike the perfect balance between work and personal life by attracting interesting software development projects to our development center in Cebu City, Philippines that will be billed and paid appropriately for the level of engineering the software development industry requires.

OUR CORE VALUES

Startechup’s core values are forged by our commitment to provide the highest level of software engineering possible. Our talented developers are one in the idea of offering the best service there is, to treat clients with respect and understanding and to produce world-class products that will benefit businesses – large or small – and the society.

Additionally, a strong focus on lifting up our team members is heeded by providing training, collaborative work sessions, and knowledge sharing. We want a team who is equipped with all the essential tools and know-hows for them to be able to respond to the ever changing challenges of technology. The excellent service we offer is a reflection of how great our developers are.

Lastly, we will remain faithful to our plight to produce and house a team that aren’t just competent but are happy developers as well. We will be along the way as the team seeks for personal growth, attain work and life contentment, and support them as they take steps forward towards career development and betterment.

WELFARE EQUALITY STATEMENT

To address the amount of satisfaction among our team members, the approach on wages we provide to our team members matches with the level of expertise required to deliver the projects we work on. We make sure that compensation given to our team members coincides with their personal expectations, and aligns with the industry standards.

Gender issues are being looked into too. The backbone of our workforce draws strength from the principle that all employees must be treated fairly irrespective of age, gender and social background. That is, wage increase, promotion, and career progression are opportunities made available for everyone.

minimum wages

Startechup hires a small percentage of fresh graduates – IT students who recently graduated from a bachelor’s degree – to give them the opportunity to learn from our talented team. We make use of their strong thirst for knowledge and then mold them into becoming new professionals. We are also looking into exposing them to our unique culture and prepare them for future endeavors.

But not because they have little experience, they receive unduly low pay. We fuel their desires to become better employees by giving them a good pay, a good start that’s hard to resist. In fact, for already several years now, the minimum salary offered to our fresh grads has been almost equal to 2 times the minimum salary in the Philippines.

Safe to say, any fresh graduate can jumpstart his career with us and be part of an awesome team. As he brings new ideas to our workplace, we won’t tire in assisting and preparing him the way to achieving personal and professional success.

Health Coverage

Health is a basic human right and at Starchtechup, we make sure to uphold that. Because the Philippine health system is fairly similar to the one in the United States – most, if not all, any consultation, intervention, and procedure must be paid by the patient – very little is eventually taken care of by the National Health contribution funds collected from mandatory wages. For that reason, Startechup ought to enroll all its team members to private health insurance with good coverage. We see it fit to make sure that our employees are being provided extra care to protect them from harm. We believe that a healthy team can sure deliver outstanding projects.

Additionally, the company is taking an additional family member, as a dependent, under subscription. We want to extend the protection net we set for the team to their family. It is our intention to lessen our team’s worries regarding matters brought about by health issues. This way, the team can fully give their full dedication to work because one problem is taken care of.

With the team’s and a family member’s medical insurance covered, we are setting a precedent that the company indeed puts very high importance on the well-being of all our members. We are and will always be a helping hand in making our employees safe, healthy and happy.

Paid Leaves

By law, a total of ten paid leaves are given to employees annually – five for sick leaves and another five for vacation. But at Startechup, we do not limit ourselves to ten. We top it up with approximately 7-8 days of year-end vacation happening between Christmas and the first few days of January the following year. Which means, the actual 10 days of leaves can be used at any moment of the year. Though, if you say, 17-18 paid days is not enough, we have to also put into consideration the approximately 17 days of national holidays that all our team members enjoy yearly. This looks a little “inequitable” from a business perspective, but at the end of the day, we aim to have team members enjoying their life and be able to travel whenever they want.

Leaves aren’t just for fun and to make our team recharged but for making the basic unit of the society – the family – stronger too. Startechup supports extended vacation leaves so our developers can spend more time with their family. In fact, we are in full support of maternity leaves so parents will not have to worry and trouble themselves between work and parenting. Motherhood is supposed to be enjoyed so we are taking away the financial burden mothers carry after giving birth.

Above all, while certain companies are not keen to have employees take more than 3 consecutive days of paid absence, at Startechup, we are more than happy to let employees go on leave for as long as they want, provided it would not be an issue for the project they work on. What is more important is that the team is given time to loosen up, considering the nature of work they engage themselves in.

Our Pricing Strategy

While some clients want to go economical and regard outsourcing as a matter of bringing the developers’ rate to the lowest possible, we at Startechup on the contrary aim to bring projects with modest to immense budgets and channel the capital made by the company to the pockets of our team members. We want the team to be enjoying the fruits of their labor. In the same way, this principle relays a clear message to clients looking for cheap developers to put in mind that we will not compromise our mission to elevate people instead of trying to maximize our capital.

From the very start, the inclination to give birth to the Startechup company was initially aimed at extending help to the community. We wished to aid young developers gain knowledge of software development in the hope that they’ll become instruments in the creation of useful applications that will benefit the society.

Yes, we acknowledge that profit is important to even grow our business and fund our finances, yet, as long as we are getting a little more than enough to run our operations, and we continue to attract clients locally and internationally, we will never hold back to take risks knowing that such will be beneficial to our employees and their families.

Our Wages Strategy

Simply put, due to our pricing strategy, we are able to compensate our team as generously as large international companies established in the Philippines as development centers would pay their employees. A small fish like Startechup being able to attract brilliant developers from well-known international companies is quite an achievement for us. It is a feat that tells us we are doing things right.

Our salary scheme knows no limit and we are aiming to push the salary given to our team members as high as possible. Hardworking and capable developers deserve a good pay. Technical skills, excellent knowledge of programming, collaborative efforts and observing company policies are only a few good reasons to raise a developer’s wage. There is much to enjoy from incentives to bonuses and other perks.

And regardless of gender, Startechup upholds each employee’s right to equal pay. Women, commonly the victims of inequality, are valued and their competence and skills are recognized. At Startechup, women employees are entitled to receive similar compensation as men for the same amount of work rendered.

Continuous Learning Opportunities

Software engineering is all about learning technologies and keeping up with the new ones being introduced. It is a fast-changing industry and developers have themselves be overwhelmed by the something they know nothing about. This industry opens doors of opportunities to everyone who arm themselves with technical knowledge, knowing that is the true asset that grants access to anyone to financial freedom. We cannot deny, however, is the fact that the pay you want should commensurate with the skills you have.

That’s why, aside from just reveling in the idea that software engineering paves a path with a lot of career opportunities and development and offers favorable chances to people in straitened circumstances, we at Startechup, want all the team to be deserving of a satisfactory pay by putting up trainings for them to become more skillful and eventually gain access to greater salary brackets.

Nowadays, depending on how good you are, a decent pay awaits you. Therefore, it is beyond necessary that everyone must be given access, chance and support to learn continuously.

Our Work Culture

Protecting the well-being of our team members always comes as a priority. In fact, aside from offering them a comfortable place to work, we try to maintain a positive working environment – one that is conducive to productivity. We set conditions to make sure that the team can have fun while working, a consideration so we can attract more talents and grow our family.

Because we believe that the best end products are achieved through collaboration, coaction among teams is also being stressed. We want the team not to single handedly tackle tasks, may it be easy or difficult, appreciate whatever help available, share expertise and learn from each other. Through collaboration, we build a common ground where the team can set up connections, have a sense of who they are, and contribute experiences that can become a source of learning.

While tools are in place to help our team to digitally communicate, face-to-face communication – through meetings, presentations, and others – is being encouraged internally to enable more discussions and knowledge sharing. It also serves as a channel for the team to express themselves, be heard, be understood, and be respected, regardless of differences in views and opinions.

Company Celebrations

Startechup has created a culture of celebrations all year round to highlight the team’s successes, foster engagement, and express appreciation. It is the company’s way to give back to employees small acts of happiness – through food and drinks – so the team feels valued, which of course all are.

From birthdays to work anniversaries, from induction to final day, Startechup finds time to gather all employees and set work aside to give way to small talks and shared laughs among the team. The gathering creates a moment for short but meaningful conversations, exposing the team to a more open environment where cake, pizza, sometimes beer, lets them express themselves freely.

Behind every celebration is the creation of a bond resembling that of a family. Our team members become brothers and sisters to each other, even like parents. The care for each others become a thread that binds us all.

Our Family

Overall, Startechup desires to create a diversified community – young to old, fresh graduates to professionals, developers of any social affiliation and gender – and grant its members the freedom to grow professionally, help them gain access to a good pay to increase their disposable income, give extra layer of security through medical support, provide extra education and training to improve their skill sets, to make them part of company that practices gender equality and equal pay, offer a workplace that has a nice atmosphere to make developers more productive, allot more days for vacation leaves and other paid leaves in addition to its annual year-end vacation to make them more productive, and assist them in achieving a balanced and happy life.