Hotovo life - 27. April 2022
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The joys of returning to a new "Home" office

The first time I entered the building, I immediately had that feeling that this could be my new “home” office.

From the outside it’s an attractive industrial-style building with the look of some heavy machinery and hard work happening inside it (which actually is true). The inside is a combination of a modern-era office (computers in open plan) with a traditional style – and a variety of beautiful "things" throughout the space, like a lego model of the Millennium Falcon starship, a poster of "the one who knocks", an old sewing machine, chess board and much more.

Yep, you guessed it. I’m talking about the building that’s home to the HOTOVO offices.

In my career I’ve always tried to treat my workplace as a second home of sorts, and most of the time, luckily, it was true – I worked in places that I was happy to go to. It’s always good to feel as happy at work as you do at home, and not have that nervous feeling on Monday mornings that it’s time to “survive” the week again!

But that feeling of an office being a "home" office wouldn't of course be the case if it weren’t for the people inside it. Some of the HOTOVO team I already knew from my previous jobs, and not just as former colleagues, but as friends. And the others, who I'm starting to get to know, are very kind and a joy to talk to.

It was one of the reasons why I chose to work here, and it’s proven to be the correct decision so far.

For the first month of my new journey as a HOTOVO team member, I actually worked in my “real” home office, continuing the "corona era" (especially in IT) style of working.

But then (when a huge reconstruction of my neighbors' flat was in progress) I decided to try going into the office… and now, I can't stop! It was that kind of feeling when you know something is missing in your life, but you don't know what exactly… until suddenly you find it.

So here is a summary of my 1001 reasons why I've chosen to go into the office every day (in no particular order):

0001 Socializing

Real talks! Emoticons just can't replace real emotions, such as a human smile, a spoken "thanks" or even just sitting beside someone in silence for a while.

0010 Leaving home

No more noisy neighbors or house reconstructions to contend with, and extra useful when your mother-in-law is visiting.

0011 Mental health

Separating your work & personal life – can't work on the evenings and weekends (no work computer at home!)

0100 Physical health

Walking to the office, small gym exercises, table tennis…

0101 Knowledge

I’ve already gained important knowledge, such as the difference between a Napoli and Milanese pizza, how to correctly set up the coffee mill based on different types of coffee and what kind of a place Dubai is – all this from my real people talks. (see 0001 for the reference)

0110 Productivity

One-on-one conversations with my colleagues — which speeds up the work process unlimited times over, the big table, the "quiet zone", the air conditioning…

0111 Saving some money

Free coffee/tea, cakes, fruits, breakfast!

1000 Housekeeping help

Throwing away the trash while on the way to the office, and going directly to the grocery store after work.

1001 Inspiration

It motivated me for this <article> (be careful with the infinite loop).

I hope you'll enjoy the office too. Come and see and feel it for yourself – we can drink a coffee in the same room and have live face-to-face conversations during our regular necessary work breaks!

P.S. If you like, you can also help me with the challenges I’ve set myself for the year ahead, which are: table tennis improvement, more chess games with colleagues/friends, and more and more real-time real-people conversations and fun!

P.P.S. There's just one disadvantage to the office I've found so far: coffee… because both the coffee itself and the conversations that come with it in the office are so addictive that I've found the coffee I now make myself at home is a little bit less valued 🙂

about the author

Erik Fecko

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web.developer who fell in love with sports, Caribbean rum, Brazilian (or any [good]) coffee, casual mountain biker, irregular chef, painter & poet.
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