New Benefits Include Ability to Work from (Almost) Anywhere, Free Therapy Sessions, No Meeting Fridays and more
As employee burnout rates skyrocket across the country, KAYAK and OpenTable, sister brands that are part of Booking Holdings, are announcing new team benefits that maximize flexible working options while prioritizing employees’ mental health.
KAYAK and OpenTable are moving to a maximum flexibility work environment where employees choose how often they work from the office, if at all.
“Our team wanted greater flexibility and mobility so we listened,” said Steve Hafner, CEO of KAYAK. “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.”
KAYAK and OpenTable offer a culture and environment that is fun, modern and progressive – that is why you will find our 22 dog friendly offices in popular cities around the world offering amenities like catered lunches, gyms/workout spaces and more.
Maximum flexibility isn’t the only new move in KAYAK and OpenTable’s new suite of company-wide benefits. Following an employee survey that shone a light on the need for more ways to support mental health and wellbeing, all employees and eligible family members can each access six free therapy sessions per year. The sessions can be accessed through Spring Health, a comprehensive mental health and wellbeing solution that helps employees find the care they need whether through mindfulness and meditation, coaching, therapy and more.
In addition to the above, the below benefits are available to more than 2,000 employees globally:
- Global Volunteer Week – Part of KAYAK and OpenTable’s ‘Do Good’ initiative, teammates across 20+ offices were given five VTO (volunteer time off) hours to give back to their community. Last year, the company donated more than 540 volunteer hours. The company plans to host a ‘Do Good Week’ in November 2021.
- No Meeting Fridays, Free Headspace Membership and Well-Being Speaker Series – on how to effectively manage your time, prioritization, parenting during a pandemic, and more designed to support employees’ mental health and well-being.
- Employee Resource Groups – Our five ERGs are volunteer-led groups for Women, People of Colour, Military personnel and Veterans, People with Disabilities, and the LGBTQ+ Community and designed to help support each other as allies.
To give employees a much needed break in year one of the pandemic, KAYAK and OpenTable closed their offices globally from December 27 – December 31, 2020. During that time, Slack usage was down 90% and emails were down 86% indicating employees across both brands were able to recharge. Due to the overwhelming positive response and increased engagement, the companies have decided to close their offices again for the weeks of June 28- July 2, 2021 and December 27-31, 2021.
To learn more about KAYAK, OpenTable, and open positions to join the team, visit: https://www.kayak.co.uk/careers and https://www.opentable.co.uk/careers/.
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About KAYAK
KAYAK, part of Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG), is the world’s leading travel search engine. With billions of queries across our platforms, we help people find their perfect flight, stay, rental car, cruise, vacation package. We also support business travelers with KAYAK for Business, our free corporate travel solution and are transforming the in-travel experience with our app and new hotel and accommodation software. For more information, visit www.KAYAK.co.uk.
About OpenTable
OpenTable, part of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG), powers reservations for the hospitality industry. OpenTable’s software seats more than 1 billion people per year and helps more than 60,000 restaurants, bars, wineries and other venues attract guests, manage capacity, improve operations and maximize revenue.
