OFFICE
Any company can tell you how great
they are, but only a handful have
the hardware to prove it. Honored
by Business Insurance magazine
as a "Best Place to Work" for six
consecutive years, as well as three
separate times by Inc. magazine
as one of America's 5,000 fastestgrowing companies, Discovery has
garnered national recognition for
their employee-centered approach
to growing their business.
"The Employee Portal," as the slide
is officially called, is named for the
site where Discovery clients log in
to access their benefits and was
agreed upon after an employee
naming contest around the time the
slide was unveiled.
"It's about letting people know that
you can be in a technical industry
without taking yourself too seriously,"
Schroeder explains. "Life's too short
to not have a little fun."
Schroeder adds that the company
hosts an annual competition in
which the goal is to slide down and
run back up the stairs five times as
fast as you can. The current record
is 33 seconds.
With two treadmills, two ellipticals
and a stationary bike—and some
free weights to boot—Discovery's
in-house gym offers a convenient
way to break a sweat before, during
or after work. And if yoga's more up
your alley, they bring in an instructor
periodically to teach on-site classes.
Continuing with the theme of "outside
things that Discovery Benefits put
inside" is an open-flame fire pit area
that employees can use to either relax
during their break or host more formal
meetings with coworkers.
Whether it's the middle of January
or the middle of August, the flame
burns year-round and is one of the
more popular amenities in the office,
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AUGUST 2016
Schroeder says.
"The other cool thing is that it's just
kind of the centrally located part of the
office," Schroeder says. "Employees
pass through to basically go anywhere
they need to go. And it really helps build
that interaction. You get to know people
from completely different departments
just by sharing a communal space."