Work in the morning and chill out on the beach in the evening? That's something we don't want to withhold from our employees at Envoria!
What is still a new approach for others has already become standard for us: At Envoria, we recognize the benefits of “workations” – combining work with vacation –, encouraging our team to explore new environments without compromising their professional responsibilities.
Over the last few years, many of our employees have taken the opportunity to go on workstations. We have now caught two of them, Severin and Paul, for an interview. Let's find out what they have to tell about their workations with Envoria!
Hi Paul, hi Sevi! Let's start with a quick introduction round. Who are you and what do you do at Envoria?
Paul: Hi, I'm Paul, 28 years old and I work as an ESG Associate in the Customer Success and Consulting team.
Sevi: Hi, I'm Sevi and I've been working at Envoria since mid-July 2023, also as an ESG Associate in the Customer Success Team, which is responsible for the successful implementation of our software for our customers.
How easy does Envoria make it for you to realize a workation within Europe?
Paul: I would consider the possibility of going on a workation as a matter of course at Envoria. I was able to start planning straight away after a brief consultation and a look at upcoming dates and my budget for possible workation days. All I really had to do was say where and when I wanted to work from abroad. The application for the A1 certificate was taken care of by Envoria.
Sevi: I totally agree with Paul. It was very easy, I discussed it with my boss in advance, then sent the accommodation data for the health insurance to our People & Culture Manager Chris. And that was all the internal “administrative work”.
Where did you go on your last workation and how long were you away for?
Paul: I first spent a week in Utrecht and then a week in Brussels.
Sevi: I traveled to Andalusia, Spain, for 4 weeks and spent about a week each in Malaga, Tarifa, Conil de la Frontera, and Cádiz.
What kind of workation did you do?
Paul: I combined my workation with a few days' vacation and visited friends I hadn't seen for a long time. It was quite nice for me to be able to explore new places in the afternoon after work in the morning and enjoy a bit of a vacation feeling.
Sevi: I was traveling with a friend and we rented apartments locally for the period. So we didn't go to any co-working spaces or try out any co-living spaces.
How was the collaboration with your colleagues during your workation?
Paul: Since most of our work is remote and I didn't have a time difference, the collaboration with my colleagues worked great. It actually felt like a normal day at work.
Sevi: Same for me! Working with my colleagues was exactly the same as if I had been working from Germany. We are all used to working together digitally and remotely, so it was no problem that I was working almost 2,000 kilometers away from Munich in the meantime.
Were there any challenges or difficulties?
Paul: The biggest challenge for me was working on travel days, as, unfortunately, you can't always completely rely on your travel connections, and of course, only certain types of tasks can be done on the train or bus. That's why I mostly scheduled my travel times for the weekends or planned certain tasks specifically for travel days.
A constant topic when it comes to workation: the internet.
Sevi: Not in terms of work. Except that I should probably stop surfing, because I injured myself the penultimate weekend and went home with a shoulder injury instead of going on vacation.
Oh no, what bad luck, Sevi. Hope you've recovered quickly. And Paul, you mentioned internet problems: How did both of you ensure that you always had a good network?
Paul: As I stayed with my friends and mostly worked from their apartment, it wasn't really a big challenge for me. But I also have a good cell phone contract with a lot of fast data volume, so I could also work from other locations if I didn't want to stay in my friends' apartment and felt like going to a café or a soup bar or something.
Sevi: When selecting the apartments, I took a closer look at the reviews to see whether previous tenants had reported problems with the internet. In addition, the landlords often also mentioned the speed of the internet there. Taking these two aspects into account, I (luckily) had no problems with the internet during the 4 weeks.
What was the biggest highlight during your workation?
Paul: The biggest highlight for me was definitely the opportunity to do something every evening. That was really special, as I usually only get to do that on vacation.
Sevi: Hard to choose! Here are my Top 2: The apartment in Tarifa, which was right on the beach and you only had to walk 10 meters to lie on the beach after work. Due to the flexibility of our working hours at FISA, we were able to take a quick dip in the sea during our lunch break. My second highlight happened right when my buddy and I had arrived in Málaga. On the way from the train station to our apartment, we happened to bump into a friend who was doing a semester abroad with us in Maribor in 2019. Coincidentally, she was also in Málaga for a week on workation with a friend.
Be honest: how often did you feel the need to make your colleagues jealous with great photos during your workation?
Paul: That's a good question! Of course, I talked about the locations, concerts, restaurants and excursions in almost every conversation, but unfortunately I only took and shared only a few photos...
Sevi: Not that often, but at the apartment in Tarifa I couldn't help but share the view with my colleagues, whether they wanted to or not :D
What was the funniest mishap that happened to you during your workation that you haven't told your colleagues yet?
Paul: Well, then we're back to the topic of the internet... My friend in Brussels forgot to mention that he doesn't have Wi-Fi, but only uses a hotspot himself. I did tell my colleagues this, but they didn't know that in order to save data, I simply switched off the videos of all participants in Google Meets.
Sevi: To be honest, there hasn't really been one. Besides, if I had kept it a secret so far, I would have kept it a secret for a good reason and wouldn't reveal it now 😉
What do you take away from the workation, both for yourself and for your work?
Paul: A workation is fun, brings a few challenges for teamwork and makes you want to do more. I'm already planning my next workation, hopefully a bit longer this time... :D
Sevi: It makes no difference to me or my job where I'm working from, as long as I have a stable internet connection. And note to myself: I shouldn't surf! :D
And last but not least: What tips do you have for employees planning their first Workation?
Paul: My only tip would be not to hesitate too long. Once you've settled into the team and familiarized yourself with your tasks, you should encounter few new challenges if the workation has been well organized. I would always combine it with a few days of vacation, as otherwise it can quickly become exhausting and, of course, you want to enjoy your stay abroad.
Sevi: Absolutely! Plus, I can think of a few more points:
- Don't go surfing! 😉
- May is a good month, prices are still at pre-season level, the weather in southern Europe is already better on average than in Germany, but the temperatures are at a (still) bearable level. There are also usually quite a lot of bridge days in May, which you can then use sensibly abroad. So, I often had a long weekend with using just a few vacation days.
- Set a free time blocker in the afternoon at a certain time in your calendar so that your colleagues can see when you are no longer available for appointments. This worked very well for me!
- Take extended weekends during the workation and enjoy the different leisure activities than at home.
Thank you both very much for your time and the really great conversation!