| Tech Startups Turn to Office Designs as Recruiting Tool Path needed to add about 20 people to its San Francisco office, yet the furniture was taking up all of the space. "It's not enough to have a great office to entice people for great hiring, you actually have to have a great office just to entice them to come into the office," said Jason Freedman, chief executive officer of commercial real estate website 42Floors Inc. (KNL) have become popular among tech startups because they're able to change shape from cubicles to more open work surfaces and be moved easily. "It's like Tinker Toys," said Louis Schump, a vice president of architecture firm HOK in San Francisco, who recently helped Idle Games Inc. Planning for growth is also key, a lesson that Path Inc. At Asana, such movement is almost unavoidable: Every desk is on wheels. As tech startups expand with new funding and rapid hiring, office designers are dreaming up creative spaces to contain them. They have a company culture forming there, so I think they really want to be comfortable for long periods of time. Attractive offices also can help draw in remote workers who spend much of their time logging in from home or from a Starbucks Corp. Modular desks made by Tayco Panelink Ltd. A mile down the street from Airbnb, online storage startup Dropbox Inc. "These kids are working until really, really late at night," said Lauren Geremia, who designed Dropbox Inc. "It's not just about buying a bunch of bean bags," said Robinson, who now works as an independent design consultant. "They sleep there, they hang out there, they drink there on Friday. A year after the social networking startup had steel and black-composite desks built for its 30 employees, the company was already outgrowing the custom furnishings. |
Saturday, 9 June 2012
Tech Startups Turn to Office Designs as Recruiting Tool
