Something for the weekend: If you’ve ever thought you had the best boss because they’ve brought in a cake or let you leave an hour early on a Friday, then think again, as a group of employees in Australia have been whisked off to Bali for an all-expenses paid trip. Jealous? We are!
Staff at Sydney-based marketing firm Soup Agency were taken to a luxury villa in Ubud on the Indonesian island for a two-week working holiday. Over the course of the fortnight, they not only carried out their day jobs but also took part in activities like swimming, snorkelling, quad biking, eating oysters and drinking cocktails.
The firm shared a video to its Instagram feed showing employees heading out on sunny morning hikes together, working by the pool, doing yoga, eating and drinking together, and even celebrating the 24th birthday of one employee, who blew out candles on a cake as she and her coworkers lounged by the pool. The video was captioned: “A wrap up of Bali – first working holiday as a team.”
Katya Vakulenko, managing director at Soup Agency, said: “We are extremely excited and overwhelmed by the response we have received from all around the world. At no point did we think we were going to reach so many people with our story.
“We were hoping that it would start a conversation and inspire businesses and employees to think about new possibilities for staff engagement, relationship building and working models outside of the outdated 9-5 office environment. We hope to see more stories like ours in the future as everyone deserves this experience.”
Here at Employee Benefits, we would not turn down the chance to work in the sunshine with a cocktail or two, though we’re not sure how well the laptops would fare on a Lilo…