Our Values
History of Recess
Our story begins with a challenge: meaningful human connection—the key to great teams—is fading in the remote and hybrid work world.
During the pandemic, our founder felt the drain of endless Zoom meetings with colleagues she barely knew. Reflecting on her career, she realized that work was always better when it felt like working with friends.
In 2022, some former-colleagues-turned-friends teamed up to design custom company retreats. They experimented with maximizing in-person time and discovered that while company cultures vary, the secret to connection is universal.
Now we’re ready to share that golden formula for company connection as The Recess Retreat.
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About the Founder
Recess was born from a desire to return to more authentic connection at work. Founder and CEO, Julia Kaplan, found herself a year into the COVID-19 pandemic feeling drained, burnt out, and experiencing unexpected personal tragedy. Sitting through transactional meetings with coworkers she’d never met in-person while facing personal tragedy, she reflected on the importance of her relationships with her coworkers during her first decade in the workforce. What had helped her feel happy at work? Most productive and engaged? Her relationships with her coworkers.
After consulting with a big company that was producing an all-company event, Julia felt enthusiastic about getting involved and ended up planning the whole thing for them. It was exactly as fun and productive as she’d envisioned. She saw her reflections about her career mirrored back at her and validated: relationships at work are what create meaning and purpose for so many people.
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