It’s our 1 Year Anniversary at Vault HQ!! When we officially took occupancy of our new space, Virginia was still closed due to the pandemic.
The following week, as Virginia moved from red to yellow, we chose to open our suite to all Vaulters as an option to working from home. This required our leadership team to stay current on Virginia and CDC policies and guidelines as we wrote, re-wrote and re-wrote our own policies for HQ. Four or so iterations later, we are beginning to embark on our more permanent policies that will guide us through our return to office adjustments.
Was it worth it to open HQ – absolutely yes! Not all of our Vaulters have the space or the equipment to work efficiently and uninterrupted from their homes. While we don’t see large numbers of them in the office each day, most of our employees have been to HQ over the past 15+ months to work, for meetings or for a change of scenery. Space and distancing have been a must, however it has been a nice change in recent weeks as restrictions lift to see our space buzzing in the way we intended when we designed it over two years ago.
I’m curious and excited to watch the office culture bounce back as organizations roll out their return to office plans and policies. While there are sure to be aspects that remain the same, there will be an equal amount that will be different. More time in a remote setting, hybrid meeting attendance, increased comfort with technology and digital connections will weave their way into our daily office culture in a big way. And, like with all change, there will be opportunities to continue to grow and evolve as the office culture change forces us to look at “how things used to be” and move them forward in the best manner for the organization as a whole.
As we blow out our solo candle and look forward, I’m confident the lessons we have learned over the longest “two weeks” in our history, will carry us into a positive future! Happy Anniversary Vault HQ!! Here’s to many more!