"How do you find life at Booking.com?"

"What's it like working for Booking.com?"

"What's the work life balance like at Booking.com?"

"Tell me about your time at Booking.com?"

All of these questions have subtle differences and I am asked these questions almost every day. But I usually tend to answer them in the same way....it's pretty great!

Booking.com has recently won two Comparably awards for Employee Happiness and Work/Life Balance. However, before winning those awards, they're usually the topics that I'd start talking about. Life gets in the way of work sometimes and Booking has always seemed to understand that. 💙

Indeed, our benefits scheme that has guaranteed a minimum of 22 weeks paid parental leave for all new parents reflects this. We also offer 10 days to new grandparents too! Although I'm a little too young to be a grandparent (just) and don't plan on having anymore kids, these two are absolute game changers and would have made a huge impact to me as a new Dad instead of the legal minimum I had at the time.

I sometimes tell the story of calling my old manager, Jonathan Wells and explaining that I needed to collect my son from school and take him for a PCR test, on day four of my Booking.com journey. I was super apologetic. I was so sorry that this had happened so early on. What must he think of me?

"Yeah I get it. What a nightmare. Hope you go on okay. You really don't need to apologise over this stuff though..." 😅

Even now, as a member of the Global Sourcing team my current manager Nicola Lawton can be heard preaching that work/life balance will always "Ebb and Flow".😇

This enlightened and empowering approach to employee wellbeing energises employees. Colleagues volunteer to help you out, enjoy their work and this organically creates a culture of celebrating successes, which in turn re-energises you all over again!

Since joining Booking I've been lucky enough to benefit from 8.5 days of additional leave from the business, aka "Booking breaks". Receiving an email that thanks you for your hard work in the form of a day off with all your friends and colleagues feels absolutely awesome. As a business we talk alot about making it easier to experience the world and these welcomed days off certainly make that possible.

If you have a particular interest or hobby, chances are you'll find a lot of like minded people at Booking. Whether its an employee page dedicated to cats, bad jokes, fantasy football or travel, we'll have colleagues that will both bring you the content you're looking for and praise for your contributions. These groups can be found all over Booking!

Finally it's amazing to see the effort that goes into making Booking a diverse and inclusive employer. Our Employee Resource Groups are incredible communities for members and allies alike. Bookings exceptional sponsorship of the Pride parades in Manchester and Amsterdam is a fantastic example of just how much we value inclusivity.

So the next time you're thinking of a career change, don't forget to consider Booking.com. You'll definitely thank yourself and meet some amazing people along the way.

(Oh and I haven't even told you about the employee discount yet....)😍