Go Vilnius, the official development agency for the City of Vilnius, Lithuania, has today opened its application process for an all-expenses paid trip for UK and international businesses to boost employee productivity.

‘Workation Vilnius’ is a motivational programme designed to improve employee retention, boost productivity and positively transform company culture, by allowing employees the opportunity to spend a week out of the office, experiencing the best Vilnius has to offer.

The programme offers three companies and up to 10 employees the opportunity to participate in a one-week programme to work and live in Vilnius, by networking with senior industry professionals and local authorities during the day, and experiencing the city’s state-of-the-art infrastructure, 4-5-star hotels and leisure facilities during the evening.

A judging panel consisting of members from Vilnius municipality and Go Vilnius will choose the winning companies. September 2018 will be the start date for companies selected to participate on the programme.

According to the 2017 European Commission’s Report on Innovation in the EU scorecard, Vilnius, Lithuania was recognised among the top 10 fastest growing innovators in Europe, making it an excellent location for doing business. The city boasts strong digital infrastructure, a young and talented workforce and excellent standard of living. Workers can experience all the benefits of new experiences without sacrificing the ease of staying in touch with clients and colleagues.

Arturas Navickas, Chief Operating Officer, Alliance for Recruitment said: “We have seen an increase in the number of workation programmes used within industries that rely on retaining highly-skilled individuals and improving employee motivation. There is no better way to improve a company culture than spending time with each other in a non-office environment. As a result, there is a 20-30% productivity boost after the workation.”

Ilma  Nausedaite, Chief Operating Officer, MailerLite who regularly take workation’s said: “As a global team that works in 10 different locations around the world, workation has become an important part of our company culture to help bring our employees together and motivate them to do great work. workation’s have been a gamechanger for our company. We have been on several workation’s which has helped to improve our employee retention rate as our team feel more motivated and connected to our company. We are excited to hear workation is coming to Vilnius – our last trip to Vilnius was memorable – the city is an undiscovered destination, bursting with innovation and creativity that is perfect for workation’s with its green scenery, excellent infrastructure and deep history.

Inga Romanovskiene, Director, Go Vilnius said: “We understand that employees are the lifeblood of companies and it has become increasingly important to meet their changing needs and keep them motivated. Current trends suggest that remote workers will become more prevalent in the future of the business world. Convenient open office spaces and technology infrastructure will play an important role in the future of remote working. Lithuania was recently ranked as the best performing country for the fastest public Wi-Fi connection in the world by telecommunication company, Ooma Inc. We are confident that workation Vilnius will meet the needs of employees and we are looking forward to welcoming companies to test drive our city.”