Productivity
Much has been written about the concept of working from home in recent years due to the pandemic. The jury is out on how staff happiness – and most importantly from a company perspective productivity – can be boosted to optimum levels.
While governments like the UK are convinced that working from home five days a week is the optimum for many employees due to factors like increased freedom, productivity and less burdensome travel, many international companies have gone in the opposite direction.
Amazon very recently ordered all its staff back into the office five days a week; the company feels that the face-to-face collaboration of employees is best.
Perhaps a mix is best with many people around the globe and in Thailand having at least one day a week atProductivity home if not two. In many ways with the Productivity rise of AI and Elon Musk’s prediction that many jobs will go South as a result we are in a transition period when it comes to how many days and where staff work.
You can believe whatever survey you like in this regard but for us based in Bangkok we believe that staff appreciation is key to fostering a good and productive atmosphere that benefits employees and company alike.
That is why we chose meeting rooms in Phuket for our most recent up-country trip for our upper level employees.
Phuket is a great choice; flights are easy and quick and the history of the southern Thai island with a tourism industry to match anywhere on earth makes it a great destination.
The hotel that we chose is in the Patong area is near the beach, shopping and other Productivity attractions and can be used as a base for wider and safe travel. Rooms were spacious and well appointed and helped to show our appreciation for our great staff without any notion that we were penny-pinching.
Certainly the feedback we received from our employees indicated that the pool bar and spa facilities – that were top notch – were among the most appreciated features. After all, relaxation and entertainment help to produce staff who are relaxed and ready to produce their best when it comes to the work day.
The facilities in the meeting rooms provided us with all the tech gadgetry to enable the smooth running of what for us were critical meetings about the future development of our business. We needed our staff at their peak and boy did we achieve that!
There was also a kids club that meant Productivity staff with families were able to bring them along too and add to the feeling that this was not just work but pleasure.
We would recommend this approach to all companies in Thailand as well as those around the world thinking of a visit to Thailand that is easy to visit thanks to government initiatives post-pandemic.
