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Remote working has always been an option at EMPAUA, but for some time during the pandemic, it suddenly became the only one. That did not come without consequences:The cities were suddenly not as attractive any more, with everything closed down. Some of our colleagues moved away from the expensive city, and settled in more rural areas, some even bought flats there. Of course, they are not coming back to the office 100% - we would not want them to lose a big part of their free time to a commute!But also for the ones who stayed in the cities something changed - although working from home has always been possible, many still came to the office every day and only worked remotely when they were waiting for a delivery or similar.
Now, many have got used to it, and it has proven to be a lot more convenient if the day holds tasks that require a lot of focus.Therefore, people feel it would be better not to dial it down to the extent from before the pandemic, and rather aim for a good mix between remote work and office life.Being a multinational company, some of our colleagues also have their family and friends in another country, or even on another continent. In these cases, in order for a long-distance flight to be worthwhile, it makes sense to stay longer than an average holiday duration. For example, people can take personal time off for 2 weeks, then stay another 2 and work from there, still getting to spend more time with their loved ones.
Therefore, some people went to work from their families’ homes for a change of scenery for a while. Some of our colleagues even spent a few weeks working from the Canary Islands during the winter and found the refuelling with sunlight to be highly reenergizing. As a consequence, they are planning on doing it again when the dark season begins.
This is a big perk of working in the digital world - it doesn’t really matter from where we do it. And everything that helps our PAUA people stay happy and productive is an option - as long as people are transparent about it, some minimum standards (like a designated working area) are met, and it is made sure that it works (especially if people want to work from another time zone): Obviously, for our clients’ and team members’ sake, response times should not become longer, tasks still need to be delivered on time and the quality of work must not be affected. Basically, it’s a trust-based system and until now, it has been working just fine.
Would you like to work in a flexible working environment as well? Join EMPAUA!
