“Mother Sunshine is a truly unique role in a software company.”
Who? Henriikka – Mother Sunshine, aka Arska, professional catering cook. Mother Sunshine keeps everyday life running smoothly at the Bitwise office in every sense, serves up everyday luxuries and brings everyone together over shared coffee breaks.
First there was the Company Granny
In 2011, Bitwise decided it wanted a Company Granny. The job went to Anitta, whose task was to keep day-to-day life running smoothly at Bitwise, which back then employed only about thirty people. Her duties included meeting catering and taking care of all sorts of practical matters, but Anitta was also a treasured keeper of team spirit.
When Anitta retired in 2017, it was time to find a successor. Bitwise ran a job ad in the Aamulehti newspaper looking for a “new granny”: a cheerful, energetic jack of all trades.
The ad caught the eye of Henriikka, who was working as a cook and longed for some variety and more regular working hours: “As soon as I saw the ad in Aamulehti, I decided to apply. To my delight, our HR lady Katja got in touch the very next working day. I'd been thinking about changing jobs for a while, because of the shift work and how little time I got to spend with my family.”
Almost two hundred people applied for the new granny job, so standing out wasn't exactly easy. Henriikka reckons she got the job by being her honest, cheerful self, and she sealed the deal with a chocolate overload. “I got the job by being myself! And with attitude! I think my strong professional kitchen skills helped too. Sure, I brought mud cake and smoothies as bribes, but I doubt that's the only reason they hired me”, Henriikka laughs. Bitwise CEO Tomi Mikkonen says personality mattered most: “Henriikka was chosen as the new granny because of the personal chemistry and her down-to-earth nature.” So the chocolate overload's influence on the hiring decision is not officially acknowledged, at least.
The era of Mother Sunshine
The brand-new granny's title was immediately updated to match her personality, and Henriikka became Mother Sunshine. You can probably guess what kind of person Henriikka is.
By the time the Company Granny retired, Bitwise had grown into a community of a hundred people, so Henriikka's job took on a shape of its own right from the start. Anitta only had a few days to show Henriikka the ropes, so this self-starter got to take over the field the way she saw best. Henriikka says the early days were a whirlwind: “Stepping into the Company Granny's big boots was exciting! And nerve-racking, because the staff had high expectations. When I started, we also moved into new premises on the first and second floors, where our own café is. So I got to start something completely new and create my own ways of doing things at the same time. The idea was never to copy Granny, but to build on the great foundation she'd created and do things my own way, in my own style.”
Henriikka's days fly by, but what on earth does Mother Sunshine actually do? “No two working days are alike, because the job is so broad. Among other things, I coordinate everything related to the building, recycling, workstations and everything that goes with them, apart from ICT purchases. I'm also responsible for the kitchens on each floor and for running our shared café. There are energising snacks on every floor. For the afternoon coffee break I prepare healthy snacks like vegetables, fruit and smoothies, and every week I bake something delicious. My job also covers meeting catering, organising in-house events and their catering. Post and other day-to-day errands go through my hands too”, Henriikka says, listing examples of her everyday work.
In between all of the above, you might find Mother Sunshine baking smart pucks in the Bitwise kitchen (true story) or building the smart puck cage downstairs. Plenty of other things pass through her hands too, such as 500 bottles of bubbly around the time of the May Day truck and the Belugas for Bitrock in the autumn. Once a year, the Tampere scenery gives way to the fells of KoodaiLevi, and Henriikka's family often comes along. Mother Sunshine takes care of the annual maintenance of Bitwise's villa in Levi, snowmobiles excepted. Not that we doubt for a second that this handy woman could learn that too.
By keeping day-to-day matters under control and filling the afternoons with the smell of fresh buns, Henriikka plays a big part in making sure our software designers enjoy being here and can focus on their own work. “When I take care of all this, everyone else can focus on what they do best, because everyday life at the office runs smoothly. Snacks and other ‘everyday luxuries’ bring variety to the day and make people happier and healthier at work”, Henriikka says, and continues: “Cooperation and a positive atmosphere make work easier and help things run smoothly. Those are the things I want to support at work.”
Are you sure we have enough liquorice?
Like every other Bitwiser, whatever their role, Henriikka manages her own work. “My job takes initiative, trust and responsibility, and my employer makes that possible brilliantly. Nobody chases me about my work; they trust that it gets done. I also have complete freedom to do my job my way, on my own schedule, and nobody questions it. What matters to me at work is the freedom to make my own decisions, variety and diversity, and this job has plenty of all of those”, she says.
Speaking of initiative, there's a liquorice-themed story from last year. Bitwise's brand identity had just been refreshed when someone noticed that the packaging of Fazer Lakritsi Lemon was in exactly the same colours. Henriikka was asked to order “enough liquorice” for various events and as gifts, and soon a delivery arrived downstairs:
The CEO got what he ordered. There was enough liquorice. Even after the Christmas gifts, trade fairs and other events, the liquorice just kept on going. At some point we were handing it out to the sports clubs of Bitwisers' kids and at student events, and there was still always liquorice on offer in the café. It's entirely possible, even likely, that there's some left in the building to this day.
“How did we even survive the time before the Company Granny and Mother Sunshine?”
The hiring of the Company Granny got a lot of media attention, and at first some suspected it was just a publicity stunt. By now it should be clear that the role matters to Bitwise. Granny was with us for six years, and Mother Sunshine will soon be starting her fourth year.
Bitwise's technical director Heikki Mäenpää, aka Hessu, sums up his thoughts on why the role is needed in one sentence: “How did we even survive the time before the Company Granny and Mother Sunshine?” In Hessu's view, hiring Anitta and Henriikka made everyday life at the office significantly better. “A leap from the Dark Ages into the Enlightenment, from stale crispbread to delicious mocha squares and carrot sticks”, he says.
Ask any Bitwiser what they think of Mother Sunshine and you're sure to hear that Arska is the best. There's hardly anyone we miss more when they're on holiday. Not that we're in it for the buns.