Geocaching Headquarters - Seattle
- BAR Group
- Apr 12, 2016
- 3 min read
Organization Summary
Did you know geocaching started with the CEOs of this place? Do you even know what geocaching is? To be honest, we didn't before we visited this place. Unfortunately we weren't able to get an office tour, but we learned so much about how geocaching started with GPS signals, 3 founders and tracking. In 2001 this startup was funded by three founders in a garage that sold t-shirts for start up funds. Now Geocache has 6 million active players, in 20 different languages, and 23,000 logs a day! We were even offered a special token to create our own geocache.
Features of the Workplace
75 employees
Vision includes play where you work, and Creativity as a fundamental part of culture
Culture is based on Autonomy and Trust
Geocaching is encouraged and rewarded on work time (2 hours per month)
Fully stocked kitchen for employees
Dogs allowed every Friday
Brittany's Blurbs...
Sadly, we were not able to obtain a tour of the office facilities and were only allowed a “tour” of their lobby. However, we turned ourselves into sneaky ninjas were able to peek into the office space… Through their clear doors and windows, of course. The only thing I could gather from their office space was that it was fairly open concept, colorful, and they had separate meeting rooms and what looked like smaller rooms for what I assumed to be heads down space. The woman giving us the tour happily answered our questions about their workspace and described it as fun and collaborative, they can even bring their dogs in on Fridays (by now you should be cluing in on my love for bringing dogs to work). Employees get two hours a month paid time to Geocache and their motto is “I Play Where I Work.” Although I heard all these fabulous benefits of their job and workplace environment, I didn’t feel it. Of course, to make a final conclusion on this workplace, I would need a full tour of the offices… Hint, hint Geocache.
Amanda's Aspect...
Unfortunately we weren’t able to get an office tour, they only offer tours of their front desk area, which was strange to me. However, I enjoyed getting to know about geocaching, but even more so I enjoyed peeking through the windows to see what their workplace offered. I spied a treadmill desk, a ping pong table, shared desks, elevated workstations, small break out rooms, and open spaces. Instead of walls segregating each space there were windows, some clear and some fogged for more privacy. The ‘tour guide’ was very friendly and did give us some great information about their workplace culture. As we were leaving she gave us her business card, which on the back said “I play where I work”, which pretty much sums it up. With the opportunity to geocache and get paid, bring dogs to work, drink on the job, and play ping pong when they get restless, it sounds like an awesome place to play and get paid.
Rachel's Ramblings....
Geocaching was interesting. Based on the fact that we were unable to take a real tour of the office space, our guide that gave our team a tour of the lobby offered snippets of insight. However, my favorite feature was the FREE Photo Booth. This was our final stop in the mass touring day in Seattle. Geocaching was located in the same complex of Google, Tableau, and Adobe. We took it upon ourselves to be relentlessly snoopy. Although we were unable to see actual workspace, we stuck our neck out as far as the fogged glass of the offices could see. Offices appeared to be open and adhered to LEAN practices. I spotted a plaque for the best place to work 2015. Our lobby tour guide Erin said "
