As we move forward into the second quarter of the year, this phrase has never been more appropriate. "Keep Calm and Carry On" was a poster slogan created to prepare British citizens for World War II. Even though this slogan was rarely used at the time, it became surprisingly popular during the past 20 years. I think the rise in popularity is because of its simplicity and directness; it infers strength and perseverance, which we can all relate to, given the challenges of the past year.

As I look back, it’s hard to believe it has been more than a year since we made the decision to send our team members home and began working remotely. I don’t think any of us thought we would still not all be in the office at this point. And even as we continue in a remote environment, our monthly Team Member Experience Checks have been extremely helpful in keeping us in tune with our team members and letting us know how they are feeling about the pandemic, political unknowns, racial and social strife, and their own personal situations. Their feedback has been critical as we finalize plans for our Return to Office strategy. For Altair, it’s not a matter of if we return, it’s when and how. As we prepare for our return, we want to be mindful of important questions and considerations like:

• When will everyone be comfortable to return to the office?
• How do we transition from home to work and maintain work productivity and life balance?
• What policies need to be added or updated based on this new normal?

The questions may be different, but the scenario is the same for each organization. As we move forward, we will update you once our return to office plans are finalized.
And whether working from home or in an office, our commitment to our clients remains steadfastly focused on their experiences and the experiences of their employees and families. Here are just a few of our achievements and goals for the rest of 2021:

• We have delivered on the client goal of launching our new Experience Management dashboards, most recently introducing the Best Wishes dashboard to our clients. We hope the new dashboard insights provide more perspective into the global mobility journeys of our customers.
• For the Customer Experience, we are finalizing two new customer X-checks, Candidate and Destination Services, to be completed early in the next quarter. These X-checks will help us to identify any experience gaps, allowing us to intervene and course-correct, as applicable.
• Our second certification level for the Supplier Partner Experience is being developed and moving in the right direction for launching in the second half of the year.
• We continue our monthly Team Member Experience and Gallup engagement surveys to ensure we remain focused on the needs and sentiments of our team members. I am so proud of the tremendous advances we have made in our diversity and inclusion initiatives with our Team Member Resource Groups, which you can read about further in this newsletter.
• And, last but certainly not least, our technology team continues to roll out enhancements in our STAR Client Partner and Customer Portals. They are also busy ensuring we continue to keep our clients' data safe and secure.

I hope you enjoy this edition of The Nav. It is filled with information from what’s going on with our technology and new service offerings to mobility trends and upcoming Altair events. As we head further into the first half of 2021, I hope you, too, can keep calm and carry on!