Amazon recently opened its second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The idea for the runner-up, called HQ2, first came to life in 2017 under the leadership of founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos.
The opening of the second headquarters comes at a difficult time for Amazon, as 27,000 employees have been laid off due to the fallout from the pandemic and the need to reduce the company’s workforce. This was reported by Holly Sullivan, Amazon’s Vice President of Economic Development HQ2 dramatically improves Amazon efficiency by eliminating time zone restrictions and improving workflow across time zones.
The newly built Metropolitan Park facility includes 200,000 square meters of office space, a 0.8-hectare park, and 4,650 square meters of retail space. The retail space will be complemented by local businesses such as a doggie daycare and taqueria. The campus includes two 22-story buildings, Jasper and Merlin, both of which are designed with sustainability in mind.
Metropolitan Park has opened its doors in stages over the past few weeks; Merlin, for example, has been in the works for about three weeks. On the opening day, 3,000 employees were welcomed into the 2 Headquarters offices. It is important to note
The concept of HQ2 was developed even before the pandemic and the spread of remote work later.
Amazon plans to bring a total of 8,000 employees to HQ2, who will be recruited locally from Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Recruitment is proceeding faster than planned, Sullivan said, indicating positive momentum for the new position.
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