ViennaON - Our summer event in Vienna from July 6, 2025, to July 12, 2025
Our team is spread across the DACH region. Video calls and emails are not always enough to create a real connection between all our employees. It is much more important for a good connection to bring all colleagues together in one place from time to time. That's why we at Complion organize a summer event in the form of a workation once a year. Each time in a new city, sometimes even outside Germany, all employees come together to work, gather impressions, and spend convivial evenings together. Of course, planned feasts of local cuisine and varied team events ranging from culture to brain teasers to action are not excluded.
In order to accommodate a colleague in Austria, this year's summer event was decided to take place in his hometown of Vienna.
Full of anticipation for what is probably the best schnitzel in the world, the Vienna Cultural Summer, and the unveiling of the team activities still being kept secret by the planning team, the first colleagues arrived in Vienna on Sunday. After a classic hotel inspection, we were immediately drawn to the streets of Vienna's first district. The district numbers are always recognizable by the two middle digits of the four-digit Vienna postal codes, with 10 for the first district, 20 for the second, and so on up to the 23rd district. But our colleagues didn't get that far. We spent Sunday in the first district, admiring Vienna's magnificent Gründerzeit facades and baroque buildings. Tired from strolling through the wide pedestrian zones, our colleagues found culinary refreshment in their first Frittatensuppe (pancake soup) and, how could it be otherwise, Wiener Schnitzel.
From Monday to Wednesday, it was time for project work! But not as usual at the customer's premises, from home or at one of our office locations in Hamburg or Cologne, but together at the Ruby Paul Coworking Space right next to our hotel in the former Vienna Post Palace. Here, all colleagues were finally able to exchange ideas and work together again at a large conference table or retreat to one of the numerous telephone booths when the atmosphere in the conference room became a little too lively. Once the work was done, the Austrian capital awaited us. Whether in teams or sometimes on their own, our colleagues discovered all that Vienna has to offer. Some visited as many churches and castles as possible, while others made it their mission to try every schnitzel in the city or what is supposedly the best kebab in Europe. Many colleagues were also curious about the city's seasonal public offering, the Vienna Cultural Summer. During this time, many public theater stages and open-air cinemas with street food and beverage stands are set up throughout Vienna, waiting to be discovered.
By Thursday, the Complion team was complete and ready for the planned team activities. But first, it was time for some company development!
When everyone is gathered around the table, we take the opportunity to review the past six months, similar to a Christmas party, and discuss joint development opportunities for Complion. The opinion and contribution of each individual is important and helpful to us. Our LeadOn gets to work weeks in advance and prepares everything so that we can make the most of this time together (hats off and thank you to all of you!).
Then the time came and the team activities were announced. All the team knew in preparation for the workation was that it would be tricky, wet, and scary. It only became clear to our colleagues later that "wet" meant "April weather in July" in Vienna.
For the first team event, we all gathered in front of the venerable St. Stephen's Cathedral. This is where things got tricky for us. The first challenge was a puzzle rally through the city, divided into four groups. Equipped with a tablet, the teams ran through the city and had to solve text questions, photo and video tasks, which they could only unlock once they had reached the location marked on the digital map with pinpoint accuracy. The more questions they solved, the better. The start was marked by a downpour, which is why one team sought shelter in a bar. But after a short time, the rain clouds gave way to blue skies and sunshine. Each team approached the task with its own ambition. One team took every photo and video question that would earn them the most points, while other teams ran through the city and focused on solving the largest number of text questions, as these were often very quick to solve. Other teams, however, took the opportunity to answer questions about the sights they found most interesting.
After the two-and-a-half-hour competitive rally, we returned to Plachutta's Gasthaus zur Oper and enjoyed a classic Viennese meal of frittata soup, Wiener Schnitzel, and Kaiserschmarren. Once we were full, it was time for the award ceremony for the winning team of the puzzle rally.
AND the winner by a long shot is... the "ViennOn" team!
Finally, the time had come. It was Friday, and for Complion that meant rafting!
And not in the traditional way, but in the middle of the Danube Island in the Vienna Watersports Arena. In this facility, with a current simulation powered by a pump with a flow rate of 16,000 liters of water per second and artificially constructed obstacles in the water, it really came down to teamwork for us. In several rubber dinghies, armed with wetsuits, life jackets, helmets, and paddles, eight of us had to find our way through the artificially created white water several times with a guide. No one stayed dry!
As you can see, there were plenty of grimaces.
Sportingly successful and visibly exhausted, we then made our way to the cellars of Vienna – the catacombs of St. Stephen's Cathedral – for a well-deserved break. This was once a very popular Viennese burial site, but it became so popular that it became too crowded, forcing the Vienna Cathedral administrators, also known as Karnerknechte, to come up with new storage ideas to create more space in the public burial site.
In addition, our tour guide was very familiar with Cologne Cathedral, which was of interest to our colleagues from Cologne, and was therefore able to draw many good comparisons with St. Stephen's Cathedral.
After this interesting cultural excursion, we all found ourselves, having slowly gotten to know every schnitzel in the city, at a final Italian dinner together, where we let our workation come to an end.
On Saturday, Complion only had the journey home to look forward to. This year's summer event was therefore a complete success.
What did we take away from it?
Vienna really does have the best schnitzel in the world, but the Backhendl (fried chicken) is also not to be underestimated. Vienna is beautiful and shows what you can do with a city. Rafting is definitely more strenuous than it looks. And finally, working together with all your colleagues on site is still the best way to work.
Does a trip like this with us sound exciting to you? Then join our team and find out about your career opportunities on our careers page. We look forward to receiving your application.
https://complion.de/wen-suchen-wir/aktuelle-einstiegsmoeglichkeiten
Author: Florian Müller