The millennials who get their brainwaves on the ocean waves – their office is a luxury yacht cruising the Med

The demand for more flexible working spaces is a global trend, and in Hong Kong we’ve seen a slew of co-working spaces open. The office cubicle is dead – and any millennial worth their salt wants to work as remotely as possible. Now a group of Dutch twenty-somethings have gone one step further – working on their tans in their office on board a yacht in the Mediterranean Sea.

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“We have an inflatable meeting room and on Thursdays and Fridays we do our brainstorming sessions in the middle of the ocean,” says Raoul Milhado, managing partner at Boatsters, speaking from the yacht anchored off the coast of Majorca, Spain.

The 27-year-old and his business partner Nick Gelevert came up with the idea one rainy day in Amsterdam. There they were stuck in a boring office while renting out stunning yachts to the uber-rich, wondering if they could get a little closer to the lifestyle they were achieving for their clients. And they did. In May, Milhado, Gelevert and six key staff from their management team moved onto their aqua office, The Pershing 88. There is also a captain and a stewardess on board.

The yacht has waterskis and plenty of deck space for sunbathing, but despite these distractions Milhado insists productivity is up 20 per cent.

“If we’re sitting on the deck after dinner and the phone rings we pick it up, discuss a booking. It doesn’t feel like work. We’re available all the time,” he says.

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They’ve only had a couple of instances of “cabin fever” and in each case this has been easily resolved – the yacht returns to harbour at weekends so staff can do their own thing.