Yes, it was a personal choice and a professional possibility, after a few years, to schedule a longer vacation and get to know a region of the planet that I love and that inspires me. And to come back light, fresh, rested, and ready for another trip.
This was only possible thanks to planning and strategies aimed at improving the relationship between time, work, and quality of life at Raízes.
The relationship between these three words and their meaning is often unbalanced, especially when it comes to work, where the most common practice is the primacy of work time over a lifetime. The result is not good for anyone: neither for employees nor for companies and much less for society, which ends up paying the bills for the impact of the degeneration of the population’s physical and mental health.
Balancing time, work, and quality of life
What we see most in companies today are people rushing around, trying to cope with ever-increasing demands, pressure from leaders, market requirements, and the immediacy of deliveries. All this in an environment where excessive productivity has become the norm and, worse, where these attitudes end up being normalized. Often, people even take pride in behaving like “superheroes” in a toxic and exhausting environment, which gradually makes them sick and dehumanizes them.
That’s why a careful look at people is one of the main premises at Raízes. We want to continue to have a positive impact on people’s lives, delivering effective and sustainable results, based on the rigor and care we put into our territorial development projects; but for that to happen our team needs to be well, healthy, willing, and expanding its capacity to perceive the beauty of life in the smallest stimuli it receives.
We need to keep our attention and curiosity alive, exercising a critical and discerning eye in order to create, innovate, and embrace new knowledge and ideas. This is how we transform our lives and positively impact those around us, moving together towards a better world.
The 4×3 work schedule, with the week from Monday to Thursday, access to gyms for physical health, reading meetings, celebrations, deconcentration, and the confidence of collaborative work are all part of the Raízes way of working, without interfering with results and deliveries – on the contrary: they stimulate a greater desire to do better inside and outside the company.
That’s why I was able to plan my 23-day vacation in Asia, meditate a lot, and get to know people, cultures, and ways of life that are different from ours and that always fill me up and teach me.
And this has made a huge difference to my life and has certainly made me a better human being, a more curious, open, dedicated professional, and confident that, in order to continue with our purpose of creating the impact we want, we need to have time to live.
And what did this trip to three Asian countries reveal and/or confirm for me?
- That I can reconcile work and leisure without prejudice to either party;
- That trust in a job well done and the skills of the team is fundamental and reassuring;
- That I can experience days of joy and reflection with the destinations and people I meet along the way;
- That my belief in fairer and more responsible tourism is a guiding principle and not every incredible destination lives up to this vision in practice;
- That local culture and diversity are powerful drivers of creativity and value generation in traditional or innovative products, and that they maintain identity, life stories, and authenticity, benefiting many people;
- That communities positively impacted by tourism are more resilient and happier;
- That autonomy and belonging in destinations must be encouraged and fostered more and more so that they don’t run the risk of gentrification;
- That we are responsible for the world we want for ourselves and others, and that interdependence is a concrete fact in our lives.
We are beings of the world, and getting out of the ordinary, wherever we go, with respect and curiosity, brings me back with more strength, health, and the will to always do my best!
