“The meetings that matter happen in person.”
These are the words of TravelPerk co-founder and CEO Avi Meir in an
all-staff email recently as the company outlined how it planned to return to the
office.
Meir wrote, “The important things in life happen in person…This
belief comes from the magic and the energy that bursts when we get together in
person. Bursts of understanding, when we can read beyond someone’s words and
listen beyond someone’s voice. Bursts of trust when we support each other with
honest gestures. Bursts of inspiration when we solve hard problems and create
new things together. Bursts of laughter, when we generate the safe space to
enjoy the little ironies of life. And bursts of awareness, when we realize that
we are in the same boat.”
Meir said that with the ending of the state of alarm in Spain
on 9 May and the increasing pace of the vaccine rollout, it would make further
plans for returning to its Barcelona head office.
“Starting on 31 May, each team will have one day a week
where we will guarantee the team space. This will last through to September.
TravelPerkers can, of course, come to the office on other days as well, but the
assigned team will have preference. We’re already seeing lots of us enjoying
meeting in person, so to support the increase in demand, we have doubled the
capacity at our office by renting 3 more spaces in the same building.”
“Practically, the way it will work is that TravelPerkers
will all be “reserved a seat” on the day that is assigned to their teams unless
they opt-out. We understand that some people have valid concerns about coming
back to the office, that’s why, for now, all requests to not come will be
automatically accepted, no questions asked,” he added.
“We are already seeing that most teams want to meet their
colleagues in the office. This transition phase will help us achieve this goal
safely together. The next step of the journey will likely be in September
whereby we will fully implement a new way of working that will require our
teams to be in the office a few days a week.”
Meir clearly recognises that many other companies are going
through the same issues and has invited corporates to contact them so the online travel management platform can share
its own experience.