TL;DR: The Expensify Lounge was a wild experiment. As of November 1, 2023, it will be closed until further notice.

When we first launched the “Expensify Lounge” –  with plenty of seating, an amazing view, fresh cappuccinos, hand-mixed cocktails, and to top it off: a nightly sabered Champagne sunset toast, right downtown in the middle of San Francisco’s financial district, all for free – people couldn’t help but ask “Why are you doing this?” and “How long can this possibly last?”

As the first expense reporting mobile app, we were already very familiar with the mobile workforce.  But for the first decade of the business, most work still happened in a traditional office.  COVID changed all that overnight.  Kitchen tables replaced cubicles, and everyone was a digital nomad… whether they liked it or not.

For many, this was a transformational time.  People discovered the joy of working in their PJs.  Then slowly, explored local cafes.  As the horrors of COVID waned, the joys of telecommuting grew, and the conversation slowly shifted from “when can we go back to the office?” to “… should we?”

Granted, we were already a “remote first” company long before COVID on account of our culture of traveling around the world together as a company (Curaçao, Italy, Iceland, and Indonesia this year alone).  So being forced to work from home wasn’t disruptive.  It was just boring.  But we recognized that we were living through a transformational time for the rest of the market, and decided to fix up one of our offices and run a little experiment around a very simple question:

Can anything bring workers back to the office voluntarily?

Before COVID, your office had a monopoly on your time: you had to go, or you got fired.  It didn’t matter if your office sucked, you just had to go.  But COVID taught everyone that it’s entirely possible – and often preferable – to work on the beach, at your home office, in a cafe, or literally anywhere in the world that isn’t your office.  We all stumbled awkwardly into the light of day, and can’t quite remember why we ever chose to live underground in the first place.

Going to the office is no longer a necessity.  It’s a choice.  And we wanted to know what, if anything, would cause people to voluntarily choose to go back to the office when the entire rest of the world (including the comfort of their bed) beckoned.  And we’re happy to report that the results are in:

Mostly no.

Recall that we went absolutely all out – we did everything possible to make the office as attractive as we possibly could.  Drinks delivered straight to your desk.  Gigabit wifi.  Call rooms.  We took this concept further than any company reasonably could at scale, to leave no stone unturned.

And don’t get me wrong, it was epic.  The only comparable experience I can think of is in the