“Best Workplace Homeoffice” with Breaklounge

For those who are driven by curiosity to discover new things, the last few months have had plenty to offer. For esentri AG, a consulting company for sophisticated digitalization projects, the switch to 100% home office due to the pandemic was, as for many other companies, a real challenge for collaboration.

But at the same time, this was a great opportunity to live up to the company’s own claim of making the use of modern technology as easy as possible for the benefit of its employees.
Für das Team um esentri-CEO Robert Szilinski war die Bereitstellung von Hardware für das Homeoffice nur das eine. For the team around esentri CEO Robert Szilinski, providing hardware for the home office was just one thing. Because corporate culture, communication and collegial cohesion are particularly close to esentri CEO Robert Szilinski’s heart, a solution had to be found for this as well.

A good togetherness despite distance

As the very first pilot customer, esentri started with Breaklounge in October 2020 to make it easier for employees to meet virtually, talk to each other, share experiences and develop ideas. In short: a good togetherness despite distance and a “good time to talk” experience. Initially, a regular meeting named “VOR12” was organized to reserve a fixed place in the calendars for the exchange among each other.
Zunächst wurde ein regelmäßiges Treffen “VOR12” organisiert, um für den Austausch untereinander einen festen Platz in den Kalendern zu reservieren.

“We have also learned that working from home means that we hardly ever meet each other by chance and casually, and that we especially lack the informal exchange that is otherwise an elementary part of our culture. With the break lounge, we have created a space for short conversations in order to stay in contact with each other away from the project business and also in terms of mental health. A large number of employees are already actively involved and use this opportunity to talk about this and that.”

Virtual after-work beer in the Breaklounge

In addition to the random meetings in the break lounge, which run like a coffee kitchen, there is another offer. For the “virtual after-work beer”, the employees have created their own Circle (a virtual discussion group). Robert is also a regular participant. For him, it’s important to set a good example and also be visible to his employees when working in a distributed home office.

So much effort and drive is rewarded. esentri had clinched second place in Kununu’s employer ranking in the special category “Best Workplace Homeoffice”, right after the insurance group AXA.
Breaklounge has been well received by esentri employees and is also very well received due to new features. One new feature, for example, is the “Discover” feature, which allows easy searching directly from the lobby. If the colleague you are looking for is not currently in the break lounge, an invitation is sent out. The inviter will be notified when the wanted person comes to the lobby.

For Robert, it’s a good thing. He says:

“Short informal conversations are not only important for a good working relationship. They also do our work some good. Hybrid work models are the future. With our expertise in digitization and the Breaklounge app, we are well equipped.”