A software company announced an incentive program, targeted at Greeks living abroad who want to return home for work. Transifex is offering a repatriation bonus of €5,000 to €10,000 to all new hires.
CEO Dimitris Glezos considers it more than a relocation bonus. “It’s an opportunity to help Greek software developers living abroad return to their homeland in order to accept a challenging role at a fast-paced startup like Transifex. We want to strengthen the talent pool in Greece — one new hire at a time.”
Glezos founded Transifex in 2012 in Patras. By 2014, he grew the company to a team of a dozen software engineers, opened an office in Athens and another one in California’s Silicon Valley to manage sales, marketing, finance and other business operations functions. Transifex currently employs 34 people, including 20 people in Greece in various engineering, product and customer success roles. The company’s forecast calls for hiring at least five software developers in 2018 and double that in 2019. Headcount estimates total more than 1.3 million euros for Greek salaries by of 2019.
Panos Kapsokolis, Transifex’s manager of people operations, was an expatriate in his early twenties. Born and raised in Athens, he attended University of Athens but left the country to earn a Master’s degree and work in human resources positions in Edinburgh.
“After nearly four years in the UK, I was ready to move back to Greece to be closer to my family and my girlfriend, but I needed the right opportunity to take that step,” said Kapsokolis. “I’m thankful for joining Transifex to be able to further my career in Greece and continue my professional growth in an international context, while being in the country I love.”
Glezos views this repatriation incentive as an investment and good business practice. He encourages his Greek entrepreneur peers to do whatever is possible to support the return of engineering talent.
“When more entrepreneurial Greek companies provide challenging, rewarding work using innovative technologies and make a commitment to financial stability, expatriates may choose to return sooner to focus their livelihood in Greece, closer to family and loved ones,” said Glezos.
Dimitris was recognized in the March 25 edition of Fortune Greece in its annual “40 Under 40,” a list of “young entrepreneurs, under the age of 40 coming from different branches of the economy, aspiring to leave their own footprint on the Greek and international business scene,” the article reports.
Candidates are encouraged to apply to Transifex at https://www.transifex.com/l10n/greek-expats/.