This Changes Everything #2: Back to Work

California Groundbreakers

In this episode, we’re taking a look at The Future of Work in California – how we’ll be doing it, and where we’ll be doing it from. In Part One, we’re talking about the post-pandemic office, and what it will look like, with two people in the Bay Area who are designing it now - Christopher Good, creative director of One Workplace, and Melissa Pesci, a principal at HGA Architecture in San Francisco. Then it’s a conversation with Adam D’Angelo, CEO of the technology firm Quora. Last June, he announced that his company, headquartered in Silicon Valley, would now and forever be a “remote first” company. Listen in as they tell us what the last 12 months has done to the workplace, and the workforce, in California, and how office life will be totally different going forward. * * * * * PART ONE * 0 to 3:55 min - Intro to "This Changes Everything," and our workplace-creator guests, Christopher Good and Melissa Pesci * 3:55 min - Visualizing what "Workplace 2030" looks like, or at least what to expect for Workplace 2021 * 10:25 min - Open-concept space, or cubicles and closed-door offices? * 16:55 min - Improving communication between workers in the office and remote workers at home * 20:40 min - How will the future of how we work, and where we work, affect the urban downtowns where big offices and headquarters are typically based? *25:20 min - What Good and Pesci look forward to when working in the post-pandemic workplace PART TWO * 29:35 min - Intro to Adam D'Angelo, CEO of Quora * 32:20 min - D'Angelo's views of remote work before the pandemic hit, and how they changed a few months later * 36:45 min - Why open-space office concepts aren't so great, even for collaborating * 39:35 min - How Quora's management and working structures have changed since going remote * 41:30 min - How a "remote first" workplace will actually level the playing field and help employees climb the career ladder * 44 min - Should workers' paychecks be based on where they live? * 46:15 min - Will Silicon Valley and the Bay Area take a hit if more companies leave and go remote? * 48:50 min - One thing D'Angelo misses about working in person with others, but why he advises everyone to be optimistic about remote work going forward RESOURCE LIST * Christopher Good's six-part series on LinkedIn about the experience his team went through as they tried to create a better workplace for their company - www.linkedin.com/pulse/culture-community-design-part-1-6-good-cid-ncidq-asid-leed-ap/ * Melissa Pesci's "Redefining Workplace" podcast - https://hga.com/redefining-workplace-podcast/ * Adam D'Angelo's explanation on the Quora blog about why a "remote first" workplace will work best - https://quorablog.quora.com/Remote-First-at-Quora