IGOR VITRYK,
Ukrneftegazservis LLC Managing Partner.

Business management entrusted by international partners is not an easy task. Igor Vitryk, managing partner of Ukrneftegazservis LLC, will tell how to find a balance between client-oriented approach and focus on developing the company’s internal potential.

«Customer service is an attitude, not a subdivision» is part of the philosophy of the company Ukrneftegazservis in working with clients, but how would you determine an approach to managing human resources within the company?»

For the service company Ukrneftegazservis, human resources are of best cost, this is the key to success. Inside the company, we try to build and maintain trust and friendly relations. I prefer a democratic approach to working with the team. I discourage the authoritarian hard methods, we try to find common ground. At the same time, I appreciate discipline and compulsion. I really like Steve Jobs’s phrase «There is no point in hiring intelligent people and then dictating what they should do. We hire intelligent people to tell us what we should do» - this is part of my inner philosophy. We are result-oriented as well, working just for the sake of process is not about us. We welcome mistakes, if they are deliberated and made not because of banal negligence. I believe that only those who do nothing make no mistakes. If I see a person in endeavor, but sometimes he fails, I will always support him.
In general, I believe it is necessary to create such an atmosphere of work, such an environment and a system of interaction between employees, so that people who want to grow can be in progress as professionals and individuals.

How do you know that employees understand and share the values built-in the meaning of the company’s activity?
When joining the company, I and HR department try to convey our values. Later, understanding of these values can be observed in everyday work. This can be seen from the way an employee approaches his duties, how he treats and communicates with colleagues, with representatives of customer companies. This is especially clear when there is a lot of work and there is no time to have a lunch, or a call comes, and guys, for example, need to prepare the tool for work in the evening or on weekends. From the first working days, we develop an approach with the priority to ensure the smooth process of building our Customer’s well, and this is our main value and idea as a company. Many employees stay with the company from the very beginning and they get our values across to the beginners. This is not the format of the official conversation or explanation of what and how they should do. I consider that the most effective way is to show by own example. I was brought up like this since childhood. You can repeat hundred times about the values, but no one believes in them until starts introducing them.

You recently told about your development as a manager. Do you draw attention to the development of the company’s personnel and what is the way for doing this?
Sure. Back in early 2013, more than 80% of employees took a course of studying English that lasted one and a half to two years. Many of them were beginners. We also try to attend exhibitions and technical training programs organized by the PoltNTU jointly with other private service and producing companies. Our employees periodically attend workshops in Kiev.
Moreover, we use every opportunity to train our employees in the shops of our equipment partners in Germany, Canada and the USA. I believe that travelling abroad develop people not only in their profession, but also broaden their outlook in general.
In the future, I want us to have a training center to train our employees.

How do you determine that a person will be integral to the corporate culture of the company?
I have no any specific methodology, I just see that and feel. It is often seen during the first interview communication or within the first few weeks of the probation period. I am very grateful to people who «show themselves» at once, and we decide not to start or complete our cooperation. This saves heaps of time. Sometimes I see that a person is not integral to the corporate culture, sometimes I hear my colleagues’ feedbacks about this person. Sometimes happens that a person appears to be a good professional, but does not find a common language with the team. This situation is more difficult, and in this case I try to explain that it is the interests of the company, and not someone’s personal attitude or principled position should be number one as a whole. This issue can be solved in most cases.

What was the last year for the company and what are its further development vectors?
The year was highly charged and full of challenges. We started providing directional drilling services, which is a significant and responsible step for us, since it is one thing to provide services using a downhole tool and quite another thing is to «incline» the well. We purchased all the required equipment, including ground equipment and working trailers, commissioned a mini service shop to maintain the telemetry systems and brought its second set.
We have big plans and hopes for the future, focusing on directional drilling using downhole motors. This is quite a complex, capacious and interesting area to be developed.