On May 10, Allstate Protection Plans/SquareTrade celebrated the grand opening of our new HQ in Brisbane, CA. The new office is located just south of San Francisco with fantastic views of the San Francisco Bay.
The celebration marked the first time SquareTraders have been in an office together for over two years. There were lots of laughs, catching up over cold brew coffee (thanks to our permanent cold brew keg), mini-golf, a raffle, some new SquareTrade swag (love the water bottles), and lots and lots of treats. High-five to the SquareTrade People team!
CEO Karl Wiley spoke to the company—to those in the office and to remote and international employees as well—highlighting the ways in which SquareTrade adapted, pivoted, and grew during the pandemic. Since March of 2020, we’ve launched a wide variety of programs with new and existing partners. This success took an incredible amount of cross-team coordination—from living rooms and bedrooms across the country and around the world.
To that end, the new Brisbane office was designed with collaboration top of mind. The office is centered around communal and meeting spaces designed to help us work better together. We’ve also invested in new technology (like Zoom Rooms) that makes collaboration easier between office-based and remote employees.
The goal is that everyone—remote employees, international employees and partners no matter where they are—can join a SquareTrade meeting and it feels like everyone is in the same room. Several teams tested out the new tech during the grand opening and all agreed it took video conferencing to the next level. A second high-five to the SquareTrade IT team!
With everything that we’ve all been through over the past two years, the grand opening event was a welcome day to come together as a group and celebrate our successes. And to remember how tall or short everyone is in person. (So hard to tell over Zoom.) Good times.
