The outdoor clothing and equipment retailer REI is trying to sell a headquarters building it nearly completed construction on in Seattle. The company planned to have its 1,200 employees work in the new campus, but have given up on the idea as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, once they are cleared to leave home office regime, the plan is to have them work from locations across the city. CEO Eric Artz said that the outbreak of the virus had forced the company to “rethink every aspect of our business and many of the assmptions of the past.” It’s still unknown when employees will be allowed to return to work in offices. It’s not even clear at the moment how many employees will continue to work from home, or how many would work in offices at a time. “The goal is to create max flexibility so employees can interact with our physical office space in whatever way works best for them,” said spokesperson Halley Knigge. It’s a huge change of strategy. When work on the new campus began, REI officials said the point was to allow its employees to work in a single location, rather than being dispersed across Seattle.
