Ljubljana Office: Outbrain’s ‘Green’ Gem
If you’ve never been to Slovenia, you might not know that Ljubljana is the capital of the country and also the largest hub for Outbrain in Europe. On top of that, we take nature very seriously and we are one of the greenest nations in Europe! In fact, we are considered a biodiversity hotspot.
The motto of Earth Day is “Invest in your planet”, which is something we at Outbrain, and I personally, care about deeply. It is not an easy task, but with the right willingness and a positive attitude, a lot can be done.
Every little bit counts
Sometimes small steps make a big difference. Working in the ad tech space, we learned that lesson very quickly. And as Outbrainers, we are embracing this approach and pushing from the inside out. How? With OB Green, our employee-run group, holding monthly meetings in which we discuss ideas to improve the office footprint as well as our own.
Thanks to this forum, we have made small, yet impactful changes, like stopping the use of all coffee capsules in most regions; reducing the use of disposable plastic items; ordering mainly in bulk; taking home leftovers on Fridays to ensure no food goes to waste; and much more.
New building, greener future
Our team has grown a lot over the past few years, and that means we need more space. When we made the decision to move offices, it was essential to look at this new challenge from a sustainable angle. And, after a lot of collaboration, hard work, and sweat, we can now proudly introduce our new office location in Ljubljana!
Our new office is energy efficient, For example, the energy consumed by the elevators gets reused for heating the building. The building also has its own source of water, and contractors are now working on a system to cool the building with that water resource.
As part of a wider eco-improvement initiative, solar panels will be installed later this year. The vision is to have an energy-independent building, thanks to solar!
In the meantime, there have been other impressive improvements, such as updating the heating and ventilation system to reduce energy consumption by 65%!
When we tackled the new office design, one of our priorities was to ensure we were reusing walls and spaces and to minimize the impact on the existing building. The vision was to decrease any possible changes in order to keep our material use and CO2 footprint low.
One Outbrainer, one tree
Last year, Outbrain launched its own forest, donating a tree to each employee to show appreciation for their commitment and hard work. Each new employee who joins Outbrain receives their own tree too, making our eco-supportive team and forest even bigger.
Together with the growth of the Outbrain forest, the team in Slovenia is further encouraged to stay green with e-bike stations in the building complex, as well as bike storage. We also have electric car-sharing services, and our new office is centrally located so that Outbrainers can easily use public transport if they choose.
But we’re not stopping! Here are some more examples of sustainability initiatives in place at Outbrain Slovenia:
- Swapped generic “trash” bins with recycling bins around the office
- Working with 360 green vendors
- Serve our biodegradable coffee in porcelain cups
- Work closely with suppliers to receive goods with sustainable packaging and less plastic
- Use green-certified cleaning materials
- Limit the use of printers
- Recycling and upcycling, so our furniture and other items get a second chance at life
Wellness is at the core of our sustainable approach
We care about the planet, and we care about people too. That’s why we take important steps to make our world, and our office, a better, safer, healthier, and more meaningful place for all. We provide standing desks for employees and our office has full wheelchair accessibility.
A project currently underway in the new office building is the construction of a fitness track on the staircase between floors three and 14. We want to encourage our team to take the stairs if they choose.
Great impact can only happen with time. I am personally committed to continue working towards an energy-independent building, and I am very excited about more improvements we Outbrainers can bring to the Ljubljana office in the coming years.
Learn more about how Outbrain celebrates Earth Day and the Outbrain forest here.
