Three years ago, I was working for myself — and mostly by myself — as a freelance writer.

One December, I even threw the team (me) an office holiday party, which is to say I closed my laptop at 3pm and had a NoDa Hoppy Holidays alone.

• It was weird; it was wonderful.

This past week, I was in Washington, D.C., with nearly 500 Axios co-workers. There were nametags and swag bags, bear hugs and fist bumps, lanyards and flowcharts, COVID tests and karaoke.

• It was weird; it was wonderful.

Why it matters: This was Axios' first companywide retreat since before the pandemic, which makes it the first since the company acquired our team from the former Charlotte Agenda.

• We are among the whopping 75% of Axios staff members who've joined the company since March 2020, co-founder Jim VandeHei wrote in Axios Finish Line on Tuesday.
• Yes, 75%.

How they did it: A bunch of things fueled the growth, but one was that Axios capitalized on remote work. They offered a work-from-home stipend. They launched Axios Local, hiring people like us across the country. Some D.C.-based editors moved out of the metro area, and a few went back to places where they grew up.

As Jim explains it, "Very early in the pandemic, the leaders of Axios decided we'd be remote first, forever."

Yes, but: Remote work has its limitations. A recent study published in April found that people are less creative in virtual meetings.

• So the solution, our Axios founders believe, is to adopt the work-from-home culture, but find ways for people to get together — like a rowdy retreat.

The bottom line: For over two years, we've read countless stories speculating when office work would rebound or whether we would work from home forever.

• The answer seems to fall somewhere in the middle.
• Embrace remote. But invite someone — anyone — to your holiday party.

Read Jim's full story.

If you're on the hunt for a new job, here are 29 to get you started.  

• Sales Account Executive at CivicEye. Apply.
• NP/PA Cosmetic Injector at Ageless Remedies SouthPark. Apply.
• Weekday School Half-Day Program Director at Myers Park Presbyterian Church. Apply.
• Director of the Queens Fund at Queens University of Charlotte. Apply.
• Campaign Marketing Manager at Boost Payment Solutions Inc. Apply.
• High School Assistant Principal at Sugar Creek Charter School. Apply.
• Patient/Accounts Coordinator at Charlotte Progressive Dentistry. Apply.
• Multifamily Construction Manager at The Spectrum Companies. Apply.
• School Psychologist at Sugar Creek Charter School. Apply.
• General Manager at Club Pilates Matthews. Apply.
• Operations Associate at Stork Exchange. Apply.
• HCHR Support Supervisor at Habitat For Humanity of the Charlotte Region. Apply.
• Sr. Web Application Developer (SignUpGenius) at Lumaverse Technologies. Apply.
• Experienced Legal Assistant at Gardner Skelton PLLC. Apply.
• Construction Procurement Manager at Habitat For Humanity of the Charlotte Region. Apply.
• Patient Concierge/Administrative Assistant (Administration) at Criswell & Criswell Plastic Surgery. Apply.
• Controller at Habitat For Humanity of the Charlotte Region. Apply.
• Bookkeeper/Junior Accounting at Camelot 3PL Software, Inc. Apply.
• Exceptional Children's Compliance Coordinator at Sugar Creek Charter School. Apply.
• Administrative Assistant at Camelot 3PL Software, Inc. Apply.
• Part-Time Spanish Instructor at Eastover Elementary PTA. Apply.
• Exceptional Children's Director at Sugar Creek Charter School. Apply.
• Social Media and Digital Coordinator at Monkee's of Charlotte. Apply.
• Community Engagement Officer at Gaston Community Foundation. Apply.
• Campaign Development Manager - Students of the Year at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Apply.
• Brokerage Coordinator at Cushman and Wakefield. Apply.
• Franchise Business Coach at Burn Boot Camp. Apply.
• Campaign Development Manager - Light The Night at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Apply.
• Transaction Coordinator at Cushman and Wakefield. Apply.

Want more opportunities? Check out all openings on our Job Board.

Hiring? Post a job. 

🥃 150 bar owners across North Carolina are asking the legislature to change state law to allow them to offer happy hour discounts. (WSOC)

📺 Former WCNC reporter Hunter Sáenz will join WSOC. (Twitter)

👋 Nir Patel, who abruptly resigned as CEO of Charlotte-based Belk this month after less than a year on the job, will become the new COO of GameStop. (MarketWatch)

🚚 TowneBank gave $300,000 to CPCC's accelerated career training program, which gives people short-term training for careers in truck driving, HVAC, early childhood education, and a number of other professions with jobs available right now. (CPCC)

💰 GardHouse, a local nonprofit that helps college students of color connect with local small businesses for paid internships, announced a $75,000 investment from Wells Fargo. (GardHouse)

This one goes out to Axios Charlotte colleague and fellow bloomin' onion lover Samantha Alexander...

Outback Steakhouse is building 75–100 new restaurants across the country using a new prototype, and one of the first is now open in Steele Creek, the Charlotte Business Journal reports (subscription).

• The new layout will be about 17% smaller and include local artwork. For the Steele Creek location, Charlotte artist Lindsey Jenneman created a piece in which a koala wears a crown that says "Queen City."

DYK: Outback has 14 restaurants in the metro area, the first of which opened in Dilworth in 1991.

Axios Raleigh's Lucille Sherman and data visuals wizard Jared Whalen put the increasingly outlandish spending on primary elections into terms I can understand:

• How many chicken and waffles meals could you buy with all those TV ads and yard signs?

Sign up for Axios Raleigh.