Category: Community

To celebrate Earth Day and reduce our impact on the environment, this April, we went all in to inspire both our clients and employees to adopt sustainable practices and embrace a more conscious lifestyle.

Earth Day Bingo

Right on time for Earth Day this year, we challenged our team to adopt sustainable living practices and reduce their impact on the environment with our Internal Earth Day Bingo.

If you’re also ready to get started on your journey toward sustainable living, set yourself up for the challenge by completing our Earth Day Bingo card!

Sustainability Report 2023 – Read, Share & Plant a Tree

At SiteGround, we have always taken responsibility for our environmental impact and have worked tirelessly to minimize the carbon footprint of our own and our clients’ websites. This year, we’ve compiled all our sustainable efforts into our Sustainability Report which outlines the aspects of our sustainability strategy from providing green hosting services to genuinely caring about the well-being of our employees, our communities, our cities, our society, and our Planet.

Read our Sustainability Report 2023, share it on social media and we will plant a tree for every share through TreeNation!

We believe that together we can create a positive change and plant the seeds of a brighter future.

Earth Day is a good occasion to recognize that we all have a responsibility to protect our Planet – even though that’s something we should do every day, we usually take it for granted. So we wanted to use this as a reminder to adopt sustainable living and website management practices and reduce our impact on the environment by making small changes in our daily lives.

Set yourself up for the challenge by completing our Earth Day Bingo!

Manage More Efficient and Sustainable Websites 

As a website owner, it’s crucial to recognize the impact your website has on the environment. Here are a few tips to help you manage a sustainable website:

• Choose a green web hosting provider 
• Choose a Datacenter closer to your visitors 
• Use a CDN
• Optimize your website 
• Do a regular website cleanup 

[subscribe_cta]

We’re diving into the next exciting journey part of our ON & OFF THE CLOCK series – a dedicated spotlight stories about the women of SiteGround who keep us inspired day in and day out. We’ve already introduced you to Sophia, the web designer who infuses every project with boundless creativity, and Velina, the adventurous HR who’s always ready for a challenge. And let’s not forget about Dobromira, the DevOps engineer who fearlessly blazes trails in a traditionally male-dominated field. These women embody the spirit of SiteGround – fearless, innovative, and always pushing boundaries.

Now, we’re telling the story of Yana – the unstoppable force behind SiteGround’s cyber security measures. As our Information Security Officer, Yana’s passion for protecting our community is unmatched. But there’s more to her than meets the eye – athlete at heart with a pinch of love for painting and gaming, let’s dive into her story.

[subscribe_cta]

Join us as we embark on another chapter of our ON & OFF THE CLOCK series, where we celebrate some of the remarkable women of SiteGround. You already met Sophia and Velina whose curious and creative natures know no bounds. 

Today, we’re thrilled to introduce you to Dobromira, fondly known as Dobby – a DevOps engineer who fearlessly navigates the predominantly male-dominated profession with her inquisitive mind and problem-solving skills.

[subscribe_cta]

We started our ON & OFF THE CLOCK series with a heartfelt gratitude to the dazzling women of SiteGround who bring boundless creativity and expertise to our team and community. First, we introduced you to Sophia – one of SiteGround’s web & graphic designer powerhouses that brings our content  to life. 

Now, we want you to meet Velina – one of our human resources experts who carries an adventurous spirit with her wherever she goes.

[subscribe_cta]

SiteGround has been certified as the best employer in Bulgaria for 2022 by ARS Bulgaria, which conducted the survey with the exclusive partnership of the global company Kincentric. Kincentric is an organization with over 50 years of experience in employee engagement research. This is SiteGround’s fourth certification under this methodology. This year, 32 companies competed, and only four received the certificate.

The Kincentric Best Employer program honors the best employers in the world based on the evaluation of their employees, as reported by an independent internal survey. It measures the four factors that decades of data collection show distinguish successful companies from the rest. These are employee engagement, business adaptability to innovation and customer needs, top and middle management and good people development practices. Over the past five years, 4,000 organizations worldwide have examined their HR practices using this methodology.

“For us, as an employer, the most important recognition is the evaluation of our team, the people of SiteGround, because they are the basis of everything we do and achieve as a business,” said Valentina Kozhouharova, HR Manager of SiteGround.

According to the results of the survey, employee engagement at SiteGround is 88%, which is above the average for the IT industry in Bulgaria. Nearly 91%, say the company’s work environment encourages diversity of talent and different ways of thinking.

“We congratulate SiteGround for their certification as The best employer in Bulgaria,” said Rumyana Boseva, CEO of ARS Bulgaria, Kincentric’s exclusive partner for Bulgaria. “The Kincentric methodology represents organizations’ outstanding achievements in creating a good work environment, positive culture and sustainable business results. SiteGround stands out from the rest with its strong employee and senior management commitment and focus on developing talent.”

SiteGround has three offices in Sofia, Plovdiv and Stara Zagora. They employ 500 people, and the company continuously invests in the development of their expert skills and professional competences, as well as in creating a positive and motivating work environment in which people feel free to develop their full potential. During the last year – from the beginning of 2022 until now, nearly 16% of our employees were promoted to higher positions.

SiteGround also offers many benefits, including “Short Fridays”, its own restaurant and barista, its own gym, additional health insurance, annual medical check-ups, psychologist, massages, sports cards, unique office environment, and various traditional initiatives to support the physical, emotional, personal and professional development of the employees.

March is here, and with it comes an amazing celebration of womanhood – International Women’s Day. This year, we’re turning our spotlight to the incredible women at SiteGround who bring professionalism and personality to everything they do. We believe that a supportive workplace that values each individual leads to a ripple effect of positive energy that extends far beyond the workspace. In our series, “ON & OFF THE CLOCK,” we’ll be showcasing the stories of some of the women who have been instrumental in SiteGround’s growth, sharing their experience of navigating work and life with a smile. 

Meet Sophia – SiteGround’s web & graphic designer powerhouse who brings creativity everywhere.

[subscribe_cta]

SiteGround received four awards for its employer branding and HR management at b2b Media’s annual Employer Branding Awards. The company was awarded in the categories “Innovation in talent management”, “Employer branding video”, “Excellence in stress management” and “Excellence in Office Space”.

The annual awards of b2b Media distinguish businesses and individuals for achievements in the field of building and strengthening the image and popularity of the employer brand – for innovations in talent management, for new successful strategies in HR. In the contested competition, more than 120 projects of 60 companies were evaluated by the independent jury.

“SiteGround is not just a workplace, but a community you belong to – with values ​​and example. What all four awards we won have in common is our team, the amazing people who work with us. The success of our employer brand is a natural continuation of our philosophy, which is based on caring for employees and investing in their development”, says Valentina Kozuharova, Human Resources Manager at the company.

SiteGround has three offices in Sofia, Plovdiv and Stara Zagora. They employ 500 employees, and the company continuously invests in the development of their expert skills and professional competences.

SiteGround also offers many benefits, including reduced hours on Fridays, own restaurant and barista, own gym, additional health insurance, annual medical check-ups, psychologist, massages, sports cards, unique office environment, and various traditional initiatives to support the physical, emotional, personal and professional development of employees.

Last December, while everyone was in the whirlwind of the end-of-year Holidays, among the SiteGround team there was a different excitement in the air. We had just announced our support for the World’s first human-powered rowing expedition from the Antarctic – and our whole team was anticipating the start of the adventure, planned for January 2023.

Fast forward to a little over a month later, the mission was successfully completed with extraordinary success and 8 Guinness records! As one of their main sponsors, at SiteGround we are extremely proud with the accomplishment of the crew, but even more so with their cause – the petition to help prevent the overexploitation of the once pristine marine environment of the Southern Ocean.

Our support for entrepreneurial spirit and a stand for the Planet

It all started in November 2022, when we decided to hold an inspiring internal event for the SiteGround team in our HQ office. We had invited Bulgarian entrepreneur and adventurer Stefan Ivanov, who already had 2 Guinness Records with his son Maxim, awarded for their astounding journey, called NEVEREST. For NEVEREST his son and himself spent 105 Days across the Atlantic in the hurricane season in a rowing boat they built themselves in their garage at home.

During the meeting with the team, Stefan revealed that he was about to become part of another expedition with even bigger stakes and cause – to help protect the environment of Antarctica. The upcoming mission resonated deeply with the inherent values of the SiteGround team – to challenge yourself, raise the limit of what’s possible, and live with purpose. But it also highlighted our need to care and take action for our planet and our personal and collective responsibility for its protection. In the words of our co-founder, Ivo Tzenov, “The courage to keep doing what you believe in, despite that everyone tells you it’s impossible, is no stranger to us. It’s exactly what’s been driving our work and success at SiteGround from the start. But the mission had our support also because of their cause and stand for the environment, which is also something that we at SiteGround firmly believe in”. So it was only natural that we decided to support this endeavor.

The Shackleton Mission 2023

The crew of the Shackleton Mission included 6 leading explorers and adventurers from 5 countries – Captain Fiann Paul (Iceland), Lisa Farthofer (Austria), Jamie Douglas-Hamilton (United Kingdom), Brian Krauskopf (USA), Mike Matson (USA), and our home-country representative Stefan Ivanov (Bulgaria). The expedition departed across the Southern Ocean from the Antarctic King George Island to South Georgia Island aboard their boat, Mrs Chippy, on January 11, 2023. Their 850 nautical mile journey passed across what is regarded by many as “the most dreaded bit of ocean on the planet”. It retraces the voyage made by Sir Ernest Shackleton and 5 of his crew in 1916 that saved the lives of all 28 members of Shackleton’s previous Endurance expedition.

The 2023 Shackleton Mission was conducted under the flag of “THE EXPLORERS CLUB”. Established in New York in 1904, the club has been supporting scientific expeditions of various disciplines and uniting its members in the bonds of good fellowship. It’s the same club, whose flag graced the first expeditions to the South and the North Poles, mount Everest, and even the Moon!

The whole SiteGround team followed the Antarctic mission’s journey closely thanks to the online diary of the Bulgarian representative in the crew, who even managed to post regular updates along the way! On January 17, 2023, the mission was completed and the team landed safely on Laurie Island (South Orkney Islands) after rowing 777 km (420 nautical miles) in the Southern Ocean in 6 days. The row meets all requirements of the Ocean Rowing Society and qualifies as a successfully completed polar ocean row and won 8 Guinness Records:

🏆 First human-powered expedition from the Antarctic

🏆 First human-powered expedition on the Southern Ocean South to North 

🏆 First human-powered expedition on the Scotia Sea

🏆 The first human-powered expedition completed entirely within the Southern Ocean

🏆 Southernmost start of a rowing expedition

🏆 Fastest row on the Southern Ocean

🏆 Longest distance rowed on the Southern Ocean

🏆 Fastest Polar row

A small row boat, a giant leap for the Planet

The crew of the Shackleton Mission were aiming to challenge what’s humanly possible, but their mission went beyond that. It is true evidence that with the right team, the right partner, and support, we can accomplish anything.

That’s also true for the mission’s even greater goal – to prevent the overexploitation of the once pristine marine environment of Antarctica. The petition started by the crew calls for the designation of new marine protected areas of at least 4,000,000 km2 in the Southern Ocean – the largest marine protection in history. Given that over 90% of the large marine species in the oceans are already in danger of extinction, with your help we can stop this.

Read more and sign the petition:

www.change.org/SouthernOcean

[subscribe_cta]

The Bulgarian Stefan Ivanov took part in the venture, the main sponsor of which was SiteGround

The world’s first rowing boat expedition from the Antarctic through the Southern Ocean was successfully completed on January 17, 2023, and brought six Guinness records.

1. First expedition from Antarctic
2. First expedition in the Southern Ocean from south to north
3. First Scotia Sea Expedition
4. Southernmost starting point of an ocean rowing expedition
5. Fastest rowing expedition in the Southern Ocean
6. Fastest polar rowing expedition

The expedition was carried out under the flag of the renowned “The Explorers Club”, founded in 1904, and under whose flags the first expeditions to the South and North Pole, Everest, the Moon and others were carried out.

The Bulgarian IT company SiteGround, which is one of the world leaders in the hosting industry, supported the venture as the main sponsor.

The leader of the expedition was the Icelander Fian Paul – he is the explorer with the most Guinness records in the world, after the current expedition their number exceeds 40. Fian says: “It was by far the most difficult expedition I have done, logistically and weather wise. I still have pain in my hands.” Bulgaria has its own representative in the expedition – Stefan Ivanov, a banker and adventurer, who in 2020, together with his son Maxim, crossed the Atlantic in a rowing boat. Stefan shares about his new experience in the Antarctic expedition: “This rowing expedition in the Southern Ocean took me the furthest from my comfort zone, but it brought me endless satisfaction. We battled gusty winds, huge waves, biting cold and wetness. On the other hand, we were like in an ice fairy tale – surrounded by icebergs and occasionally visited by whales, penguins, seals and albatrosses. We realized once again how imperative it is that we all get involved in protecting the ecological balance of the planet.”

The other members of the expedition were Jamie Douglas-Hamilton from the UK, Lisa Farthofer from Austria, Mike Matson and Brian Krauskpf from the USA – all experienced ocean and/or competitive rowers and sailors.

One of the main objectives of the expedition is to help declare new protected areas of over 4,000,000 km2 in the Southern Ocean. Considering that more than 90% of the big fish in the oceans have already been gone, the organizers are calling on anyone who wants to give their voice to the special petition: www.change.org/SouthernOcean.

“We believe that success lies only outside the comfort zone, that the courage to follow a dream, even if everyone tells you it’s impossible, makes you a true adventurer and a true entrepreneur. This similarity is at the heart of our support for Stefan and this mission. We are glad that it ended successfully and brought six Guinness Records, which we Bulgarians can be proud of, it is unique that we had our own representative in something so significant. More importantly, however, the mission raises the alarm about the protection of the oceans and the protection of nature in general: a cause that we also protect and find close to our values”, shared Tenko Nikolov, CEO and Ivo Tzenov, founder of SiteGround.