This 2024 Corporate Social Responsibility Report showcases QAwerk’s values in action, highlighting its unwavering commitment to its people, clients, and communities amidst a backdrop of global and regional challenges.
At QAwerk, we believe in the power of ethical practices to drive long-term value—not only for our clients but also for society and the environment. This report outlines our efforts to support companies in delivering safe and reliable digital experiences, reduce our environmental footprint, promote diversity and inclusion, and positively impact the communities we serve. Here, we share both our recent achievements and our vision for continued progress.
Community Involvement and Development
As a global software testing company, we are deeply committed to giving back and making a meaningful impact. Our community involvement and development initiatives are designed to contribute to a better society by promoting accessible quality assurance, supporting vulnerable communities, and standing in solidarity with Ukraine, our homeland. Through these efforts, we strive to create positive, lasting change in the communities we serve.
Popularizing quality assurance: Software testing is essential to creating high-quality software that is user-friendly, safe, and accessible. However, some businesses disregard it for a variety of reasons, such as a lack of resources, a restricted budget, or ignorance. It hurts us as a software testing organization to watch great and promising projects perform poorly or fail due to inadequate software testing. Thus, we developed two solutions.
In 2016, we launched our Bug Crawl program. Every week we choose random apps from Apple Store or Google Play and test them, creating thorough reports on any errors we find. In essence, any startup or even an established business can turn to us and request a free round of manual testing. So far, we’ve helped over 739 apps rapidly improve their product quality for free. We’ve found and documented test cases for about 4000 bugs to streamline their product quality and improve customer experience .
Another solution encouraging businesses to test their products more thoroughly is Android Bug Hunter.
With the help of this free tool, teams working on Android solutions may comprehensively evaluate an app’s user interface, low-memory performance, and deep linkages. Android Bug Hunter makes it simple for QA engineers, designers, marketers, and product managers to find and report issues.
Supporting Ukraine: With our Ukrainian roots, we stand with Ukraine in the face of the russian invasion and the profound unfairness of this war. Driven by a strong sense of responsibility, we are dedicated to providing meaningful support to those impacted by the conflict.
Through regular contributions to nonprofits assisting Ukrainian civilians affected by the invasion, we aim to supply essential resources and aid to those enduring hardship. Since February 24, 2022, in partnership with our sister company, Redwerk, we have donated over $226,000 to support Ukraine’s resilience and recovery.
Caring about Unprivileged: At QAwerk, giving back to the community is a core value, particularly focusing on initiatives that support the underprivileged. In January, we with Redwerk concluded our “New Year’s Miracle” initiative, which aimed to bring joy and essential support to 47 children from low-income families and family-type orphanages across Ukraine.
Many of these families are enduring significant hardships, from displacement due to conflict to the challenges of caring for children with special needs. Our contributions focused on providing resources and a sense of celebration to children and caregivers who have shown remarkable resilience in the face of adversity. This initiative embodies our commitment to uplifting those in need and fostering hope and community support during challenging times.
Labor Practices
Our labor practices are designed to create a supportive and productive work environment for our team. They demonstrate our dedication to maintaining efficiency while honoring our workers’ personal life. We believe that a happy and healthy workforce is key to delivering high-quality services. Here’s how we ensure the well-being of our employees.
Remote Friendly: We work remotely and have closed our offices for safety due to the present state of affairs in our native nation. Office attendance was optional even before the war, demonstrating our dedication to adaptability and work-life harmony.
No overtime policy: We urge our peers to avoid working too much. To avoid burnout, our HR and project management teams closely monitor workloads and do mood assessments. If overtime is required, it is paid in full.
Mental health care: The mental wellness of our employees is very important to us. To promote their mental health, we provide them monthly wellbeing stipends. In order to promote a sense of community and avoid the social isolation or loneliness that comes with working remotely, we also frequently plan both online and offline activities.
Support for the Team During Blackouts: Ukraine-based teammates have the option to work from a coworking space, where we have reserved three free spots for our team. Additionally, all teammates can receive a reimbursement under our wellbeing initiative for attending coworking spaces.
Training and development: We invest in our employees’ growth and development. We partly reimburse the costs of attending conferences or courses, buy professional literature on employee demand, and provide paid English, German, and Spanish classes. We host internal meetups to promote cross-department collaboration. We also support those employees who want to share their expertise with the global tech community by providing them with our YouTube platform and all the needed marketing resources.
Human Rights
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights are adhered to by QAwerk. We respect and advance human rights in every aspect of our business as a conscientious organization. We think that creating a safe and effective workplace requires a fundamental respect for human rights. Here’s how our group makes sure human rights are upheld.
Supporting Equal Voting Rights: At QAwerk, we are committed to advancing human rights by making digital spaces accessible to everyone. In 2024, we conducted a comprehensive accessibility assessment of 43 U.S. online voter registration websites to support equal access to the democratic process. Our team measure each site against 15 key accessibility criteria outlined in the WCAG 2.2 guidelines.
Our findings revealed that only 35% of these websites scored highly on accessibility, highlighting significant barriers for people with disabilities attempting to register independently. By addressing these gaps, we aim to make online voter registration inclusive for all, ensuring every eligible citizen can participate in elections with dignity and ease.
Equal opportunity: We provide fair job possibilities. Discrimination is prohibited on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic that is protected by law. Because we value diversity and inclusion, we work to create an atmosphere where everyone is treated with respect and feels valued.
Fair compensation: We guarantee equitable remuneration for every employee. Our pay packages are competitive and appropriate for our employees’ experience and skill levels. Maintaining a zero wage gap policy makes us proud.
Women in Tech: “In 2024, women made up 47% of the QAwerk team, underscoring our commitment to diversity and celebrating the vital contributions women bring to every department.
Zero tolerance for harassment: Harassment in any kind is absolutely forbidden. We are committed to providing a safe and respectful work environment for each and every one of our employees. Any kind of harassment is promptly and severely dealt.
Fair Operating Practices
Confidentiality: We understand that our clients entrust us with sensitive information, and we take this responsibility very seriously. To safeguard this trust, we have Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) in place with all our employees and clients. These NDAs legally bind all parties to maintain the confidentiality of the information shared. Furthermore, we have stringent data security measures in place to prevent any unauthorized access or disclosure of confidential information.
Service level agreements: Our Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are a form of commitment to our clients. They guarantee timely service provision and set clear expectations about the level of service that clients can expect from us. Our SLAs cover various aspects such as the scope of work, timelines, quality standards, and escalation procedures. By adhering to our SLAs, we ensure that we stay accountable and deliver on our promises.
Compliance with laws and regulations: Compliance with laws and regulations is non-negotiable for us. We operate in multiple countries, each with its own set of laws and regulations. This includes data protection laws, labor laws, and industry-specific regulations. We ensure our policies and procedures are always up-to-date and in line with the applicable laws.
Transparency: We maintain transparency in all our operations. We are honest about our capacity and expertise areas because we prioritize building lasting and trustful relationships rather than short-term gains. We regularly communicate with our clients about our business performance and ways to improve our collaboration.
Environmental Impacts
Our activities have a negligible effect on the environment. Nonetheless, we are dedicated to encouraging sustainable practices and further minimizing our environmental impact. This is how we control our effects on the environment.
Remote work: Our carbon footprint is greatly reduced because we operate remotely. In addition to saving time, removing regular trips significantly lowers transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.
Paperless operations: We make every effort to continue operating entirely without paper. Because we maintain most of our documents digitally, we use less paper and contribute to forest conservation. We would rather utilize digital handouts than printed ones at conferences and gatherings. In addition to using less paper, this facilitates information access and storage for participants.
Responsible hardware management: We aim to extend technology as far as possible, but we also recognize that it has a life cycle. As part of our hardware management plan, we donate used computers and other equipment to rural foster homes or impoverished schools. This prolongs the equipment’s lifespan and makes useful resources available to those who may not otherwise have them. Additionally, hardware is disposed of in an eco-friendly way to reduce electronic waste if it can no longer be utilized.
Energy efficiency: We work to make our processes more energy-efficient. This includes making use of energy-efficient equipment and motivating our staff to use energy-efficient lighting and computer settings to save electricity when working remotely. Additionally, the energy used for office utilities and commute is greatly decreased by our remote work program.
Green procurement: Buying goods and services with a less environmental effect is a top priority for us. This involves procuring materials for promotional events locally and selecting providers that follow eco-friendly procedures.
Consumer Issues
QAwerk is a customer-centric organization. We respect our clients’ rights and interests and prioritize customer satisfaction. With the 95% client retention rate, we believe we are on the right path to managing consumer issues successfully.
Managed services: Each project is assigned a dedicated QA team overseen by a project manager (PM) who is trained to handle a wide range of issues and work tirelessly to ensure that our clients’ needs are met. Our PMs take care of accurate planning, manage customer expectations, monitor our progress, facilitate timely delivery, and report on the work done regularly.
Data privacy and security: In today’s digital age, data privacy and security are of utmost importance. We have stringent data privacy policies in place and employ robust security measures to protect our clients’ sensitive information.
Feedback mechanism: Feedback is a crucial part of our continuous improvement process. We highly value our clients’ feedback as it provides us with insights into what we are doing well and where we can improve. To facilitate this, we have established mechanisms for our clients to provide feedback on our services, such as surveys and one-to-one meetings.
Dispute resolution: Our focus on building long-term partnerships helps us prevent major conflicts or disputes. However, in the event of a dispute, we have a fair and transparent resolution process in place. We strive to resolve any issues amicably and in the best interest of all parties involved.
Organizational Governance
The purpose of our organizational governance is to guarantee openness and accountability at every level. We support a flat organizational structure with few bureaucrats because it promotes candid communication and staff initiative.
Flat structure: Our flat organizational structure removes needless levels of supervision and gives our staff members the freedom to express their opinions and take the initiative on projects or initiatives they are enthusiastic about. Additionally, it enables us to reduce expenses so that we may reinvest in charitable causes and employee benefits, improving society.
Cross-department collaboration: Our workers’ ideas and initiatives are valued, and we encourage open communication and information sharing among them. We have implemented barrier-free communication throughout the organization, so staff members may communicate with upper management without any hindrances or middlemen.
Accountability: We take responsibility for our choices and behaviors. In order to accomplish our business goals and gain the trust of our stakeholders, accountability is essential. Our staff are very autonomous in their decision-making, and they are well aware of their responsibilities and the repercussions for inaction or careless work.
Supply Chain
Our supply chain procedures are made to guarantee that we only collaborate with vendors that share our dedication to human rights, environmental sustainability, and moral business conduct.
Ethical procurement: We only purchase goods and services from vendors that follow moral business standards. This covers following the law, respecting human rights, and using fair work practices.
Environmental sustainability: Suppliers that are dedicated to lessening their environmental impact are given preference. For example, we only purchase cloud services from trustworthy companies who are making every effort to minimize their carbon impact and maximize the usage of renewable energy.
Supplier evaluation: Based on their performance, adherence to moral principles, and dedication to sustainability, we routinely assess our suppliers. This makes it easier for us to make sure that our supplier chain supports our CSR objectives. We don’t work with vendors from nations that are involved in aggression, such as Belarus and russia.
Sustainable Development Goals for 2025
Goal 1: Support NGOs and Ukrainians affected by the war. We will continue to donate to charities and raise funds to help supply Ukrainian defenders with essentials and provide humanitarian aid.
Goal 2: Fostering continuous learning. At QAwerk we are expanding our areas of expertise, upskilling QA engineers to test AI systems, and deepening cybersecurity expertise, specifically in penetration testing and security auditing.
Goal 3: Striking work-life balance. We will maintain our flexible work-life balance policies, allowing employees to work during their most productive hours and seamlessly integrate work into their lives.
Goal 4: Creating job opportunities. Despite the global recession and the war in Ukraine, we aim to expand its business and create new job opportunities. This will help talented individuals in Ukraine utilize their skills, earn a living, and contribute to economic growth.
Building Great Future Together
We shall keep our activities in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN as we go forward. Businesses, in our opinion, are essential to solving global issues and promoting sustainable development.
We are resolute in our commitment to maintain the greatest standards of accountability, openness, and honesty in all of our activities. We are committed to creating a workplace that upholds human rights, values diversity, and fosters ongoing education and career advancement.
We immensely thank our clients and partners for their continued support and deep trust in us. By working together, we can create innovative solutions that advance social justice. We appreciate your participation in our quest for technological excellence, innovation, and sustainability.
