There's no doubt that having a 15th salary or any other benefits package is a huge incentive for employees, but that alone doesn't guarantee they'll think and act like owners.

In fact, there are many businesses in which employees, even having benefits beyond their salary, are passive and do not get involved with the company, because they cannot see how their individual efforts directly affect the company's profitability and performance.

Sovereignty is not just a feeling of receiving an extra pay for our performance, it is a result of the belief that you can “make a difference”, and applying that belief to everything you do.

Work Hard. Have Fun. Make a Difference. This is our internal slogan, an integral part of our culture and which we experience daily, whether making a difference, working hard or having fun with our work and our days at the company.

When a person perceives that their contributions are valued, their dignity and self-respect are valued. Instead of feeling like a mere cog in a machine or a number on a payroll, you feel that your work matters.

And knowing that our work is worthwhile is knowing that we are worth it. A single person can make a difference. A bus driver e.g. or a guide, when, for example, they have a guest with reduced mobility, they do not hesitate to help him, either by taking the wheelchair to the bus, or by helping him to walk on a guided tour, among many other attitudes, that any LivingTourian member practices. in Living's day-to-day life and that some of the best experiences provided to everyone with whom we interact can be consulted, in the articles of the Living Magazine blog - “The Living Experience”

Every Living person can be a leader because they have the chance. Every effort can make a big difference.

I, for example, as CEO, do exactly the same, just recently I was following the departure of our approximately 400 people a day in our regular tour operation, when one of our guests arrived late and the tour had already left, colleagues from the agency called the guide Joana Silva and the driver Lucas Barros, who was already at 450m in a last pick up, I asked the guest if he was willing to make a morning run to join the group in order not to miss the tour, he told me yes and we started a 450m race, 5 minutes later I managed to deliver our guest who was coming from Canada and this was his last day in the city of Porto and he was going to miss a magnificent day in the Douro valley, heritage of humanity, doing so all the difference in the fantastic vacation that our guest spent in our country. This is to make a difference, in the lives of others and in our performance, making us happier and more fun with the good we do for everyone with whom we interact.

Even if the company has more than 100 employees, everyone feels that way. It's fantastic that we welcome over 100,000 guests every year and see all the people working hard around them and making a difference because they are given these opportunities.