Expedia, USA

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Destination Seattle - Transition to future ways of working

Expedia Group was growing, both in terms of employees and its aspirations. Moving to their own campus gave Expedia the space to design working environments which reflected their values and supported their journey to becoming a platform company.

Additionally, the location of the new campus along the Elliot Bay waterfront was enhanced by the hallmarks of travel including, trains, cruise ships, flights overhead, green spaces, and multi-use trails. Consistent with Expedia Group’s mission to bring the world within reach, the new campus was intentionally designed to facilitate collaboration and innovation.

Expedia Group, like most technology companies based in the Seattle market, saw the need to innovate and provide a more inspiring work environment which spoke to the core brand and the future vision of where the organisation was headed. With an ambitious decision to move their headquarters to Seattle, Expedia Group embraced the challenges and obstacles consistent with the shift in direction, and compiled a comprehensive plan to support the transition.

Led by the Real Estate group, and supported by HR, IT, Brand and Communications, Expedia Group began the long process of developing a cohesive strategy which would continue to support the evolving business decision to be a platform, whilst concurrently creating an all-inclusive work environment that enabled continuous innovation.

The challenge of moving 4,300 people from Bellevue to Seattle was compounded by the evolution of their existing work modalities of types and where people work. The Expedia teams were tasked with designing a program which would communicate the “why” of the move to the employees, ease the anxiety and stress of moving to Seattle, and provide new amenities which would support and encourage a more cross functional and collaborative way of working.

Incorp was engaged to support Expedia’s Real Estate team in assessing the necessary changes required within the new work environment to continue to supporting the employees and the work they are doing; whilst aligning with other business groups to develop and lead a cohesive strategy to communicate and apply programming to support the move.

With the transformative move to the Seattle Campus and lessons learned from recently updated offices around the world (most relevantly in London, Seattle and Bellevue), Expedia Group recognised the need for additional support to ensure that the project meets Expedia Group’s business objectives.

The services and resources outlined below were designed to accelerate this process:
— Deliver consistent, accurate, and engaging communications
— Clearly define and introduce “new ways of working”
— Document shared language, best practices, protocols/guidelines including naming structures
— Showcase, encourage, and embed new workplace behaviors and etiquette
— Support teams by manage fears and concerns, mitigate resistance
— Workplace design peer review and validation to ensure current fit for purpose and right sizing
— User relevance programs, On-boarding and ongoing training
— Post-occupancy lessons learned and adaptations for subsequent move phases