- REI left its new business campus to save money and encourage remote work among its employees.
- The co-op now plans to have multiple locations for “headquarters” in the Seattle area and expects more employees to long for work at home.
- While the Covid-19 pandemic is expanding traditional notions about offices, REI is just one of many companies struggling with long-term decisions about office space.
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REI is bringing its brand new headquarters to the market, the company announced on Wednesday.
The 82-year-old open cooperative left its eight-acre suburban Seattle campus in a bid to save money, and will encourage its 1,400 employees to work long-term remotely.
First planned in 2016, the expanded property was described as a “summer camp for adults.” The architectural firm that spanned the project, NBBJ, saw many outdoor spaces and special features such as campfire and even a forest field.
Rendering of the planned space revealed interiors that would be just as luxurious, with tables made of restored sequoia wood, window walls that open to interiors, and a fireplace in the foyer. The company even showed an ‘abundance of stairs’ that would ensure employees healthy movement during their working days.
Instead of the massive headquarters, REI opts for a decentralized approach. REI will now have multiple “headquarters” locations in the greater Seattle area, it said, and will normalize long-term work from home. The company says the move will give employees more flexibility and the company can reduce its carbon footprint.
“The dramatic events of 2020 have challenged us to re-examine and rethink all aspects of our business and many of the assumptions of the past. That includes where and how we work,” said REI President and CEO Eric Artz , in press release.
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, REI is far from the only company struggling with long-term office space decisions. Facebook and Google are letting employees go remote in the coming months, while L’Oreal is forcing workers to return to the office. Real estate and architectural firms are meanwhile redesigning office routes to be more pandemic-friendly by reducing the density of offices and creating one-way traffic through the building.
The sale will also bring much-needed cash to REI’s coffers. Despite an uptick in open gear sales as Americans seek social-life activities, the company cut 300 companies for jobs in April, saying it would cut 400 retail jobs in July. These changes, in addition to office sales, will help the company prepare for “the near-certainty of additional disruptions,” Artz wrote in the co-op’s newsletter this week.
Potential buyers for the property include Facebook, The Seattle Times reported.
