Expedia – Headquarters Relocation
- Expedia Group Inc.’s previous headquarters and 3,500+ staff were located in two high-rise buildings in Bellevue, Washington. Expedia was outgrowing the existing square footage in Bellevue, and the company unveiled an initiative to relocate its Bellevue headquarters to what was previously Amgen’s campus in urban Seattle. The move to a horizontal campus was undertaken to improve and enhance collaboration, which had proven difficult to accomplish in the existing high-rise buildings in Bellevue.
- Expedia engaged Stegmeier Consulting Group (SCG) to bridge the gap between people and place, and provide guidance on creating the employee experience by translating Expedia’s Cultural Norms to Workplace Principles, which could then be applied to the workplace design. A key element of SCG’s engagement was centered on identifying the current work styles of Expedians with the goal of identifying a set number of Work Style Personas to aid in the creation of a data-driven, workplace design solution. Employee sentiment was captured through a wide range of data gathering techniques: interviews, focus groups, electronic surveys, real-time polling, and point-of-engagement events.
- SCG developed and led the implementation of a comprehensive 3+ year change management strategy, supporting numerous facets of this complex and high-profile workplace transition. With a goal of aligning stakeholders from the instrumental business functions who would be leading the workplace transition, SCG facilitated the strategic alignment of project goals and objectives of the Project Team, Core Team, and Expedia’s external partners.
- Expedia relied on SCG’s Change Communication Strategy & Plan as a tool to guide the timely, sequenced release of communications pertaining to the workplace transition. SCG developed internal communication collateral for Expedians affected by the workplace transition, including blog posts, email updates, and invitations to workplace events.
- SCG developed and co-facilitated a Discovery Fair for employees to share feedback on the forthcoming move, and compile that data to provide meaningful analysis to Expedia’s Travel Leadership Team and Chairman of the Board.
- SCG worked hand in-hand with Expedia’s HR team to develop an Attraction & Retention strategy, to ensure continuity of the workforce pre- and post-move, and contributed to the analytical prediction of attrition associated with the relocation.
