Ivana Ratkaj: Making a lasting impact, in the true sense of the word

Working with Ivana Ratkaj, you will recognise a remarkable quality about her: an ability to make things work in an organisation. How exactly she does it is not easy to explain. You may put it down to a rare blend of skills and qualities, in which not every element is apparent. Dedication, efficiency, and a talent for constructive communication are on the more obvious side. Diving deeper, you will see exceptional judgement and a sense of clarity. Then there is the collaborative attitude that ties it all together, bringing out an aura of approachability. What’s left after her involvement is always better than it was before. 

Ivana Ratkaj is on the core leadership team, involved in finance, human resources and business operations. She joined Emil Frey Digital as the 12th employee, and played a big role in the company's expansion. She did it as a recruiter, a finance expert, a brand ambassador, a project manager for the construction of the new headquarters in Varaždin. She pulled the strings and did the work behind many of the impressive EFD milestones. 

- When you join a company early on, and it grows fast, you wear many hats. You do all sorts of work and functions. It helps you develop a broad understanding. It also has a downside, Ivana told in a recent conversation. ‘I became and remained the go-to person for all questions and problems. Even later, when my scope of work would change (and several times!), in the eyes of my colleagues I would remain the person to turn to with all kinds of issues. A misplaced cord, a question on company laptops, or why the coffee machine is not working’, Ivana said. 

But that is changing now. With the organisation maturing, she has been transferring portions of her responsibilities to new hires. That’s happening in a structured, smart way. Ivana’s role is now more strategic, which is the best use of her experience and capabilities, as the Emil Frey Digital ship is steered into the future. 

An unconventional path: Trained marketer in legal and HR departments 

Right from the start, Ivana took an unconventional path. Having earned a degree in marketing from the University of Osijek, she landed her first job at a legal department in the food industry. A year later she moved to finance. It was from there that she went to IT, an area she didn’t know much about at the time. Starting off at the back office, she handled invoices, contracts, and recruitment. 

It turned out that she would stay in IT for the next 16 years, until this very day. 

- In my former company we created the first HR department. When you are with a company in its beginnings, you are involved in everything and somehow it follows you later. When I joined, the company had 30 employees. Nine years later, when I left, the company had over 700 people and offices in several countries. Later on, I went through a similar journey here at Emil Frey Digital. In my first months here the company was just starting out, but it grew sevenfold in the next five years. 

"One of the things I quickly learned at my first job is that if you don't care about 50 euros, you won't care about 50 thousand either. When you realize that even these small amounts are important and when you act as if they are yours, then you can optimize a lot. Responsibility is very important."

Huge work invested in company expansion and recognition 

- The beginnings of EFD were expansive. At first, it was very difficult to hire people. We appeared in the local job market, which was small, and Emil Frey Digital as a brand was not known among IT job seekers or the community. We would get questions like - Who are you? What do you do?

Getting from 17 employees to today's 120+ is a huge leap. Our growth was especially fast in the first three years. During that period, we invested a lot of time and effort into the recognition of EFD in the local IT community. Our good network built in earlier years helped a lot. Today, I don't think there is a single tech company that hasn't heard of Emil Frey Digital, said Ivana.  

Until 2019 she was doing the work herself. Then Marina Biro joined HR. The organisation kept expanding on all levels.  

New HQ construction: From start to finish 

When it became clear that Emil Frey Group intended to build a new HQ for its R&D center in Varaždin, Ivana would lead things once again. Teamed with Sanja Đurkas, she participated in the huge construction project from start to finish. 

First, they visited locations and other buildings, to get information and inspiration. 

- It was an intensive project! The first two years were about planning, design, and prep work. We defined spaces, the size and number of rooms, desks layouts etc. We gave a lot of thought to creating a flexible space, so that parts of the building could be turned into added offices, if needed. The third year was all about construction, she said.

Sanja and Ivana were at the construction site every week. They climbed the scaffolding and represented the company in weekly coordination meetings in construction containers. Under their watch, things went smoothly. The impressive 3-floor building with modern workspaces, a large terrace and its own parking lot sprang up in the Brezje Business Zone in one year. Based around modern architecture principles, it makes excellent use of natural light and renewable energy sources.

When the time came for interior decoration, Ivana and Sanja chose everything down to the smallest detail: wall colors, furniture, carpets, lighting, sockets, kitchen equipment, toilet.  Despite the fact that their furnishing style is completely different, they finished the project on time.

Ivana Ratkaj and Sanja Đurkas at the construction site

Establishing skills matrix, the cornerstone of feedback culture 

Expansive growth requires constant work with people. Human resources function is manifold, involving recruitment, onboarding and mentoring preparation, making sure all the equipment and licences for employees are in place. And that is just one piece of the puzzle. Human resources are engaged with training planning, employee development plans, as well as nourishing a culture of feedback. The latter is essential for healthy growth. 

- Before we established the skills matrix, the feedback process was a little different. We would collect feedback from team members in various ways, in order to understand what we are doing well, and what needs to be improved. At the end of 2021, we established a feedback process based on the skills matrix. 

It was a project that Ivana initiated and led. 

- It was demanding, because it was new for the organization and we needed people to contribute. But in the end, people realized the value. Skills matrix is a structured way of monitoring progress and understanding performance in relation to job roles, Ivana explains.

"I was persistent, looking for colleagues who could help me prepare the skills matrix. Today, giving feedback is a process that works and colleagues recognize its value."

- We developed a matrix that defined key competencies for evaluation, and we evaluated the performance and potential of each employee based on this. We have determined a scale of values ​​by which we would evaluate a particular competence. We defined specific competencies for different roles (developers, dev ops, quality assurance, support), since each requires specific knowledge and skill, Ivana explains. 

It was very important to draw a conclusion from the values ​​and comments for each competency, which we wrote down and communicated to employees at the feedback interviews. Based on this, goals and individual plans are defined.

"It's nice when you have a history in the skills matrix and when you see how much someone has progressed. It is important that the organisation takes care of these things, and that the growth and progress of people don’t go unnoticed."

Budgeting is no joke

Budget preparation is way more than an excel sheet, Ivana said when asked about this part of her responsibility. Budget is an estimate of how many people will be hired, what their pay will be, what the overtime could be, what bonuses will be paid. Add to this education planning and estimations, spending related to hot meals, licences for current and new employees, teambuilding, and many other things. 

Ivana creates the budget projection for the next year by the end of October. In addition to that, in July June she will make a forecast of how the current year will end financially. And that's just one, demanding segment of her role in finance.

"Once a year, the Group directors present their company’s budget to the executive board headed by the Group owner, Walter Frey. There is a lot of documentation to prepare, all sorts of explanations and analyses…"

Desires, challenges, free time 

Ivana played an important role in the acquisition of the startup which became Emil Frey Digital. She didn’t develop any of the software supplied to Emil Frey Group, but she handled the entire logistics and preparation for the acquisition, by which the supplier joined the reputable Emil Frey Group, one of Europe’s top family-owned companies. 

- I approached it as if I were selling something of my own. The fact that I was involved in all these things from day one has a special meaning, Ivana said.  

We ask her about some of the challenges along the way. 

- I would say my biggest challenge was that my colleagues recognising what my responsibilities were. Early on, Nikola was the go-to person for everyone in the Group, and we knew right from the start we should change that. It was a great challenge and motive - to help Nikola and get to a point where some of the burden is removed from him. The organization grew day by day and it was natural for me to take stuff upon myself, because that is my job, only others did not know that. He placed great trust in me by leaving many of the responsibilities with me. Sometimes we make a plan, and I share what could go wrong, even when there is little chance of it. I would say that’s my nature - always looking at the bigger picture, and always thinking through the other side of the story, project, or negotiation. 

"Nikola showed trust in delegating a lot of the responsibility to me, which certainly is a great recognition."

What motivates me is knowing that I have people's recognition and gratitude, even if they don't know all the details of what I do. I think I am quite open and that they know that they can always approach me. 

"I feel good when progress is seen every moment in the organization and in the creation of this company, of which I have been a part of from the very beginning."

- When I'm not at work, I'm the mom of a soccer player. And only moms of soccer players know how much washing jerseys and sneakers that involves, and how much driving to training and games 😊. I love hanging out and traveling with my family. These are mostly shorter trips, often in nature. It is important to take them, and not let everyday life eat us up. We love the sea and the mountains equally. I like to leave the house, travel somewhere because it means that we can really spend time together as a family, that there will be no cooking, no ironing, or worrying if everything is in its place.