Marriott coaxing workers back to office with $600 million building

By David Shepardson

BETHESDA, Maryland (Reuters) – Marriott Worldwide Inc believes its new $600 million high-rise headquarters will entice staff to return after greater than two years largely working at house.

The U.S. resort firm that owns and licenses about 8,100 accommodations in 139 international locations reduce the ribbon Monday on the constructing close to Washington, D.C.

Marriott Chief Government Anthony Capuano informed Reuters staff will need to return. “Individuals crave that interplay,” Capuano mentioned. “I am unsure we’ve to tug that arduous.”

Throughout building, Marriott turned 20% of mounted workstations into “collaboration areas.”

“We discover that increasingly more of the work we’re doing is initiatives throughout disciplines… typically for a day, typically for per week, possibly for a 12 months or longer,” Capuano mentioned.

The 21-story headquarters includes a 11,000-square-foot little one care middle, 180 convention rooms, high-end cafeteria and design lab.

Capuano mentioned workers will not be required to be within the workplace however Marriott is “encouraging of us to be right here a number of days per week — and never only for conferences.”

The brand new headquarters can accommodate about 3,500 staff. Capuano mentioned over 1,000 are on the workplace on a typical workday.

Most workstations are shared and workers use an app to order a desk in a “neighborhood” close to different staff with related jobs and may use a locker for storage, Capuano mentioned.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Enhancing by Cynthia Osterman)