Office Relocation 2021: a week in Robion

For us, Office Relocation means the office moves for a week, and it moves completely. Nobody holds the fort in Bern. Client projects carry on, meetings take place, only the view from the window is different. We have been doing this since cloudtec’s early days; before the pandemic we went to Thailand, Portugal and Mallorca, among other places.

From 18 to 25 September 2021 it started up again for the first time after the COVID break: a week in Robion in Provence, thirteen people in a house between the Luberon and the vineyards. We have done it every year since.

Why we do it

In a company of our size, teamwork is a factor in success, not a sideshow. The week abroad is the opportunity to get to know each other outside everyday project work. Night owls and early risers, hidden cooking talents and their opposite: things that would otherwise never come up make colleagues more approachable. Around the lunch table in Bern, the stories from the Relocation are still being told months later.

What operations need for it

For the week to work for everyone, a few points are decisive:

• Distance, season and travel. We prefer warmer regions. Travelling by car means the first hours of exchange already happen on the way; over longer distances, flying is faster and more comfortable.
• Places to retreat. Enough bedrooms for everyone and several common rooms. Anyone who needs a break from the company of others must be able to take it.
• Cloud first has to be lived. All systems, tools and telephony can be reached from anywhere, and the connection to Switzerland runs over VPN. Even the post is scanned and available digitally.
• Infrastructure on site. Enough space to work and a fast, stable internet connection for all devices at the same time. Without that, the usual service cannot be maintained.
• Leisure in the area. We plan in outings and activities. They bring a change from everyday work, and you experience each other in situations other than on screen.

The week in Robion

The weather played along, the internet connection less so. Exactly the point on the list that can no longer be fixed on site: where the line cannot cope, no schedule helps. Day-to-day business carried on nonetheless, and we learnt for the following years to check the connection beforehand instead of hoping for it.

Alongside work there was time for the region: a wine tasting to start, the ochre cliffs on the Sentier des Ocres near Roussillon and a kayak tour near Fontaine de Vaucluse. Teamwork for once without a ticketing system.

Every year again since 2021

Robion was the fresh start after the break, and the series has not been interrupted since. In 2022 we went to Croatia, then to Valencia, Athens, Lisbon and Florence. If you want to be there next time: open positions.