With a ‘workation’ in another country, you can take a break from daily routine while still working

By Amy van de Wiel

From sunny Barcelona, co-founder Joost Verhage (33) tells us how he realized a few years ago that he wanted to get more out of life. “My days were made up of a relatively great deal of work and not much of a life. I thought about what I really wanted. In conversations with other people, I noticed that I was not the only one. I wondered: why is it difficult for employers to meet the needs of their employees? That was the beginning of Sweet Spot Abroad, he explains in this instalment of start-up of the day.

What do you do exactly? 

“We offer training courses in combination with a workation abroad. This means that you go to another country together with other Dutch people from different companies. This is Barcelona in the summer months and Cape Town in the winter months. Once at the destination, you carry out your work as you normally would. During corona, we saw that being able to work remotely opens up a lot of opportunities and that it doesn’t need to detract from the quality of the work or the team spirit. In addition, you follow a self-assigned training course to develop yourself further as a professional.”

What typifies your training courses?

“The focus for both training courses is on emotional development. We believe that this is becoming increasingly important in the business world. Employees can be of value in an emotional sense, because that is the one thing that cannot be automated by computers. You have a choice of two training courses: the first deals with your ambitions and where you want to go as a person. The second training focuses on business relationships with others. In it you learn, for example, how to deal with differences of opinion and how you can manage them.”

You also have these kinds of courses in the Netherlands. Why is it important for employees to take these courses in other countries?

“The norm is to do your best in the Netherlands. Yet young people tend to switch jobs every three years on average. That can be difficult for the employer. They have to invest time in retraining someone, which in turn leads to additional costs. Or they may have employees who are not quite right for the job, which lowers the quality of work. We want to promote personal development. A period abroad can contribute to this. A lot of employers are from an older generation, so they don’t really understand the needs of young employees. Some think that they are already doing enough to improve happiness at work by offering drinks and training courses. But it’s not just about a training course or drinks, it’s about the whole experience.”

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What problem are you trying to solve?

“We help companies find the right employees and cater to the needs of their employees. Being away from your daily routine and life in the Netherlands gives you the chance to reset. You can distance yourself from your daily routine and reflect on what you really want to achieve. When you come home from work in the Netherlands, everything goes the same as it always does. When you are in Barcelona, after 5 pm, you are surrounded by a group of new people, a sunny climate and a whole range of new activities. If companies are not developing along with us, it will be even harder to find employees than it already is. I don’t think we are the solution for everyone, but I do think it is a tool in the toolbox of companies to foster job happiness.”

How do you provide this service?

“If you get bogged down as an employee or employer, you can contact us. We will talk to you about what you are struggling with exactly and make a plan that is okay for both the employee and employer. The employer pays for our services, but exactly how much that will cost will depend on the company. Nevertheless, you soon end up spending a few thousand euros. Costs you should think about are accommodation and training courses. It may also be the case that you, as an employee, have to contribute part of the costs. At the moment, we are working with three companies that are offering our services to all their employees. Apart from that, we also work with another 10 to 12 companies that are offering the service to a single employee in the company.”

What else would you like to accomplish with Sweet Spot Abroad?

“I would love it if job seekers started selecting companies based on the possibility of working abroad temporarily. So that they actually will start to write off companies when that opportunity is not available. After all, the needs of the employee must be paramount. We as a company have a cross-border need. The next step is to make Sweet Spot Abroad an international company.”

Be sure to read other instalments in this series.

Each day, Innovation Origins puts a start-up in the spotlight. Read them all here.