Why we’re encouraging our team to work from (almost) anywhere.

You’ve seen the headlines. Heard about “The Great Resignation.” Employee burnout is real, especially after 2+ years of pandemic life. And, while companies are wringing their hands wondering what to do (fully remote? Hybrid model? Back to the office?), KAYAK and OpenTable actually did something about it.

In Fall 2021, we launched our Work from (Almost) Anywhere policy. This came on the heels of a company-wide engagement survey where 60% of comments talked about wanting more flexibility in choosing where to work.

So we listened to our team. Along with our sister brand OpenTable, we put into play new team benefits that maximize flexible working options while prioritizing employees’ mental health — including a flexible work environment where our team chooses how often they work from the office, if at all.

“Our team wanted greater flexibility and mobility so we listened. I remain an advocate for in-person collaboration and we will continue to embrace that at KAYAK and OpenTable. But our employees are demonstrating that great talent can do anything — from anywhere — and make an incredible impact.” — Steve Hafner, KAYAK CEO

But maximum flexibility isn’t the only new move we made. Since 2020, we’ve been rolling out a new suite of company-wide benefits, following an employee survey that shined a light on the need for more ways to support mental health and wellbeing. Here are just a few of the benefits we’ve put into place recently:

• Company-wide weeks off: We periodically close our offices for a week over the winter holidays and a week during the summer — all to give our team time to disconnect from work. (PS this is in addition to our other PTO benefits.)
• Global Volunteer Week: We ask our team to “‘Do Good” — which means we give teammates across 20+ offices five paid VTO (volunteer time off) hours to give back to their community.
• Mental Health Awareness and Progress: No Meeting Fridays, Free Headspace Membership, 6 free therapy sessions with Spring Health and a Well-Being Speaker Series are all designed to support employees’ mental health and well-being.
• Employee Resource Groups: Our five ERGs are volunteer-led groups for Women, People of Color, Military personnel and Veterans, People with Disabilities, and the LGBTQ+ Community and their allies.

And guess what else… we’re hiring! If this sounds like the kind of place you want to work for, if you’re ready to be your own main character and if you want to help travelers experience the world… join us.