Business Review: Workactions driving optimism and creativity as pandemic continues

The closure of offices due to COVID-19 has greatly increased the number of people who can work remotely. 3,000 people have already registered for the project, which can host 100 nomads. The Madeira islands were voted the World’s Leading Island Destination for the sixth consecutive year in the 2020 World Travel Awards. Nomads are expected to have “a very positive impact on Madeira Islands, by staying for longer periods of time, building a community, helping to fight the reduction in tourism and the seasonality of the tourism market.” The project has also teamed up with local businesses such as real estate, hotels, and rental car companies for the nomads to use.

The pandemic and the drastic restrictions imposed by most countries have forced people to change the way they interact and behave and, ultimately, the way they work and feel about their workplace, their job, and themselves. Once restrictions are lifted in some countries and areas, people will be able to take remote working to another level, which has led to the term “workaction” gaining more and more popularity and even being used as the newest HR tool.

Not only do employees prefer to work from different locations than their homes (renting a place in another city or country, in the middle of nature, or even in cities with lower rates of infection), but HR teams in companies are also looking at it as a new wellbeing tool. By taking time away from overly-used spaces at home or the surrounding areas, employees become more productive, efficient, and creative. Moreover, companies could also send groups of employees on workactions together, resulting in better brainstorming and ideas than online sessions. Of course, they need to make sure that proper safety measures are in place. “With the increasing burden and boredom of working from home and the consistent anxiety and stress around job security, some millennials and post-millennials are willing to take workcations in the hills, a farmhouse or even move to the outskirts of a city for some time, to take a break from their home office and daily routine,” writes livemint.com.

According to HR Technologist, workations have emerged as a popular engagement strategy for organisations in the US and Europe as collaboration tools, while advancements in workplace productivity technologies have made it easier for employees to stay in the loop on work while enjoying time off in remote locales. Although there is no dictionary definition for it yet, according to Michael Metcalf, writer for Timetastic, a workation generally entails working remotely while resting only at the usual times (after the workday or on weekends, assuming that you work a standard five-day week).

The main difference between workationing and working remotely is based on the amount of time spent on a workation versus working remotely. While a remote employee is completely offsite and works from wherever they’re geographically located at all times, a workationing employee is merely working remotely while on a temporary trip away from the office.