# Company retreat: Futuria Week in four questions

> A week of extraordinary work in an extraordinary setting — why a six-person team moved into a villa with a pool and spa, and came out more productive.

Author: Fabrizio Romano · Published: September 25, 2022 · Reading time: 8 min read

Source: https://futuriamarketing.com/en/blog/futuria-week-il-nostro-viaggio-aziendale/

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![The villa chosen for the Futuria Week company retreat](https://futuriamarketing222730.live-website.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Villa-Ovi-1024x683.webp)*The location chosen for Futuria Week*

What is a six-person company team doing in a **luxury villa** with a pool, private woodland, spa, Jacuzzi and sauna for an entire week?

Why invest part of the company’s profits in something like this? We will publish all the figures in a separate article, so subscribe to the newsletter if you do not want to miss it.

Can people work and remain productive in such an unconventional setting?

Most importantly, how are you actually meant to pronounce *Jacuzzi*? I have always wondered.

This article answers all those questions — except the last one.

Organising the week touched so many areas that it is difficult to choose where to start, so I will begin with the emotional side.

If we were a conventional company, I might describe this as “employee welfare” or “team building”. Instead, it is simply the **Futuria Week**. We had to fit at least one English phrase in somewhere.

Futuria Week is a week of extraordinary work in an extraordinary setting.

We continue our normal operations and work on new Futuria development projects, but we choose to do it somewhere other than Planet, our office in central Milan.

![The Futuria team raising a glass at the end of Futuria Week](https://futuriamarketing222730.live-website.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Futuria-Week-brindisi.gif)

*The team’s toast at the end of the week — one of the moments that best captures the spirit of Futuria Week.*

In another article, we discussed [using events to acquire customers](/en/blog/come-usare-gli-eventi-per-acquisire-clienti/). The same commitment shown outside the company must also exist inside it, because the people in a business matter just as much as its customers.

## When the idea of a company retreat began

![The pool at the Futuria Week company retreat](https://futuriamarketing222730.live-website.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Villa-Ovi-3-1024x767.webp)*The pool at Futuria Week*

Ever since Futuria was founded back in 2017, we had imagined taking the whole team away on a long company retreat. This week, **that dream also came true**.

When I first thought about it, we had literally started from zero and could not afford it. I remember mentioning the idea to Giovanni, who was part of the team several years ago. He asked me:

“Fabrizio, how much do we actually have in the company bank account?”

I answered candidly: “Almost €5,000.” I was proud of the result, although perhaps slightly reckless.

His wiser response was: “And where exactly are we going with that? Keep it in the bank.”

We laughed, and I realised it was probably still a little too soon. We did not sit on our hands during the years that followed, and today things are significantly different.

## Where the idea came from

I think an apparently unrelated story explains it best. It shaped my life. In 2014, I was beginning my final year at UCLA in Los Angeles.

I have never felt as well treated or as valued — as a person, a student and a talent — as I did during that year.

I remember one **passage from the welcome speech** given by the faculty president on our first day:

> “I do not know who you are, and I deeply believe that the next Obama or Steve Jobs — the next person who will change the world — may be sitting here. We have a duty to give you every tool you need to become that person.”

You can imagine what words like those mean to a young man who genuinely wants to change the world and is waiting for someone to believe in him and stand beside him.

The result was that **I was completely won over**. I would have defended the UCLA colours tooth and nail if necessary.

Companies, by contrast, often become misaligned through **poor communication**. A feeling develops that people do not understand one another, employees never do enough and, if you want something done properly, you must do it yourself.

The thought alone gives me chills.

People deserve to be valued. That is not sentimental management; it is the most intelligent strategy for helping them give their best. It must apply every day, not only during a company retreat.

The **real job of an entrepreneur** is to create an enabling environment that brings out the talent of everyone around them.

Give your best and create a winning ideal towards which everyone can work together.

## Why spend money on a company retreat instead of taking it as profit?

The question remains: in a world obsessed with profit, cost optimisation and disposable working relationships, why did Futuria go against the current and organise a company retreat?

The answer should not surprise anyone who already believes in a **more innovative and happiness-oriented view of work**.

Conventional wisdom insists that work and private life must remain completely separate, and that colleagues and friends are categories that should not be confused lest hierarchy and authority be weakened.

But authority should not be built solely on a role and maintained through distance.

It should be **earned in practice**: by treating people well, competing on professional ethics and fighting every day to raise the bar for ourselves and for the customers who place their trust in our company.

I have never liked the idea of life as a collection of sealed compartments. Separating everything is a recipe for unhappiness: people fall in love with one part of their lives and experience the rest with frustration.

## Can productivity and enjoyment coexist on a company retreat?

![The spa at the Futuria Week company retreat](https://futuriamarketing222730.live-website.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Villa-Ovi-2.webp)*The spa at Futuria Week*

Yes.

That answer does, of course, depend on a few things.

### Organising time and activities

_*Laura opens the first bottle of Prosecco. Possibly the second.*_

**Good organisation is essential** to the success of a company retreat. That is true of almost everything, but it matters twice as much in an unusual situation like this.

Our organisation was the result of everyone’s preparation, and especially the work of Laura and Chiara, who planned the activities and anticipated what we would need.

**Organisation has two broad parts.** The first covers practical activities.

There is a great deal to consider: cooking, room allocation and cleaning, but also workspace layout, power sockets, enough chargers, complete grocery shopping that accounts for everyone’s dietary needs, and so on.

This matters because practical chores can overwhelm the group and create frequent distractions, damaging both the recreational and productive parts of the week.

That applies in a private villa. It is less relevant in a hotel, especially where restaurants or canteens replace grocery shopping and cooking.

**The second broad part** concerns the working activities of the retreat itself.

You need an activity plan and good work organisation so everyone knows what to do. Periods of discussion and concentration should be deliberately alternated with relaxation and each person’s individual needs.

Even that is not enough. An extraordinary setting gives you permission to **aim for extraordinary results**. You can devote proper attention to work that normal routines tend to squeeze out, such as creating content and video.

I am writing this article after Sunday breakfast. Part of the team is buying groceries, while Enrico is sitting next to me building worlds for the metaverse.

### The structure of the location

For a team of six, we chose a 350-square-metre property with a garden, outdoor area and pool. It gave us enough room to live, have fun, sleep, cook, eat and, of course, work. Here is the [Airbnb listing](https://www.airbnb.it/rooms/23195610) if you would like a look.

This was not indulgence or exaggeration. Space is necessary to absorb the chaos and entropy produced by six people with different lifestyles and needs.

The workspace may not reproduce the exact comfort of a fully equipped office desk, but it must still be comfortable enough.

The second monitor may be replaced by **a view of the pool or woodland**, which, if we are honest, is not a terrible exchange.

### The professionalism of the people

This matters and should not be ignored, but it appears last for a reason. There are **two reasons**. First, when people receive the right environment and motivation, it is genuinely difficult — almost impossible — for them not to behave professionally and ethically.

Second, professionalism is not a requirement that applies only during a one-week retreat such as Futuria Week. It should have been established much earlier, when choosing the people who join the team.

Once again, the difference is not how much you can “control” people. It is how motivated, respected and valued they feel.

**Let us close with what may be the most important question: is your company a platform for the success of the people who work there?**