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The pandemic was a challenging time for our team, as I’m sure it was for yours. Between the record demand for IT services, the near-constant changes to work regulations and safety requirements, and the isolation that came with being separated from each other for the better part of three years, we enter 2025 into a very different world than we had in early 2020.
Yet for our team, we’ve seen a number of benefits in our personal lives. Well, frankly, our work lives too. We saved hours of wasted commute time each week by working remotely. We gained the flexibility to go to a medical appointment or attend our kid’s school event without having to navigate the ever-challenging world that is downtown Seattle traffic and transit. We can even swap a load of laundry during our lunch breaks!
But more than that, we gained balance. Balance that was sorely lacking while living in 2019 Seattle. The new work flexibility gave our team the ability to spread out and live further from the city, but closer to family, friends, and community. As a company, we found that working remotely made a lot of things easier and a few things harder. So we set out on a mission to get the best of both worlds… at least part of the time.
Our solution to the challenges of a remote-first model is our quarterly meet-up, which we started in January of 2023. For three days each quarter, we bring the entire team back into our office in Downtown Seattle. We eat together, have an in-person happy hour, meet in person as a team, celebrate our wins and milestones, and connect and collaborate like we once did.
And after three days of it, we are all peopled out and ready to go back to working (primarily) remotely… at least until next quarter! For the team, these in-person gatherings have been wildly successful and are something we all look forward to throughout the year. They’ve truly restored the camaraderie and spirit of collaboration, and we’re glad we have found the best of both worlds.
