MBV-EXPERIMENT #WORKATION – INTERVIEW WITH MARTIN HITZ

How it all began and the agreement

After an intense project phase, a lot of overtime was adding up for me and a good solution for compensation had to be found. "Workation" seemed like the perfect answer. As an enthusiastic surfer in a country without access to the sea, I was very attracted to try out this exciting combination of leisure and work. There was also nothing on the part of MBV that spoke against this somewhat more creative approach to reducing overtime.

Besides finding the perfect surf spot, my planning then also included finding a quiet retreat to bring a certain routine into the respective work hours during the vacation.

The agreement was 20% work, 80% vacation - in the realization of the agreed workload I was quite free. I decided to work flexibly about 1-2 hours every day and dedicate the remaining time exclusively to surfing and relaxation.

A typical Workation day

Normally, my workation day started with a little breakfast before I jumped straight into the Atlantic Ocean in the hope of the perfect wave. After this sporty morning refreshment, I often sat down in the forenoon for 1-2 hours at the laptop to accomplish the day's workload. The rest of the day consisted again of sun, sea and enjoying. If once the day was so fully packed that this time window in the morning failed, then I shifted the working hours flexibly to the evening. 

The return to everyday life

After two months in Peniche, I returned from Workation relaxed and with a few new surf tricks in my luggage. Of course, I could have gotten used to my Workation dream setting with lots of time for surfing. In the end, however, the pleasure of enjoying the interpersonal exchange with my work colleagues to the full again prevailed.

The conclusion of Workation

So is Workation comparable to a vacation? No, but it's a good compromise!
In addition to all the nice and relaxing moments, there is always the quiet but constant pressure to check your e-mails, work off smaller to-dos and participate in one or the other call. Due to my relaxed workation variant (20% work / 80% vacation), however, recreation still came first and my recommendation is accordingly positive.

From my point of view, it is essential for a workation to clearly define the basic goal for oneself from the beginning and to discuss it transparently with the employer. In addition, the tasks must be prioritized, because with so few working hours per week, you can do far less than you originally planned.
Another learning: scheduling meetings into an otherwise flexible day is a bit more cumbersome than in a normal office setting. A predefined meeting time significantly reduces the coordination effort.