How to organize a corporate winter?
the company is the middle of winter? Exhausted by the cold, slush and endless colds team. Almost all dream to go somewhere far away, somewhere warm for the winter... and because we can, dammit! That employees are not left for warmer climes without the company, the company itself may act as the organizer of the winter. Especially if the leadership too tired to carry him drops.
For residents of St. Petersburg that we wrote, especially important for two reasons: we were lucky to be neighbors of Finland, and thus we can use the European low-cost airlines in the first place — Ryanair. And we got surprisingly nasty climate.
As a place for wintering for Nimax we only looked at places that coincide with the mass tourist routes — so we will be able to find inexpensive tickets. If you travel frequently, you know that winter is not always warm. Therefore, Egypt, Cyprus, Tunisia and the whole of the South of Europe rule out there is already pretty cool. Suitable climate — in India, Thailand, the Canary Islands.
Thailand and India are good for the long winter — expensive tickets predetermine a prolonged stay in these countries. Plus, in our opinion, it's too hot, and it gets to work.
Our plan was never to move for six months — it would break all the work of the company. We decided that it is more convenient to make short trips for 2-3 weeks, and so everyone can go several times during the winter. Moreover, employees can work in the winter office or heading here on vacation. Of course, you can go with family.
Commercial Director Maxim with her daughter Alice at one of the beaches near our winter office
In St. Petersburg almost all have Finnish visa, and Lappeenranta, the nearest to the border of the city, across Europe flying carrier Ryanair. One of the most popular routes they have — the Canary Islands. This is the territory of Spain, and so a Schengen visa is quite suitable. And there perfect 20-25 degrees all year round.
Now it was necessary to pick an island, there are many. We have considered all Islands of the archipelago, of which, of course, Tenerife and Gran Canaria and more interesting topography and rich from the point of view of entertainment. Opting Fuerteventura was made almost by accident: we liked that there are very long beaches, and coincidentally, here we have found a suitable home.
Flights from Lappeenranta to the Canary Islands costs from 6,000 to 10,000 rubles in both directions, including all fees. However, not it was convenient, night flight connections, but docking stations — Milan, düsseldorf and Brussels — are most interesting to visit.
We started with independent searches, the first impression was inspiring. For the money that in St. Petersburg you can rent an apartment on Fuerteventura, you can afford to rent a house with pool by the sea. If we compare with the rental office, then our room is about 150 square meters costs us almost 3 times more than renting a four-storey building with an area of almost 200 meters. Price range — from 700 to 1200 euros per month. By the way, apartments on the island even cheaper: you can find over 200 euros a month.
Fuerteventura common residential complexes of 3-4-storey condominiums. Between the houses the place is small, but has a pool. Initially we focused on this variant, but changed his mind and chose a house on the ocean. This, incidentally, is rare on the island, in proximity to the sea has a big disadvantage: from the salt spray all rust. The mistress of our house and said: "the Sea eats all".
the House is right on the ocean, it has a separate entrance. In a strong wind in the window fly spray.
Parking in a tropical style
The best option is to go by and together with the agent to view and choose the appropriate options, so you spend less time and nerves.
You need to be prepared for two things. First: long-term lease involves a security Deposit — usually equal to two months rent. Second: the house can be absolutely no household items — dishes, bedding and small appliances. It's not terrible: there are shops of Chinese goods and IKEA. For 200-400 euros you can fill the house with all necessary.
And again. Carefully study the specific location of the house. Many homes are located in the Central areas of the Islands, far from the sea. Google Maps to help you.
a Small beach right near the house. Lie on the beach is not rocky
Views of our city — Canaries
A few sites about rent in Spain
www.bliss-properties.com/Property-for-long-term-rent-in-Fuerteventura.shtml
www.freedom4sale.com
www.grupoestupendo.com
www.fotocasa.es
Because of this a few days the whole thing with a winter office hung in the balance: we almost left without any connection. Well, the landlady has kindly agreed to host the ADSL channel for us.
We had an ADSL channel 10/0,8 Mbit/s from the company Movistar, WiFi-router 802.11 g included in the connection kit. In General, the channel was missing until more than 2 people did not start simultaneously talk on Skype. A little we calculated only with the router. Four-storey house is not an apartment and not an office, wifi didn't "reach" to some of the rooms, especially on the top floor.
Organizing all the essential on the island, remained to simplify fees, flights and other difficulties for employees. To this end, we made a schedule — when and who is going to go for the winter, and prepared two background documents: schedule of travel and guest book with tips for beginners — where are the nearest shops, where the best pizza, where to rent a surfboard and so on. In the section "How to get into the house" in particular, it was reported how a cactus buried key. Opened the section with stories about winter office in our blog. On the Google map marked all the interesting and useful places:
Everything ready. Winter office started
You won't believe, but yoga can work sitting on some of the stones
Despite the fact that the house was comfortable working areas, they are not used. Almost all visitors took the laptop and settled down on the sofas. Only our Manager of projects, Manager of traffic tasks total production was equipped with a mini-office on the ground floor.
the Dining area, she's working
workspace with ocean views. Our advertising specialist Anna
Interesting relationship with time. When in St. Petersburg working day starts on the island — 6am. To work with the main office, get up early in the morning and after eight hours, go to sunbathe and swim. While on the clock — 15.00. That is, the best solution is to continue to live on St. Petersburg time.
The biggest surprise in the organization of the winter office: it turned out that not all employees need all this. Despite the obvious attractiveness of the idea and the extreme ease of travel, more than half of the colleagues are unable or unwilling to go. The biggest problem is that the second half our guys work mainly in a more conservative companies that reacted to the idea without enthusiasm. And, of course, many left the decision of visa issues, and then in the end did not have time to do the paperwork.
Another unexpected problem: many would like to be in a more lively place than Fuerteventura. The company, on the contrary, was looking for something not very distracting from work. Here was a conflict of interest, which we will try to resolve next year.
a Characteristic feature of the local landscape — windmills
moreover, the city's beach — 10 mins walk
It makes up with a winter office is quite expensive — not from the point of view of expenses and due profits. The constant moving seriously lower the overall performance of the company. However, the quality of our lives is not determined by the amount of money earned, not the cost of the machine and not the number of rooms in our apartment, but rather the sea, the sun, experiences and joy of life. So it's worth it.
the
Article based on information from habrahabr.ru
selecting a seat
For residents of St. Petersburg that we wrote, especially important for two reasons: we were lucky to be neighbors of Finland, and thus we can use the European low-cost airlines in the first place — Ryanair. And we got surprisingly nasty climate.
As a place for wintering for Nimax we only looked at places that coincide with the mass tourist routes — so we will be able to find inexpensive tickets. If you travel frequently, you know that winter is not always warm. Therefore, Egypt, Cyprus, Tunisia and the whole of the South of Europe rule out there is already pretty cool. Suitable climate — in India, Thailand, the Canary Islands.
Thailand and India are good for the long winter — expensive tickets predetermine a prolonged stay in these countries. Plus, in our opinion, it's too hot, and it gets to work.
Our plan was never to move for six months — it would break all the work of the company. We decided that it is more convenient to make short trips for 2-3 weeks, and so everyone can go several times during the winter. Moreover, employees can work in the winter office or heading here on vacation. Of course, you can go with family.
Commercial Director Maxim with her daughter Alice at one of the beaches near our winter office
In St. Petersburg almost all have Finnish visa, and Lappeenranta, the nearest to the border of the city, across Europe flying carrier Ryanair. One of the most popular routes they have — the Canary Islands. This is the territory of Spain, and so a Schengen visa is quite suitable. And there perfect 20-25 degrees all year round.
Now it was necessary to pick an island, there are many. We have considered all Islands of the archipelago, of which, of course, Tenerife and Gran Canaria and more interesting topography and rich from the point of view of entertainment. Opting Fuerteventura was made almost by accident: we liked that there are very long beaches, and coincidentally, here we have found a suitable home.
Flights
Flights from Lappeenranta to the Canary Islands costs from 6,000 to 10,000 rubles in both directions, including all fees. However, not it was convenient, night flight connections, but docking stations — Milan, düsseldorf and Brussels — are most interesting to visit.
Search homes
We started with independent searches, the first impression was inspiring. For the money that in St. Petersburg you can rent an apartment on Fuerteventura, you can afford to rent a house with pool by the sea. If we compare with the rental office, then our room is about 150 square meters costs us almost 3 times more than renting a four-storey building with an area of almost 200 meters. Price range — from 700 to 1200 euros per month. By the way, apartments on the island even cheaper: you can find over 200 euros a month.
Fuerteventura common residential complexes of 3-4-storey condominiums. Between the houses the place is small, but has a pool. Initially we focused on this variant, but changed his mind and chose a house on the ocean. This, incidentally, is rare on the island, in proximity to the sea has a big disadvantage: from the salt spray all rust. The mistress of our house and said: "the Sea eats all".
the House is right on the ocean, it has a separate entrance. In a strong wind in the window fly spray.
Parking in a tropical style
The best option is to go by and together with the agent to view and choose the appropriate options, so you spend less time and nerves.
note. it Appeared that the owners of the houses can only be contacted through agents. In principle, special difficulties did not cause it, especially because some agents take a percentage of the house owners, not us. The problem was that many owners refused to rent us a house when I know people will be many and they will change. Because of this, the search was somewhat delayed.
You need to be prepared for two things. First: long-term lease involves a security Deposit — usually equal to two months rent. Second: the house can be absolutely no household items — dishes, bedding and small appliances. It's not terrible: there are shops of Chinese goods and IKEA. For 200-400 euros you can fill the house with all necessary.
And again. Carefully study the specific location of the house. Many homes are located in the Central areas of the Islands, far from the sea. Google Maps to help you.
a Small beach right near the house. Lie on the beach is not rocky
Views of our city — Canaries
A few sites about rent in Spain
www.bliss-properties.com/Property-for-long-term-rent-in-Fuerteventura.shtml
www.freedom4sale.com
www.grupoestupendo.com
www.fotocasa.es
note. When searching for a home, you need first to ask about the Internet. It needs to be in the house initially, since the communication itself was very hard. First, on the Islands, many do not know English, it is difficult about something to negotiate. Second, with a Russian passport you will not sell nothing but prepaid mobile Internet package with a USB modem.
Because of this a few days the whole thing with a winter office hung in the balance: we almost left without any connection. Well, the landlady has kindly agreed to host the ADSL channel for us.
We had an ADSL channel 10/0,8 Mbit/s from the company Movistar, WiFi-router 802.11 g included in the connection kit. In General, the channel was missing until more than 2 people did not start simultaneously talk on Skype. A little we calculated only with the router. Four-storey house is not an apartment and not an office, wifi didn't "reach" to some of the rooms, especially on the top floor.
Organization journeys
Organizing all the essential on the island, remained to simplify fees, flights and other difficulties for employees. To this end, we made a schedule — when and who is going to go for the winter, and prepared two background documents: schedule of travel and guest book with tips for beginners — where are the nearest shops, where the best pizza, where to rent a surfboard and so on. In the section "How to get into the house" in particular, it was reported how a cactus buried key. Opened the section with stories about winter office in our blog. On the Google map marked all the interesting and useful places:
Everything ready. Winter office started
Organization of work
note. Format, joint office work on the island proved to be irrelevant. Each interacted more with the office in St. Petersburg than with each other, so within a single workspace there was no need. Girls sometimes worked sunbathing on the balconies and on the small beach near the house, which is "reached" our..
You won't believe, but yoga can work sitting on some of the stones
Despite the fact that the house was comfortable working areas, they are not used. Almost all visitors took the laptop and settled down on the sofas. Only our Manager of projects, Manager of traffic tasks total production was equipped with a mini-office on the ground floor.
the Dining area, she's working
workspace with ocean views. Our advertising specialist Anna
Interesting relationship with time. When in St. Petersburg working day starts on the island — 6am. To work with the main office, get up early in the morning and after eight hours, go to sunbathe and swim. While on the clock — 15.00. That is, the best solution is to continue to live on St. Petersburg time.
Problems and surprises
The biggest surprise in the organization of the winter office: it turned out that not all employees need all this. Despite the obvious attractiveness of the idea and the extreme ease of travel, more than half of the colleagues are unable or unwilling to go. The biggest problem is that the second half our guys work mainly in a more conservative companies that reacted to the idea without enthusiasm. And, of course, many left the decision of visa issues, and then in the end did not have time to do the paperwork.
Another unexpected problem: many would like to be in a more lively place than Fuerteventura. The company, on the contrary, was looking for something not very distracting from work. Here was a conflict of interest, which we will try to resolve next year.
a Characteristic feature of the local landscape — windmills
note. should Not rely on 100% uptime in a warmer climate. It is only in our cities out of the office sometimes not particularly want to go. But when the window is 25 degrees, sun and beach, even the most motivated guys give up. Expect 60-70% of normal health.
moreover, the city's beach — 10 mins walk
It makes up with a winter office is quite expensive — not from the point of view of expenses and due profits. The constant moving seriously lower the overall performance of the company. However, the quality of our lives is not determined by the amount of money earned, not the cost of the machine and not the number of rooms in our apartment, but rather the sea, the sun, experiences and joy of life. So it's worth it.
statistics
the
-
the
- Expenses: 6 months rent home — 6000 Euro, 2000 Euro — Deposit — 1000 Euro cost of equipment and the organization of everyday life
- went Along with them 14 friends or relatives.
- 12 cities visited our children on the way to the island. the
- in Total, the boys spent on the island 677 days the
- Five employees began to surf.
the island was visited by 19 employees from St. Petersburg, 1 from Moscow, 1 from Novosibirsk. the
We made 153 16 flights and ferry crossings. the
