Friday Out of Office

Just recently, the Cape Town Office of Netgen enjoyed their first “Friday Out of Office” on Friday the 16 August at the Dark Horse restaurant in Noordhoek. This was something out of the ordinary for the team of developers as they have been quite used to the newly moved-in offices in Westlake. What is Friday Out of Office (FOOO) you may ask? FOOO allows the team to finish off some projects that they haven’t been able to get around to during working hours but at the same time allowing them to have a day out. A nice balance at the workplace is quite beneficial to our business and here’s why.

  1. Reduced sick leave: A happier, healthier staff with higher levels of job satisfaction can go a long way to reducing absenteeism. In the UK alone, some 30 days are lost per worker per annum due to sickness absence and underperformance at work, resulting in an estimated loss to the UK economy of GBP 77.5bn per year.
  2. Higher productivity: In an independent 2017 report from MindMetre Research, 56% of respondents felt that mobile working helped them concentrate more, while 53% said that its improved productivity.
  3. Better staff retention: Research from the UK Government’s Department for Business Innovation & Skills reports that flexible working leads in some cases to very significant savings in turnover costs and has a positive effect on staff retention.

The software developers really enjoyed themselves being away from their natural surroundings and appreciating the different surroundings.  The morale of the office did change. We have included a lot of new staff in the Cape Town Office and it’s a great opportunity to socialize and get to know each other. We had learned a lot about this new venture at the company, like bring our own Extension cords and adapters just in case, checking the speed of the WIFI at the location, and having a set menu makes things easier for us and the restaurant. The restaurant had breathtaking views of Noordhoek beach and it was a good place as any to set the team up for our very first Friday Out of Office.

The staff at the Dark Horse were very obliging with our list of requirements and providing us with tasty meals. Everything ran smoothly.

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