Forget Fancy Decor: Top 5 Things Your Tech Tenants Really Want
While demands vary by company, there are some things that every tech tenant is looking for in office space. To hear from industry leaders, developers and those designing and building creative office space, join us at Bisnow's San Francisco Creative Office & Tech event starting at 7:30am tomorrow at Hotel Nikko. Here are five things tech tenants want.
1. Connectivity
Tech employees want to work where they want and how they want. That means having buildings that are designed to let employees work from a workstation, in a collaborative setting or out in the courtyard—all while being able to connect to the network. It also means creating flexibility for employees to work from home or on the road. That's a picture of one of PayPal's outdoor workspaces above. The firm's director of real estate and facilities Kevin Kearns will be among our panelists.
2. Location
Tech employees are demanding a more urban lifestyle where they are able to walk, bike or take transit to work. Companies also want to be near other tech companies. This can mean being in a city center where employees can use the resources of the surrounding community; in a mixed-use development where the apartment, shopping and offices are in proximity by design; or in a more suburban campus close to transit and with restaurants, cafés and maybe dry cleaning service all on-site.
Location certainly played a role in Pinterest's move to SoMa from Palo Alto in 2012. The company has fully pre-leased 505 Brannan St, above, set to open in early 2017. We'll have Pinterest's head of workplace, Jen Nguyen, as one of our panelists.
3. Amenities
Employees want amenities either in the surrounding community or on-site. Attractive amenities include restaurants and coffee shops, parks and open space, but also rooftop lounges, fitness centers or game rooms. The competition for tech talent is fierce, since not only tech companies, but companies across every industry need employees with tech skills these days. So whatever employers can offer beyond salary to attract and keep employees becomes a way to attract and keep that employer as a tenant.
Above is SteelWave's Sunnyvale Business Park, which includes a bocce ball court, table tennis and fire pits in the outdoor areas for work and play. SteelWave managing director Edward Nazaradeh will be one of our panelists.
4. Collaboration, Privacy and Flexibility
The open office idea where collaborative workspaces can be created is important for certain positions. Programmers might want to sit around the same large table and share code or a small meeting room to hash out plans for a new product.
But employees also need dedicated workspaces and private areas when demanded either by the type of work (such as legal) or the situation (a phone call with sensitive information). Plus, if the department grows or moves, the space needs to be flexible to adapt to the changing needs of employees.
Above is an idea of how collaborative workspaces could work at Kilroy Realty's The Exchange on 16th. Kilroy Realty SVP Rick Buziak is one of our panelists.
5. Smart Buildings
Efficient, smart buildings are all the rage for tech companies, reflecting a set of values important to the sector. Projects seek LEED Gold and Platinum certification as another way to set themselves apart and attract those companies. Kilroy's 350 Mission St (above) is designed to establish a new Platinum LEED benchmark.
Want to learn more? Come hear from more than a dozen experts at Bisnow's San Francisco Creative Office & Tech event tomorrow. Sign up here!
