New digs day: A new headquarters for a new chapter

President and CEO, Antonio Neri shares an inside look at HPE’s new headquarters in San Jose and his favorite features

Eighty years ago, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard first gave our company life in a little garage in Palo Alto. They were committed to creating a culture of innovation focused on people and inclusion. This commitment continues to be a core component of who we are today.

In our new chapter as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, it’s only fitting that we commemorate this exciting time in our history with a beautiful, new state-of-the-art headquarters and enhanced benefits for our employees.

When we set out to build our new headquarters in San Jose, it was important to me that the space left an immediate and lasting impression, showcasing who we are today while celebrating our rich history as a company. Before you even enter our lobby, you’re greeted by a statue created by my friend and local artist, Adam L. Wiedman. The statue is named ‘Elysium,’ and represents our past, present, and future. The entire building is a tangible representation of this balance, offering inspiration and the facilities needed to innovate, which simultaneously benefits our employees, our customers, and our partners.

While I love everything about our new home, I’m particularly excited about the Executive Briefing Center, which features demos from our work with Mercedes and the International Space Station, and the Innovation Showcase, which offers a visual guide through our most innovative work. We’ve also built state-of-the-art amenities for our employees, including a running trail, a spectacular gym, many recreational areas, and game rooms, all thoughtfully built to put the fun back in our workplace and energize our team. The headquarters site is located in the new America Center development in San Jose, right next to the bay where our team members can enjoy the views and take in the fresh air anytime. It’s a home that we can all be proud of – and rightfully so as we’ve kept our commitment to sustainability by building a headquarters that relies on green technology, which is a key aspect of our holistic approach in advancing the way we live and work.

Our new headquarters, along with the sites we’ve updated around the world, are a showcase of the company we are today. But what really matters are the people who come to work in them every day.

With my 20 plus years at this company, our culture and employees’ experiences are especially important to me. My personal experiences as both an employee, and now as the CEO, have helped me understand that you benefit your customers and partners when you have a team that feels appreciated and supported. My philosophy is that happy employees equal happy customers and partners. I hope that the re-energizing of our culture will become my legacy, which is why today we announced several enhanced benefits that enable our team to live the best life they can - both professionally and personally. These benefits include:

Six Months Paid Parental Leave: No parent should have to miss out on the first few months of their child’s life. Mothers and fathers across the company will be provided at least 6 months of leave, at 100% of pay, to bond with their child during the first year after birth or adoption.

Parental Transition Support: A new child changes everything, including schedules. New parents will be able to apply to work part-time for up to 36 months following the birth or adoption of a child.

Wellness Fridays: We work to live, we don’t live to work. Employees will be encouraged to leave the office three hours early on a designated Friday each month to volunteer, focus on physical or emotional health, or spend time on personal or career development. Employees will be paid as normal for this time.

Career Reboot: This program offers job opportunities at HPE to individuals, such as stay-at-home-parents, who have been out of the workforce for an extended period of time and are ready to restart their careers.

Retirement Transition Support: Retiring is a major life transition. Employees within one year of retirement may apply to work part-time to help ease their transition to post-working life.

Please watch your inbox for announcement of country-specific program details and launch dates.

While I am incredibly proud of these new employee benefits and our new workspaces – both at headquarters and around the world – this is just the beginning. Our new headquarters is a symbol of what we can do, and what we will continue to do in the future long after my time as CEO. In those times, I hope my tenure as CEO won’t be measured exclusively against shareholder returns, but also against our culture and the team we built.

Dave Packard famously said, “to stay static is to lose ground.”  You can expect to hear more on how we’re creating and investing in a world-class team that is, in turn, delivering cutting-edge technologies and services that enable our customers and partners to advance the way people live and work.