An Italian company in central Lithuania: the owner drives a tractor and prepares lunch

The family business

R.Grumadaitė’s office has a clock specially designed for her, which shows that the boss works twenty-four hours a day.

The Press and Co director laughs that this is the case: its doors are always open to employees.

“We do not always follow the traditional standards that are usually applied: that the company must have certain things. Our opinion is more that the company is like a family, that is what we want it to be in a family: there are no strict frameworks. Of course, order is order, but there are actually many things that are free.

This is partly related to the Italian tradition, as many companies in Italy are family businesses. Our hosts also belong to representatives of family businesses. So, that tradition has also been partially transferred here ”, smiles the director of the company.

According to R.Grumadaitė, the owners themselves are not completely traditional: one of the brothers is usually in Ukmergė and works in the company.

Not driving, but, let’s say, driving a tractor, as was the day we visited the company.

“There is a completely different incentive for employees when the owner works together. Graziano Press is also open from 12 to 14 hours a day; the workers are all out on Saturdays and Sundays. This also gives otherness, of all the entrepreneurs and shareholders in Lithuania, we will probably find few who work in your company ”, said the director.

According to her, the company has been through everything for 20 years:

“Let’s face it, the Italian business culture, his experience is much greater. And here 20 years ago, the business just started. The ideas that the hosts brought from Italy were not even heard in Lithuania. Starting with accounting, accounting standards.

We have already approached that aspect today, but at first some of the calculation methods were even incomprehensible. This was neither accepted nor regulated by law. It was already happening to them.

Let’s face it, Italian business culture, your experience is much higher. And here 20 years ago, the business just started.

Efficiency at work, productivity, the view that everything that is happening must be done efficiently, which was difficult to understand in Lithuania at first. It is still difficult to understand in some companies. “

Not only was the experience transferred to Lithuania from Italy, the whole team also came from there, when the Italians decided to move the entire production.

Ukmergei has comments

Graziano Press is an emotional Italian.

As he speaks, he gestures profusely and does not wait for Raimonda to translate his words, as if we understand what he means.

When asked why it is important for him to work with company employees when he arrives in Ukmergė, he does not hide:

“Since I started working at the age of 13 and I didn’t have wealthy parents who let me have a business, I had to start it, that job is important to me. I also enjoy working with others and building a team so that employees feel involved in the process. “

Ukmerge also comments here that there is a great lack of another bridge in the city through Šventoji and a street that allows to bypass the center: there are traffic jams and employees are late for work, says G. Paina.

Another of his observations deals with life in Ukmergė itself.

According to Graziano, attracting more Italians to live here permanently would not be easy, as they are used to a different climate.

And although in July the sun does not shine worse than in Italy, autumn, winter, the beginning of spring are far from what their compatriots like.

Ukmergė lacks another bridge over Šventoji and a street that allows it to bypass the center; there a congestion forms, says G. Paina.

And after work, at least in a city like Ukmergė, they could be absent, Graziano is convinced.

After all, on a Sunday night, the city is completely empty, the cafes are closing, so where should the time be spent entertaining Italians?

Theater studies are useful

R.Grumadaitė seamlessly translates the language of the company’s shareholder, adding one sentence to another and of herself.

She herself studied theater at the Vytautas Magnus University Faculty of Arts, as well as Italian, so she first found herself in the company as a translator and then was invited to contribute to the establishment of the company.

As they say, the everyday life of the theater is really a lot, maybe after retirement and a book and born.

However, the most useful psychology course is because the supervisor must not only plan and control the work, but also listen to the employees.

“The most important thing is not the technology, the equipment, but the man. The biggest problems in companies are not about the equipment, if necessary: ​​you can ask for a loan and buy it, but about the person, who would be good for him to work, who would like to work, who would feel good. at work. Usually a person brings problems from home to work.

Especially now, during the COVID pandemic, we feel like people are doing very badly. And to find that moment to listen, next time you just have to talk and the person says that he has spoken and that it is better for him. So I like the role of a personal psychologist and I have to apply it very often, ”said R. Grumadaitė.

This, in his opinion, is another alterity of the company.

As it is the tradition of the owners to invite more and more employees to their nearby houses once a month, the boss himself prepares lunch.

One of the guarantees of the success of our company is that we have found a common denominator between the Italian temperament and the Lithuanian caution.

An everyday challenge

“Every day is a challenge for me,” Raimonda laughs when asked what it means to her to work for an Italian company. – I am a Lithuanian to the root of my bones, only so much that over the years that Italian temperament has become mine. Just as Italians need to adapt to Lithuanians, Lithuanians also need to adapt to Italians. Because I think that although our countries are quite far from each other, something connects Italy and Lithuania.

From the beginning, the Lithuanian desire to measure ten times and cut one tenth was very visible. That is our traditional precaution. And for Italians, cut right away and maybe add later, because when cut, it turns out it’s too short or something is missing. During those 20 years, what we have achieved together is one of the guarantors of the success of our company: we have found a common denominator between Italian temperament and Lithuanian caution.

My task is to balance every day between that Lithuanian confidence and the desire to do everything perhaps slower, but immediately well, and the Italian work very fast, but then sometimes it requires adjustments ”.

The manager also has to adapt to the main clients – Swedish, Norwegian, Danish – Scandinavian style.

“You already know how to speak when Italians call and what they will say, what to answer. With others, in a different way. The differences are that Italians, other Southerners are hot-blooded, they need everything very quickly, they are emotional, everything passes. And the Scandinavians think that everything, they are to stay, they can always agree with them, they always have a backup plan.

Another important thing is that if you contact the Scandinavians and inspire them with confidence, they will not run to a competitor for a few euro cents. This is guaranteed by the clients. With some, the cooperation has been going on for about 10-15 years, with some we don’t even have contracts, it’s total trust. They may have had some difficult days, but the partnership-based approach allows us to maintain that cooperation and grow with them, ”says R. Grumadaitė.

If they get in touch with the Scandinavians and inspire them with confidence, they don’t run to a competitor for a few euro cents.

The trend is to change jobs quickly

Some of the products remain in Lithuania, says the manager, because when they are sold to well-known furniture manufacturers, they become modern chairs, armchairs and armchairs.

Or chairs in corridors, stadiums, school classrooms or auditoriums of houses of culture.

According to Raimonda, we try to maintain the closest possible contact not only with Lithuanian furniture manufacturers, but the doors are also open to young artists from the Vilnius Academy of Arts and other schools.

It may not directly benefit the company, but its goal is to give students the opportunity to use the forms and materials available for free to create whatever they want.

Before the quarantine, the company had 100 employees, now – 80-85.

R.Grumadaitė does not hide that there is a shortage of people, if there was something to accept, it could really expand its production capacity.

New applications are received, but are often rejected.

The director points to another trend: The pandemic has led people to decide to change jobs more quickly.

Let’s say in the past you may not have dared to launch an existing one and get out, and now that makes it really easy.

Asking for reasons simply tells you that you want to change something in your life. Even after turning 50, start studying.

A. Grumadaitė says that when she hires new hires, she tries not to look at their diplomas, never asks for recommendations from the old workplace, but tries to make a connection for herself and give them a try.