A little vacation, a little work: here is the startup that invites smart workers to Salento

In the beginning it was smartworking. Then came the turn of the workation, from the merger of work e vacation, and also of the southworking, which has made the lower part of the boot the favorite destination for a “working holiday”. On the other hand, when it becomes possible to move the office literally anywhere, why not go to a place that, as soon as the PC is turned off, offers paradisiacal beaches, entertainment and gastronomic goodness envied by half the world? It fits into this growing trend Holiwork, startup founded in Lecce by the Apulian Chiara Oliva, born in 1982, and her husband Georg Sauter, German entrepreneur. The aim of the project is to bring together the best of Salento hospitality – luxury accommodation, natural beauty, culture, good food – to make it available to those who want to live a hybrid work experience from the Apulian capital. The choice of Lecce is not accidental. It is here that Chiara Oliva was born and it is here that, after years abroad, she decided to return with her family to co-found a reality capable of changing the gaze on the city: no longer just a tourist destination, but also a place of business, growth and professional exchange.

What was your path and how did you come to Holiwork?
“I went to university in Rome, studying economics and marketing, and immediately afterwards I started a career in global marketing and in multinationals – says Oliva – I met my husband Georg, German, and after a few years for a series of vicissitudes we decided to leave the company where we both worked and moved to Germany, in Hamburg, with our first daughter who was two months old at the time. There we decided to found Out Of Office, with which we recreate large creative and innovative spaces and offer them to companies that want to organize meetings and events. After three years of living in Hamburg and the arrival of the second child, we decided to try to move to Lecce and manage the company remotely. It worked well, right from the start. This happened before the pandemic and led me to ask myself: why not create a reality that can give something to my land? This is an area that is very well known in terms of tourism, but in which there is not much in terms of corporate or business networks. So why not try to attract medium-high level workers to try to create a network? We had already experienced on ourselves that it was possible to work well remotely, and there were other areas where this was already happening. So we launched Holiwork. The pandemic has stopped us
for a long time but last May, when we saw the light again and while the trend of workation and southworking was intensifying, the idea of ​​Holiwork reappeared in a very strong way ».

What does Holiwork actually offer to the workers who use it?
«The concept is to give medium-high level workers the opportunity to come and work here, in Lecce, for a certain period (from a few weeks to several months) with a series of benefits. We offer a package that includes a range of accommodation of various types – from apartments in the historic center to high-level B & Bs, up to farms outside the city or houses closest to the sea – but also the possibility of using coworking spaces in the city center. , the same ones that we also use and in which there are several startups, and a series of tips and contacts to be able to fully experience the local Salento experience during your free time: the cooking or windsurfing course, the taranta lesson, wine tasting… The goal is also to make the territory known from another point of view. The tourist has a certain type of experience, but only in the context of the holiday. Instead, we want to make it clear that in Lecce you live well and you can work well. The advantage is also the saving of time: when a remote worker decides to spend a period abroad, he has no time to waste to find where and how, to select accommodation or anything else. We make ourselves available for any customer need. Furthermore, since we have a certain type of network and relationships in the area, our rates are more advantageous than those that can be found by moving independently ».

Which countries do the most smart workers come from?
“Certainly from Germany. Our first company, which has around 4,000 customers, is based there, so we have some facilities. Our current and medium-long term objective, however, is not to address only the individual worker, but to companies. A trend is underway, at company level, which consists in offering the worker the concept of workation as an incentive. We deal with companies of hundreds of people who offer as a benefit the possibility for all employees to go once a year to work remotely, for a maximum of three months, with their family. Regarding the professional fields, these are mainly consultants, freelancers, graphic designers, workers in the IT sector… However, extremely flexible people regarding the need to physically go to the office ».

There is an abyss between the culture of remote work abroad and in Italy. Do you think the pandemic has really changed things?
“It is an abyss that is shrinking. Before the pandemic, remote working was already widespread in Germany, but now also in Italy, employers are realizing that they should no longer be afraid of leaving the employee at home because otherwise they will turn their thumbs. Indeed, productivity increases. Statistics show that those who have worked from home have worked more in the past year and a half. Companies also reduce costs, because they no longer need to rent large offices ».

With Holiwork you left again in May. How was the summer?
«Having started more or less in May at full capacity, obviously the requests have all been poured out especially on the summer period and unfortunately many have not been able to materialize, because in August Puglia is besieged by tourists. Now there is more tranquility from a tourist point of view, but we continue to have companies that come to take advantage of Holiwork. The goal, however, is to seasonally adjust, and this is certainly an advantage for the area. The results are good and we have had positive feedback: what matters now is whether the concept of hybrid work will work, whether it will remain a trend or not ».

How can I book a business stay with Holiwork?
«On the website www.holiwork.it there are my personal contacts. You send a request with an idea of ​​dates and at that point I propose a series of packages and send brochures with all the details on the activities and accommodations, so that customers can give me information on the type of apartment they want. At that point, a specific offer is formulated. Now there are many startups, even in Italy, that are focusing on workation and southworking and many are focusing on revitalizing and regenerating villages: we don’t do this. We are not even the classic portal that collects a series of proposals and offers in an impersonal way: we want to individualize the experience and provide a local point of reference, because we base everything on our personal experience ».

Which are the prices?
«It starts from the basic apartment for 500 euros per month up to the farm, ideal for teams, which can also cost 3-4 thousand euros per month. From these prices you can then eventually obtain the weekly ones, if the stay is shorter. Much also depends on the period and the activities you choose to include in the package ».