Instead of the office, Aussie tech firm Employment Hero flew its 1100 global staff to meet in Bali

As some businesses order workers back to the office, Australian tech company Employment Hero flies its 1100 staff from 20 countries to holiday locations in order to foster co-operation.

Employment Hero chief executive Ben Thompson takes the microphone during talks with staff in Bali.

It would seem that an annual trip to Bali is a far better investment than an office for Employment Hero, which last month flew more than 1100 people from about 20 countries to the party island for a catch up.

The trip wasn’t strictly for fun although there were keynotes in the pool, morning yoga, boxing and pilates classes, team building exercises and a cocktail party.

Over four days, the remote-first company flew about 90 per cent of its staff to the popular Indonesian tourist haven to attend keynote addresses, have them gather with their overseas colleagues and to plan their goals for the year ahead.

Employment Hero's morning yoga class in Bali

The trip appears quite the party in comparison to what’s taking place across the broader corporate workplace in Australia, where many companies are enforcing return-to-work policies that threaten employees with performance management plans and ineligibility for pay rises if they don’t adhere.

Employment Hero and Atlassian are bucking that trend in favour of flexible and often work-from-anywhere policies. They allow staff to set up laptops anywhere, as long as hey can get approval from designated teams who check the legal requirements of working remotely in different countries.

Medibank’s on a similar page, having shortened its working week to four days for about 500 staff, a move Australia’s largest private health insurer said encouraged staff to be more willing to “go above and beyond” after a six-month trial of the “gift day”.

Heroes, as Employment Hero calls its staff, spent four days waking up with a few laps around a resort, lacing up boxing gloves, a zumba lesson or yoga as part of an energiser program.

Employment Hero chief executive Ben Thompson giving an address in Bali.

And if that were not enough, they took turns trading Bali’s tropical weather for ice baths; even chief executive Ben Thompson and chief technology officer Dave Tong gave that a go – after everyone had eaten a buffet breakfast.

It’s not uncommon for tech companies to spend millions of dollars on over-the-top events in party towns like Las Vegas in the US.

Asked why it picked Bali, Employment Hero’s Liam D’Ortenzio said “Bali’s a beautiful place and it’s certainly in line with our remote first strategy”.

The global head of people was one of the key organisers of the GG – or global gathering – event in Bali.

A white-themed gathering on the beach during Employment Hero’s Bali global gathering in September.

The location was convenient for its Australian staff. The company hired the entire 5-star Grand Hyatt resort in Nusa Dua, an area known for luxury resorts on the southern part of the island, which is about an hour drive from the tourist-heavy areas of Kuta, Canggu and Ubud.

“Ultimately Bali had the right size for our stage of growth. It took us a while to get the final location itself,” Mr D’Ortenzio said.

The trip helped foster connection between staff who had only ever interacted online.

“They spend a lot of time building connections with different individuals that you might work with remotely or you might not have met before,” he said.

Bali is becoming an increasingly popular destination for Australian companies.

Among those jumping on the trend is Robin Khuda who last month flew most of his AirTrunk company to Bali for his data centre empire’s “annual strategy meeting”, so his 350 workers could spend time face to face.

While Employment Hero did allow some staff to extend their trip or fly in a few days early to make the most of Bali, most were flown back to their respective locations on the Friday, Mr Ortenzio said.

He said that to his knowledge, Employment Hero did not have Australian staff working remotely from Bali, although the island had many of the perks the company’s staff were attracted to.

Originally published as Instead of the office, Aussie tech firm Employment Hero flew its 1100 global staff to meet in Bali