Meet our Office Manager from Slovakia: The truth is that my path with Accace crossed by accident | People of Accace

In our #PeopleOfAccace series, we’ll give you a behind-the-scenes look at Accace through interviews. You will learn how new services or solutions are created with us, who has been at Accace the longest and what positions they have gone through over the years, but above all you will get to know our amazing people. In the current interview we talked with our Office Manager, Mária Hríbiková.

You have been building your career at Accace for more than 11 years. Can you tell us about your beginnings in the company and describe how your work developed during this period?

The truth is that my path with Accace crossed by accident.

I came from Prague to Bratislava, and I was looking for a job that would be somehow related to my studies, so I sent my resume to Accace and came to the interview for the position of receptionist. I garbled the name of the company and pronounced it as axes… The year was 2013. I enjoyed the work. As I got to know the people around me, I felt that I fit more and more into the Accace family. Therefore, it was a relatively natural transition after more than a year to the position of Office Assistant and then Office Manager. In 2017, together with the team, I survived my big test and that was moving to another office space, and after years we are back here, and we continue to move further.

In September, you returned to us after the maternity leave, which you were on for almost 6 years. How do you assess your return after this period? Is it difficult for you to combine family and work life?

I was very much looking forward to the return, at the same time I had and still have respect for it. Six years is not a short period of time at all, and in addition to people, the way of working is also changing. The first few weeks (or months) were honestly crazy for me. Combining all responsibilities would not be such a problem, but child would change everything you had planned. And so there was a lot of work from home and phone calls, where, in addition to talking with the contractor, you deal with family matters at home at the same time. The hardest part is finding your way and not neglecting work duties over family ones and vice versa!

Based on your experience, do you have any advice or tips for other women who are about to return to work after the maternity leave? What would you recommend to them?

Dear women, unfortunately I don’t have any great advice or tips for you, we are all different and have our own priorities and ideas.

Even if one would be – sometimes less is more, for me in almost every life situation.

What do you consider important in your position? Can you describe to us your typical day and what you are currently doing?

For me, my work is about communicating with people, solving situations, correctness of data and, finally, organizing internal events. Currently, preparations are underway for moving, catching up with suppliers. Cooperation with an architect is interesting, because is the creative part of the job. I can’t wait for the new premises myself. Colleagues have something to look forward to!

What do few people (yet) know about you?

Maybe that my vision of the future is a dirty flour apron and a small bakery in a hyped-up place.