When COVID-19 emerged in our region, Bridgewater closed its offices and turned to business continuity plans designed for this kind of event. Overnight, our company adjusted to a remote work environment seamlessly, benefitting from years of enhancing mobility and security, stress-testing emergency plans, and a final sprint that ensured employees were equipped with the connectivity and peripherals they required to do great work from outside the office.
While internal surveys and metrics showed that productivity remained strong in this new mode of working, members of Bridgewater’s research team — accustomed to large, collaborative meetings with a free-flowing exchange of insights and ideas — were yearning for richer interactions. Leaders from Bridgewater’s investment engine, security, real estate, and technology teams took on this challenge.
The result was an outdoor office at Bridgewater’s wooded headquarters in Westport, Connecticut. Built for both safety and in-person collaboration, the tented space is fully wired, fits up to 50 employees with ample distance between them, and is surrounded by both pine trees and safety protocols, including readily available hand sanitizer and mandatory virus testing protocols for all who choose to come on site.
Read more about our outdoor office in the October 2020 issue of Fortune.