A little word with Jozef Polaček

    Created by Katarína Labudová & Jozef Polaček | - Fare-Collection-Systems

    Read an interview with a member of the FCS division management.

    INTRODUCTION

    Title, first and last name: Ing. Jozef Polaček
    Job title: Head of FCS Service Operation SW Services
    Division: FCS
    Marital status: Happily married with commitments
    Favourite food: Pies with plum jam
    Favorite music: I don't have a specific music genre
    Book or TV series? Rather www

    QUESTIONS

    1. When did you join Scheidt & Bachmann and why?
    In 2015, my short but intense chapter at the Finnish company Tieto as a head of its Žilina office was coming to an end. Therefore, I started looking for opportunities to work for another company – but not only for me, but also for my colleagues with whom I had moved from Siemens company to Tieto. I approached several IT companies in Žilina, but only Scheidt & Bachmann at that time was able to properly appreciate and utilize a group of smart and well-rounded IT people.

    Thanks to our arrival, the FCS division in Slovakia almost doubled from one month to the next (from 68 employees to 107) and gained a branch office in Bratislava.

    So it wasn't the culture, the area of operation or the technology that appealed to me – it was first and foremost the people who wanted to stay together and me with them. It may seem kitsch nowadays, but it meant a lot to me and still does...

    2. What is your workload and what challenges await you this year?
    After a few months at S&B, I was offered the opportunity to build a service department in the FCS division from the ground up. I took it and since then I have become its head. Gradually, responsibilities, teams, roles and people were added. Today, the service department has almost 100 people.

    Over that period, there have been many challenges. We have overcome them thanks to great teams and leaders. That is my role: to be a leader for my colleagues in the service department and at the same time to be a member of the management, whether within the FCS division or within company Scheidt & Bachmann Slovensko. This is also my job description:

    • find the right people for the right positions;
    • work on their development;
    • continuously improve the working environment, tools, processes and conditions;
    • and ensure that our performance is meaningful and effective.

    That way, everyone – colleagues, management and customers – will be truly satisfied with our results.

    The biggest challenge for me is to select the right tasks and ideas from the many that will bring the greatest benefit and to devote the appropriate effort to them – not just doing a few tasks 100 % of the time, but not even doing all tasks 20 % of the time.

    3. What do you enjoy most about your work and what do you have to push yourself to do?
    I enjoy helping colleagues who have potential grow and we at S&B can work with them. I enjoy when we work together to design and implement changes and improvements that ´bear fruit´.

    I have to get overwhelmed when I occasionally get a task  which outcome or the way it is to be accomplished doesn't make sense to me. And without torture, I confess that if the effort to solve a problem seems disproportionate to the outcome, I'll leave the problem to time (unless I'm ordered to solve it). :-)

    Sometimes I catch myself acting in opposition in some situations. For example, when I am pushing a request from management to employees who are not convinced of its rightness and benefit. Then I speak on the side of management in front of my colleagues. Of course, everything can be secured by command, but the quality of the result may then be directly proportional to the conviction, and the benefits may not come.

    And vice versa. When I am communicating an employee opinion or request that may not immediately have the support of management. In this case, I am acting as a negotiator for the employees in front of the management.

    In both cases, however, my role is not at all easy. It is more challenging than just being an interpreter, where you act without deeper involvement. However, I think it is the right way to go because the connection between top management and employees is crucial for the stability of our company and the loyalty of our employees.

    4. The family company Scheidt & Bachmann is indeed family in your case. Your wife works for our company, too, even in the same division. Would you recommend it?
    We work in the same division, but in different departments, so we don't come into contact at all professionally... Do I recommend it? Hard to say, I can't advise – it works well for us. I can't think of any negatives, nor do I see any significant benefits to it. The bottom line is that everyone should work on tasks they enjoy and is good at them – I think that's more important to both of us than whether or not we' re in the same company or building. Of course, the positions suit both of us and my wife particularly likes the flexibility of the job.

    5. Why would you recommend Scheidt & Bachmann?
    S&B is an international company with a global reach – using English on a daily basis and communicating with colleagues and customers abroad is not just a phrase for an advertisement, it's a necessity.

    It's not a large corporation with ossified regulations or rules coming from the top (the company is flexible), but at the same time it's stable and large enough to continuously invest in development.

    At S&B, we have been associated with our systems for decades: we design, develop, manufacture, deliver and manage.

    Scheidt & Bachmann can surprise – some ´projects´ go slowly or don't at all, and then something else unexpectedly gets decided and implemented in record time.

    6. Complete the sentence:
    When I'm not working, you'll find me
    hanging around the house. But I also like to travel and explore new countries.

    It's trendy to boast about  some sport, but I don't seek it out. Occasionally I go cycling, skiing or cross-country skiing with my family. We alternate it with hiking, wellness or climbing. A jacuzzy and sauna are traditionally the rule. I used to play football regularly and I enjoyed it (although I was never good at it), but I've left it to the younger ones and rarely play it anymore. I force myself to at least run regularly, but that's only thanks to my wife. Because we live in a family home, there's always space for improvement or repairs, not to mention yard work. :-)

    7. Maybe you don't know that I am:

    • I lived in Romania until I finished high school;
    • during college, I was a bartender;
    • had a wedding on the TV show Wedding of Dreams.

     


    back