Amplifying Company Retreats With Year-Round Culture Building

A UK-based startup has secured funding and two leading advisors to help its mission evolve how companies bring their teams together. WorkTripp has taken on Q Hamirani, who, up until a couple of weeks ago ,was head of Airbnb's Live & Work Anywhere program. It has hired Dora Nagy, a coaching expert who has held senior roles at Google and Softbank, as an advisor, too. The company also raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from SFC Capital at the end of March. Now it wants to help businesses “mature” offsite meetings. “Before, offsites were a bit more of a vanity thing, like a big showcase, whereas now it’s actually becoming part of the fabric of how we work,” said Sophie Bailey, WorkTripp CEO and co-founder. Designing for Trust Immediately after pandemic travel restrictions were lifted, company retreats served a purpose as many employees had never met, or at least met up in person in a long time. So they played crucial role in building company culture, especially when teams are working remotely. But remote work practices continue to be a hot topic, with debate around the return to offices. "Some elements of the new world of work are very short-termist, task-focused, and hyper-efficient," said Bailey. "You’re always on, all the time, a