What Google, Dropbox and Atlassian Really Want

Tech giants Google Fiber, Dropbox and Atlassian don’t have as many demands as you’d expect. Those three pioneers of creative workplaces joined us yesterday morning for Bisnow’s Austin State of Office event, and they gave us insight into their office design, amenities they really care about, and the appeal and challenges of moving to Austin.

Office Design—Open, But Not Too Open

Dropbox has a fully open plan, says Austin office manager Rusty Pierce—even the CEO/founder in San Francisco doesn’t have an office. (Rusty’s second from the left here with our tech tenant panel—Google Fiber sales manager Evan Vandarwarka, Atlassian experience manager Tim Haney and moderator JLL VP Jake Ragusa.) But they have conference rooms that employees can reserve, or they can choose to work from home or a coffee shop. There’s also the “headphone rule:” Dropbox issues everyone big noise cancelling headphones, and if someone’s got them on, you’ve gotta leave them be. (If they’ve just got in standard Apple earbuds, they’re fair game.)

Atlassian experience manager Tim Haney says everything in its office is on wheels and data and electric comes down from the ceiling. Its employees do project-based work, which can change even every few weeks, so people will pick up their desk and create a cluster with their teammates. They’ve got small rooms that’ll seat one or two people for privacy and/or quiet.

All You Need Is Lunch

Google Fiber sales manager Evan Vandarwarka (between his colleagues Deborah Davenport and Jolie Schooler) says “the Google 10” is pretty famous—employees gain weight because food is everywhere. (He says it has been the Google 15 for him.) Google offers hot breakfast and lunch in Austin (New Yorkers get dinner, too), all organic and locally grown and cooked by great in-house chefs. There are also micro-kitchens throughout the office. Evan says it’s important to improve productivity because people stick around longer and don't waste time going out for meals.

Rusty says Dropbox’s early days involved a lot of late nights, and employees used to get “hangry.” (Because they were hungry, they’d snap at each other and make bad decisions.) It started catering all three meals and when it hit 250 employees at its San Fran HQ, it hired an in-house chef. Austin’s not big enough yet for one, but in the meantime they’re catering all three meals. (Head count is down at dinner lately, Rusty says; he suspects people are realizing they like going home to their families sometimes.) He says it’s also part of the culture of taking care of employees; if you work late, Dropbox will feed you and you’ll feel better about it. (And if you actually make it in the morning, you’re rewarded with breakfast.)

Atlassian provides lunch daily and has “family breakfast” each Friday where they make new hires share embarrassing stories. Wellness is very important to the company, Tim says, so it’s also got a salad bar and a big snack pantry that’s color-coded based on how healthy each food is.

No Putting Green Required

Atlassian’s most important amenity: dogs. Tim says the firm loves having them in the office, but he quickly learned that it’s important to spell out exactly how that will work in your lease. He’s also big on accessibility to parks, parking and restaurants, and his employees love the two balconies that circle its floor in Downtown Austin’s Colorado Tower. (It made one private for employees with games on it, and the other is open to the public with seating.) Tim’s far right at our event with IauckGroup’s Manuel Navarro and FMG’s Caroline Fickett.

Dropbox’s Austin office has a music room and the cement floors and shuffleboard that Rusty says are all the rage today, but they’re not what he considers important. Floor-to-ceiling windows are a must, but the No. 1 priority is communication. He says open discussions with the landlord are crucial, and he struggles with amenities being changed. (He’d rather not have an amenity than to have it offered and then taken away.) And his recruiting team told him that support and collaboration are the No. 1 priority from potential new hires, even higher than compensation or the office.

Austin’s Pros and Cons for Tech

Atlassian has a “follow the sun” strategy—it wants an office open every hour of the day around the globe, and Austin’s Central US location was important for that. This was the firm’s second North American location when it opened early last year. Now, he says Austin’s biggest challenge is finding space to keep up with growth. He’s about to build out his final floor and there’s nothing available nearby for future expansion.

Not to toot his own horn, but Evan, a transplant from Seattle, says fiber will become one of Austin’s greatest amenities. The implementation of Google Fiber is the largest infrastructure project Austin’s undertaken in 20 years. It’s rolled out on South Congress and South Lamar, and it's getting permitting and infrastructure in place to open new “fiberhoods” next year. On the other hand, affordability is becoming an issue for tenants and especially residents. He’s concerned the city might price out the creative types that have made Austin appealing to major companies.

Austin was also Dropbox’s second American office; when it opened two years ago with two employees, the firm had fewer than 200 employees. Now it’s got over 1,500 around the world. Rusty says Austin appealed because it’s a strong tech market, it’s easy to attract employees, and the lifestyle and cost of living are great. But he’s wary that Austin might succumb to the same culture struggle that’s surfaced in San Francisco and Seattle—those markets have started to have tension between tech and the rest of the city. He’s trying to keep his employees engaged with the Austin community, including making it easy for them to vote and doing volunteer work every week.

Pictured: Moderator JLL VP Jake Ragusa with Piedmont Office Trust’s Damian Miller and Joe Pangburn, and Swinerton Builders’ Omar Holguin.