25 February 2022

TUI WORKWIDE Gran Canaria – Matt Alexander

As a global travel group, TUI wants to enable its employees to work abroad from time to time. The pandemic in particular has shown that flexible working is possible. For this reason, TUI WORKWIDE was launched in 2021. Colleagues can work abroad for up to 30 days a year to have a healthy work-life balance. This balance is important for a fulfilling career and overall personal well-being.

Matt Alexander is a Senior Product Development and Implementation Manager at TUI Musement based in the UK. With TUI WORKWIDE he spent two weeks on the Canary Island of Gran Canaria.

Here is his story

“After waiting so long to be able to travel again and having to postpone many holidays, it was great to finally get back on a plane. What was special about this trip was that I was able to combine my holiday with the TUI WORKWIDE initiative.

I booked two weeks on Gran Canaria and scheduled a few days of it as holiday. This allowed me to meet friends alongside work and, most importantly, enjoy the beautiful Canary Islands weather. A few days a week I worked, which worked well with my scheduled appointments. The fact that I was in the same time zone as my colleagues in the UK was helpful. Therefore, when planning future WORKWIDE trips, be aware that major time differences could affect attending meetings or making calls.

Working from the hotel was easy. I had made sure beforehand that the rooms had a good Wi-Fi connection and so I could work from my balcony or from the pool bar. If I had calls, I took them in my room to avoid the background noise. Since I used to travel a lot for work, I was actually used to working in different places and hotels. But after the long time in the home office, it was great to have a change of scenery.

I'm not normally a "morning person", but I realised that I liked getting up earlier and then having a few hours in the sun in the late afternoon. Having lived alone at home before, I liked being in a place with a lively atmosphere. The only disadvantage for me: when travelling, you only have your laptop and no additional screen like in the office. So you have to think carefully in advance about what work you need to do while you are away.

TUI WORKWIDE is a great initiative and I will 100 per cent do more trips of this kind. I have been with TUI for 15 years because I love travelling! The focus of flexible working is on performance and not on being in a certain place or always working in a set time frame. I think it's a big step forward to have this flexibility and to be able to combine work with travel.  

I'm currently now sitting back home in the UK on a grey and rainy day and already contemplating where my next trip might be...”