Politico‘s feel good memos are legendary. The stuff of fairytales and psychology conventions. No one is left out — unless you’re Mike Elk, who hasn’t seen the newsroom in awhile because of his PTSD. But really, it’s a chance for Politico execs to shower their employees with loving thoughts.
This week’s memo on the upcoming office move is no exception.
As moves go, it doesn’t sound terribly stressful — they’re moving two floors up from where they are now in the Rosslyn suburban parking garage. The new space has been created by the designers who did Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies downtown campus. It was just an empty two floors, so they built it out. As explained to The Mirror, considering the lack of community rooms and minimal kitchen space the newsroom has now, the new digs are supposed to be more integrating with a stairway between both floors and a 3,000-foot private terrace for company happy hours and limbo contests with Mike Allen.
At the moment, sales, ad, and pro teams occupy two different floors, and news is on a separate floor.
Soon they’ll all be one big happy POLITICO family.
And from the sounds of it, Digital Editorial Director Blake Hounshell won’t need to drag a staffer into a supply closet for a talking to. He’ll be able to find a “huddle room” — to you know, huddle — and quietly kick her out before her two weeks is up.
A favorite line: “Change is hard. So I’m asking you to pack tons of patience and positivity with everything else you have in those boxes of yours.” (!!!!!!!!!)
A second favorite line: “Every decision, big and small, was made with one major theme in mind: creating the most fun and collaborative working environment for the hardest-working people in journalism.” (Shhh….don’t tell the reporters at The New York Times!)
See the memo below…
Subject: Thank you
“Moving is easy,” said no one, ever.
I want to thank Team POLITICO for your positive energy, excitement and professionalism in preparation for moving to the new space.
Packing up your stuff is never really that fun, and, for many of you, these stacked cardboard boxes in every corner of our office are your first real glimpse of the much anticipated office move.
There’s also an amazing group of POLITICOs who see this as the final chapter of one of the most fun, but most difficult and complex company projects in our eight-year history.
The 65,000-square-foot office expansion project, led by the incomparable Miki King with a major full-time assist from Liz Breckenridge and Jerry Gray, has taken more than a year to plan, coordinate and build. Every decision, big and small, was made with one major theme in mind: creating the most fun and collaborative working environment for the hardest-working people in journalism.
My hope is that you’ll take this into account when you walk through or when you settle into your new workspace over the next few weeks. Change is hard. So I’m asking you to pack tons of patience and positivity with everything else you have in those boxes of yours.
If you haven’t checked out the new space yet, know that where we’re headed is quite different from this spot we’ve occupied for eight years. We’ve taken all of your furniture votes, fun ideas and specific wish lists — like your request for more common space — pretty seriously. And, because of that, you’ll find a snack-filled café above the big open staircase, a cozy workspace lounge for everyone with unobstructed views of D.C., and some huddle rooms for more private team conversations and interviews. And, the 3,000-square-foot private terrace will be open just in time for us to get plenty of sun-filled meetings in during the day (and maybe a few post-work happy hours at night).
Our new space represents a big moment for us as a team, and a chance to make a fresh start in a space we can call our own. With this move comes the creation of a much more open and inclusive environment that will help foster even more collaboration and cultivate even stronger partnerships across this growing organization. Now that the space is largely move-in ready, feel free to tweet about the experience over the next few weeks with #POLITICOMove.
Stay tuned for more details on move-in timing and, more importantly, thank you so much for all that you do.