About working and vacationing - The Flexopus Workation

A young, party-loving team, the Adriatic coast just a stone's throw away, two villas with pools and unlimited access to (alcoholic) soft drinks: what sounds like paradise come true was nothing less than that.

Flexopus did not hold back this year and called on all employees to participate in the annual workation. This took place towards the end of the summer months and aimed to bring the team together, reward each other for a successful business year and, at the same time, be as productive as ever.

In the following blog post, you'll find out whether it really worked, what lessons we learned from the workation this year, and how the team has developed after a week under two roofs.

The team

Flexopus is growing continuously and the team is also becoming larger and more diverse year after year. People of diverse backgrounds, ages, and skill sets that vary greatly from person to person make up the Flexopus team and work together toward the company's vision. 

But isn’t it difficult to reconcile this diversity?

After all, there are people who like to cook, others prefer making music, are good at chess, football or enjoy swimming. Some are extroverted, others are more quiet, and still others make it their mission to blast half the neighborhood with electronic music. 

Getting to know the individual characters of our workforce in an environment that was not just dominated by screens or an office environment turned out to be ideal in our case. There was a lot of laughter, pondering, chatting, philosophizing, exchanging trivialities, and everyone got along with everyone else. 

The conversations that took place on the villa's terrace with a cold beer in hand in the setting evening sun will remain in our memories for a long time to come. In combination with the almost tangible memory of the terracotta floors still warm from the sun, they still provide a hint of summer in slowly cooling Germany and already increase the anticipation of next year.

We've realized once again: No matter how different our individual minds may be, we have so many things in common outside of our daily work lives, which we can discuss in a relaxed and friendly way, that this year's workation felt more like a vacation than work. 

The location

Admittedly, location scouting can be quite nerve-wracking for the entire staff in advance of such a large-scale undertaking. So, after getting a few offers, we decided to take the easy way out and simply choose the same place we stayed last year. 

Located in beautiful Istria, there was once again a hint of glamour in the air this year as we first felt the cooled marble floors of the villas built in modern Mediterranean style under our feet. On a 2000m² landscaped area, the flat roofs decorated with terracotta tiles jutted into the hot Croatian midday sun, and at the sight of the two pools, it didn't take long for the first team members to take a refreshing dip into the turquoise water. 

After a brief external refreshment, the first internal refreshment followed not long after in the form of a can of beer dripping with condensation. As befits the occasion, the surroundings were inspected and awarded the highest possible Swabian compliment: "Scho net schlechte" (It's not bad). 

The Mediterranean air, filled with the scent of rosemary, the many hours of sunshine and the salty taste of the sea near the coast make Istria a place you'll love to return to. Whether we'll even start location scouting for next year remains to be seen - because there's actually no reason to.

The work

Even though the descriptions of the event so far sound very much like a vacation, it was still important to us to be there for our customers and to continue to drive the company forward. Accordingly, we have largely maintained core working hours and, in addition, dedicated ourselves to the further development of the company. We were introduced to new features for the platform, conceived and designed innovations in workshops and concentration phases, and, of course, maintained regular operations. 

In our case, the biggest advantage of a shared location with sufficient space was quickly apparent: all team members can exchange ideas across departments and thus create a fruitful basis for the next business year. In everyday work, appointments, meetings, and business trips can often get in the way, but we deliberately postponed most of these during our stay in Istria. 

We felt that the combination of relaxation, brainstorming, and set focus times was the perfect recipe for a balanced mix of conceptual work and a “get shit done” mentality. So there will be some new features on our Workplace Management Platform next year that you can look forward to!

The pleasure

A day at work in 35°C can be quite exhausting, even if that's just complaining at a high level. Luckily, we were still well prepared and had thought of all sorts of activities to relax in the cooler evening hours. 

Whether it was cooking together (including meals between 10 and 11 p.m.), playing board games, taking long evening walks, or learning how to mix a good whiskey sour, the evenings at the villas were filled with laughter and relaxation and a welcome change from the workday. 

But what would a stay in Istria be like if you didn’t leave your accommodation?

That's what we thought too, so we regularly went to the beach, visited the local market, and let the evening sun sink into the sea shine on our faces in one or two beach bars.

The regular supermarket shopping for the entire team also fell under the category of leisure activity, since it's probably not a common occurrence at home to drive around with 6 kilos of shrimp, 12 kilos of pasta, and a not insignificant amount of liquid food. 

If the days were too short for you, you could also work off some energy with midnight golf or football tennis on the villa grounds, or literally get your colleagues wet with water polo in one of the pools.

The meaning 

As you can easily see from this report, the time spent together during the workation was worth its weight in gold. This fact now leads us to the root of the whole thing and the explanation why we take it for granted to strengthen our community and our cohesion within the team in this way.

Let’s be honest: the whole undertaking is of course associated with a not insignificant financial outlay. Added to this is the responsibility of ensuring employee safety during the trip, booking various accommodations, and the obligation to meet all customer needs 850 kilometers away.

From a purely economic perspective, a weekend in the Allgäu would also do, where you plan a hike, sit together in the evening, and drive home on Sunday. 

Would we achieve the same results? 

Probably not. While no one on the team will link the success of the workation to the company's expenses, the overall package of a summer vacation in a foreign country, work and leisure time combined with the amenities of the accommodation is unbeatable. Besides, how could it be possible to get to know your colleagues in a less professional environment than with wet swimwear and a drink in hand by the pool?

The purpose of this workation is not to focus strictly on expenses, but rather to focus on the soft factors within our company that make team building what it ultimately should be: to create a homogenous team that knows each other personally, appreciates each other, and is productive together.

The conclusion

Summarizing our experiences from this year's workation, we can take away a few useful takeaways:

• It is always worth investing in your team
• Joint activities paired with focused working time lead to special results
• It feels good to reward yourself for your work
• Gratitude towards the employer is created, which has a positive effect on performance throughout the year
• Employees feel valued

If you were to try to achieve the above-mentioned points without a celebration like a workation, you would have to plan a lot of benefits and extra-work activities in your daily life, which in turn quickly leads to overcrowded calendars. Whether this is more worthwhile is up to each reader to judge.

We're already certain that this year's experiences will be applied again next year, and we're all looking forward to it. 

If you would also like to be part of an exciting IT project and experience one of our workations, you are cordially invited to send your meaningful application to info@flexopus.com . We look forward to seeing you!