Christmas is a magic time when gifts are everywhere. And sometimes you can receive a gift from someone you don’t know. Then you will get to know this person who was so nice and you can even become friends!

That’s how we do it in C.T.Co. Starting from 2007 we have been playing Secret Santa right before Christmas. Everyone who’s interested receives a name of another game participant and prepares a special present for him or her. Usually one person prepares three presents for three participants. Then, these presents are given when this other participant is not around. Even this stage is fun. Later, when all the mysterious presents are delivered, the participants come together to find out who their Mysterious Friends were. At this stage they can exchange presents again and each participant, in the end, receives six small presents (most often, these are sweets, tea, new year ornaments, but more original presents also happen) and new acquaintances, which is very important in such a large office like C.T.Co.

Imagine, you come in a software company office, with its nerdy engineers, grey cubicles and boring graphs. And everyone is wearing funny hats? Or are dressed in different colors? Or exchange compliments? Or look for hidden presents? Or nibble carrots? 

Isn’t such a picture amazing? In C.T.Co, we think so too and that’s why, from time to time, we like to host special days in the office.  For example, in January, our employees had a chance to surprize or even make their colleagues, friends or managers laugh, wearing funny slippers in the office.  

Sometimes C.T.Co just likes to treat the team with something unexpected and delicious. Last year, everyone could have an ice cream on a hot summer day or carrots during the preparations to the Easter.

C.T.Co Human Capital Development Department is in constant search of ideas for organizing more happy Days like that.

Nowadays people like to take photos, compare photos, discuss photos and watch photos. Many C.T.Co employees can list photography as their hobby. That’s why in early 2009 C.T.Co decided to offer its employees another activity to take part in – a Photo Contest.  The winner was chosen with the internal poll and received a special prize. The response was great, so many more Photo Contests in total were held in the company, with a new theme each time. One of the latest Photo Competition even had a Professional’s Award (winner photo chosen by professional photographer) and the Facebook Award (chosen by subscribers of C.T.Co facebook page).

Nowadays Photo Contests are organized by Photo Community and the theme of the contests are connected with the theme of photo meetups held by this community. All photography enthusiasts who are participating in the photo meetup are able to send in their best photo which will take part in the contest. All employees can give their votes for the photo they like best. When the winner is known he/she gets the award - as simple as that.

Brain is a muscle, so it has to be trained all the time. C.T.Co employees train their brains at work all the time, but sometimes brains need a different kind of training. Knowing this, in 2008, the very first C.T.Co Brain Game was organized. This game is based on the idea of the popular Russian TV show called „What? Where? When?” and is widely spread in the world, forming teams, leagues and championships. The idea is that people form teams and answer various questions, having only 1 minute to discuss it inside of the team.  Number of correct answers is then calculated, nominating the winner.

That first game got such a huge attention and gathered a lot of positive feedback that there were 6 more games ever since. Each time, more and more people applied, number of teams and spectators continued to rise, and waiting lists were formed. During the game, competition is fierce, people come to discuss answers they find doubtful, and cheer the winners in the very end.

Working on a sitting job, it’s natural if you’d want to stand up, stretch your body, make some bends and breathe deeply. Yoga is an ancient art that can be useful everywhere, so it’s really perfect when some stretching, relax and change of scenery is required in the middle of the day. Yoga also helps to stop a running train of thought and reduce stress. 

We always say that C.T.Co unites people with the widest range of hobbies. So it’s no wonder that two C.T.Co people who joined the company as test engineers, software developers or business analysts turned out to be practicing Yoga in their spare time. Willing to share their love to yoga and improve themselves, they practice yoga excercies during everyday 30-minute yoga sessions. Anyone interested can join them easily.

It’s too early to speak about a Yoga Community, but this activity is slowly gaining popularity. About 10 enthusiastic people do a little Yoga in the office almost every day, discussing their success, their likes and how yoga helps them to bear the workload.

C.T.Co Employees are young – at age and at heart, and also very active. They enjoy going for various sports on their own, and C.T.Co can help them to do it together, united in teams or competing against each other. For several years in a row, our employees are participants of Nordea Riga marathon. 12 people ran in 2011 (with 2 of them running the half-marathon and the others – shorter distances). In 2012, the event became even more popular, involving 14 people, with one of them even running a full marathon! In 2013 C.T.Co marathon team included 27 participants! 11 of them conquered 5 km distance, 14 of them did their best on 10 km distance and 2 of them finished in half-marathon (21 km) distance! In year 2014 we had 37 participants which is an absolute record for our comapny!

In 2012, 2013 and 2014 sports enthusiasts from C.T.Co also took part in the Tough Race (Stipro Skrejiens) – an event with 6-8 km distance full of obstacles to overcome – walls to climb over, mud pools to mess up in. Our employees were also invited as spectators to cheer the team.

Fans of basketball, football and volleyball who work in C.T.Co have a possibility to train together.  They do not yet play in any league or compete against any other teams, but they gather for training once a week, work out and have fun.

Sports fans of C.T.Co are always in search of new challenges and sport events to test their endurance and spirit.