Birdhouses, pets, and home-like comfort at HomeAway's regional HQ in Singapore

While creating its new regional headquarters in Singapore, HomeAway has brought together the best of both worlds to create a workplace where people want to be – home-like comfort in a modern open-plan office.

An vacation rental marketplace, HomeAway is part of the Expedia family, and has grown its team significantly in the past few months as Asia is an integral part of its global growth strategy.

Stepping into its office, we spoke to Prashant Kirtane, vice president – Asia, HomeAway, who says that with employees spending at least eight hours at work each day, the organisation wanted to create a home away from home for its employees, akin to its travellers.

"To do so, we created a cosy office space with a predominantly wooden finish to help employees feel at ease and relaxed. We also ensured that there are no high partitions to facilitate easy communication, open discussions and interaction between employees across different departments to promote a culture of inclusiveness. When employees feel a home-like comfort, it creates an environment for them to function at their best," he explains.

The HomeAway Asia marketing team during the Halloween 2016 celebrations

Closing the conversation, Kirtane points out that designing any space needs to revolve around people – just like how a home reflects a family, the office must reflects its employees.

"The simplest of considerations towards employees’ well-being will make a world of difference. Although HomeAway is a global company, we want to build a sense of belonging and togetherness among everyone, to make them feel right at home in a big family," he affirms.

Photos / Provided