About Work Your Way

During these early years, our office locations had no cohesive personality. Each office made its own policies, had its own artwork, and decorated with whatever random Red Hat branded items were easily accessible. There were no workplace design standards.

1993

Red Hat is founded by Bob Young and Marc Ewing.

1999

Moved from a bachelor pad in Raleigh, NC to a nondescript office space

2002 - Domestic and international expansion

• From apartment living to NC State: Red Hat moves to North Carolina State University's Centennial Campus.

• North American (NA) expansion within the United States: A new Red Hat office opens in Westford, Massachusetts.

• International expansion: A new Red Hat office opens in Stuttgart, Germany, marking the first office in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). 

2003 - Expansion into APAC

A new Red Hat office opens in Brisbane, Australia, marking the first office in Asia and the Pacific (APAC).

2006 - Expansion into LATAM

A new Red Hat office opens in Buenos Aires, Argentina, marking the first office in Latin America.

2013 - Westford

Our Westford, Massachusetts, office expands to 175,000 square feet and is originally considered our engineering headquarters.

A time spent building the foundation for Red Hat's workplace design guidelines and standards.

2014

Red Hat established the early foundation for the company's workplace design guidelines.

2015

Launch of the SharedSpace guidelines and standards website.

2016 - A neighborhood pilot

Global Workplace Solutions (GWS) deploys Red Hat's first pilot neighborhood in Raleigh.

2017

• In March, Red Hat completes the Global WPI Survey to inform the “Work Your Way” initiative.

• In September, Red Hat launches the Work Your Way guidelines and standards website. The new initiative is an evolution of the SharedSpace workplace design program and is meant to support mobile and assigned work styles through a variety of space types.

Smart spending to sustain and maintain office space. 

2018 - 2019

Red Hat workplaces across our global portfolio support mobility, but report growing pains in terms of rapid headcount growth, the large number of associates working on site, as well as space inefficiencies. Red Hat leadership prioritizes cost-effective investments that supports a change in how associates use office space. 

The COVID-19 pandemic requires a quick pivot as to how, where, and when we work. The years spent with associates working from home pushes Red Hat—and many companies—to rethink what the “workplace” looks like. Red Hat leans into this new way of work and proactively asks for associate feedback to understand and anticipate how our workplaces should evolve. 

2020

Red Hat launches the first Workplace Environment Experience survey (WEES). WEES is a global Red Hat survey that GWS administers for the first time in 2020, with the intention of it being a recurring survey. The goal of the survey is to understand  Red Hatter's work-from-home experience during the COVID-19 pandemic and their feelings about returning to an office to better anticipate how our workplaces should evolve in the future.  

GWS partners with Leesman, the leading global independent authority on employee workplace experience, to prepare a survey that incorporates the Leesman Home Working Module (for benchmarking purposes) with customized Red Hat questions. 

2021 - The Future of Work is now

Red Hat begins to live into the future of work and launches work profiles and Red Hat Reserve. Work profiles (authentication required) give Red Hatters clarity on where they can expect to work when the COVID 19 pandemic restrictions ease.  The launch of Red Hat Reserve (authentication required), our global desk reservation platform, allows associates to easily view and book workspaces for when they decide to work from an office. The launch of work profiles and Red Hat Reserve clarifies and enables a more flexible Future of Work for all Red Hatters. 

2022

Red Hat continues to prioritize associate experience, workplace satisfaction, and keeping our unique culture in the midst of change. The company partners with local mural artists at 4 locations;  launches 5 workplace pilots; and keeps associate opinions top-of-mind through feedback in the WEES/WES surveys. 

2023 - 2024

Red Hat realizes the extent to which associates have changed how, when, and where they work when offices reopen after the pandemic. Red Hat begins to implement our first-ever Real Estate Optimization evaluation and strategy, and makes recommendations to consolidate, share, or move offices in order to right-size our global office portfolio.

At the same time, Red Hat encourages associates to “move forward together” in our new work environment, and create opportunities — both in-person and online — to preserve our culture and cultivate new relationships. 

Celebrating a decade of excellence and innovation, 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of our pioneering guidelines and standards website, SharedSpace. Over the past 10 years, we’ve delivered 20 major releases, each one elevating the platform’s functionality, accessibility, and overall user experience. Our commitment to continuous improvement has driven us to scale and modernize the website, now Work Your Way, ensuring it remains a cutting-edge resource for our users.

Our vision for the future includes shaping the "meeting room of the future," enabling smarter, more collaborative environments that foster innovation and productivity. We're also introducing a new purpose tiering model that better aligns our real estate portfolio and strategic offerings with business needs, helping to create more purposeful, impactful experiences. Finally, we're modernizing our approach to branded environments, ensuring that our physical spaces authentically represent Red Hat’s brand personality and culture.

This journey has also included significant UX upgrades, such as our migration to Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), which enhances the site's performance, flexibility, and scalability, providing a more seamless and dynamic experience for all users. In addition, we’ve embraced more hybrid solutions to meet the evolving needs of our diverse audience, offering adaptable tools and resources that cater to both digital and physical spaces.

We plan on continuing to evolve and provide transformative solutions for our users, staying at the forefront of the digital experience for years to come!