INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS
10/6/22 Stakeholders
Interviewer
Do you feel a sense of community with your coworkers? How do you perceive in-person collaboration versus virtual meetings? Do you think it really affects how you know the sense of community with your co-workers and the general public?
Interviewee: Michael Darfler
You want to go first, Michael, you're on me to I I think you're gonna get two different answers Because, Yeah So I mean, this is probably something we'll get into a little bit more when we start talking to individual groups, because I do think it There is a group um I'm not in the office I'm in it so it's a bit of a hall to get down there I say, within the bright spot group, there is a sense of community because we are kind of intentionally distributed at this point. And so That's how work it's done through a virtual platform. Um! I'll let Aaron speak that Allen speaks to. You know what it means to be in person in the office itself.
Interviewee: Alan Erickson
Yeah, I mean, maybe I'll answer the community thing first, having been apple for a long, long time. And you know, I think Pre two thousand and twenty, you know I think a lot of people who worked at your appled in New York You did it because of the camaraderie and working with the teams And you know, especially the younger engineers, that you know where Um our culture has never been like a cutthroat culture It's been a helpful culture So like, you know, people aren't trying to steal each other's jobs, or any of that crazy stuff you see on Tv, right, you know, like people are generally friendly, you know, and and you know we enjoy being together We enjoy going out after work with each other, you know, and I think that's some of the things that people are missing now, actually are trying to do More of you know, is in the um, and i'm changing your community to culture. But a culture is a interesting topic now, right in two thousand and twenty-two, because, you know, I think people have been with the company like some, are nostalgic for the pre two thousand and twenty culture, but others that sort of like, even though there's been there like, Well, let's throw that out. Let's come up with the culture. We want in two thousand and twenty-two right? Yeah, which is not going to be the same, you know And then, of course, everyone who joined us in two thousand and twenty on where it doesn't know what it was like pretty then It's a pretty It's a pretty good mix
Um answering the in person, and virtual completely different In my opinion, you know I mean It depends on the conversation you're having I I think one on one is going to be the same But you know, and we talked about this some when you were all in the office But you, you know, especially on the engineering side, where we do a lot of, you know, sketching, you know, design collaboration on boards that there no tool I know of, replicates that you know even you know the best touch screen ipad connected to this and that, you know everyone standing around a board is just, you know, so much better,
Interviewer
What are some of the ways that client hostings have changed post-pandemic? And what are some of the takeaways that you would like us to know the most about client hostings?
Interviewee: Alan Erickson
I think we want them to see that it's professional space, that it's a and on brand space for us right both for Bright But in your apple like, which is not right Now, in my opinion, it's a bit dated, and you know rundown, and you know, and and we want to uh in any way through Rosmos This, you know Get them interested in our work, you know I think you saw some boards and signs, and you know photos up around the office right? So yeah, I think that's at the bigger scale, you know. And then there's um, you know, working down on scale, You know we we often invite a specific client over for an event like a business to business gathering which takes various formats. So you you know something at lunch time, or an after work thing, you know often with the presentation um, you know. But then even we have clients in our office on a regular basis for project meetings. Right? So you know the space needs to work as a professional, You know, space to host meetings with clients, you know, and um have the technology work of the Yeah, that's Uh, I think we're upgrading a lot of it now, because right now, every time somebody goes into a room it's like a ten minute ordeal to get the screen going, you know, and the I I know you guys, Aren't quite working on that scale But you know It's um yeah, Adam I mean, I know I don't know, Michael, if you have further thoughts, or or even how bright Spot can use it more, for in the future, as a place for bright spot,
Interviewee: Michael Darfler
I know, because you guys are very distributed right
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now, right so I mean well, I mean one thing that comes to mind is, I wasn't I wasn't there for the onsite And but you know one of the things logistically That was a challenge that it was Just how do we get everyone in a room together, Right? Um and you know there are There's one conference room on the second floor, right? And like when Bright Spot, which is a small team comes in person like we take over the whole room, basically right? And that's not, I, I think, and and especially as the as Bh! Goes more towards this sort of, you know, finding regular touch points that we were like magnet days to really bring people in. How do you accommodate, This is the challenge for you guys. How do you accommodate A, You know a a a swing from, you know, small groups, or like individual work uh small group meetings all the way up to very really large meetings, and I wonder if the the future is going to see more of those sort of big events happening on a more regular basis. That may have been, you know, Allen. Maybe you want some, you know Once or twice a year you have a holiday party, and it kind of push everything aside, and and you get everyone in And now it's going to be much more regular um opportunity Um, I know that from the specifically speaking, from bright spots perspective, we're trying to also find ways that are meaningful for us to get together And one of the things that keeps coming up is like, you know Can we do it around project kickoffs? We're starting a project, or even ending a project And you know what that requires is, you know, a space that you can really just sort of fill up with notes and ideas as you start to build a project out Um So I think that we would really appreciate those sorts of you know. There, that's more than just a a conference room, right? It's like A. It's some sort of collaboration project room that can really transform over the course of maybe it's an entire day or two when you're really building out a project thing through the whole project, and you be able to leave stuff up over time because individual work is a lot easier to do at home remotely. But when we get people together we really want to maximize that value So it may be a much sort of more It's not like a two hour meeting or one hour meeting It might be a half day, full day, multiple day engagement to really work through a big project
Interviewer
I have another question uh you briefly mentioned about the technology enabled support systems in your F day And then would you like to elaborate more on that What this technology enabled support systems mean to you in your workspace?
Interviewee: Alan Erickson
yeah, I mean, I think we just recognize we need better technology We need to be able to do the hybrid meetings I know Um uh! I unfortunately did not get to see it, but some of our partners, uh, you know, had a um You have a meeting at A With Microsoft in a Microsoft designed like conference facility And it was just like, you know, a thousand, you know, light years ahead of a a of anything we have or yeah, and I'm for some of it was, you know, you know, in Beta, or not even available to the public But it was just like, you know Uh yeah, made it made it better, You know, I think. Um yeah, that the hybrid meetings we're having right now, having participated in. Some of them are both, and are very unsatisfactory in our offices. The cameras don't work right. It's hard to hear people, you know. Uh, Um, there there must be something better. And all these tech companies must be uh, you know, hopefully coming up with ways to uh to do this better.
Interviewee: Michael Darfler
Well, yeah, but I think they've got teams of people supporting it right And so that's the other thing, and it's not like right, You know We're bunch of engineers, smart people But at the end of the day we've got other work We want to get done, and we don't want to spend all our time working through different tech systems So um, you know, if that's always a key, right is how can we just get it and get working?
Interviewee: Alan Erickson
Yeah, um, that's on the table, though, too, we we've been having discussions about training all of our support, staff, reception, et cetera, who all the people who are there daily to support us, to all be on, to, to know all the technology and be able to support everyone. Anyone who needs it immediately. Right? Yeah. Um. Which I think is feasible in New York. It's big enough, and we can have that staff there. So um, I think it becomes more tricky, and are some of our smaller offices, which is getting outside of the scope here right? But if we have, you know, five people in an office, you can't pay a full time, you know Person to watch out for the technology
Interviewer:
I have a few questions about the kitchen areas Um, I think it was mentioned before that the kitchen on the lower level is used when clients and other businesses come, and it's a place for socialization So we're wondering what about on regular days when it's just used by office workers Do people still take breaks there, or is it a lot more just for functional purposes, like getting food heating like getting water and stuff?
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Interviewee: Alan Erickson
Um! No people will take a break. Um, I've seen, you know, two or three people just sitting there having lunch together, or uh, you know I'd even see people eating lunch by themselves there just to get away from the computer screen, you know, or um. So yeah, now it is um. It gets fairly heavily used in a um, you know, and people who bring their lunch put it in the fridge there, and sometimes heat it up there, and they need it there So yeah, it's not just a client event space
Interviewer
Some people mentioned this in the survey So we're talking about a lot of storage space Um! And when we're in there we saw all the things that you can put your little padlock on and everything So I was just wondering, um, what the storage needs that people keep on referring to as being an issue in an office? Are they looking for bigger areas, store your five, or what? What kind of storage does he need? Are they specifically referring to? Or would you guess?
Interviewee: Alan Erickson
Those lockers you saw were put in in two thousand and nineteen, because we were considering going to hot testing even before um Covid hit, so they never really got used that much. Um! The challenge then, was There's not one hundred and fifty lockers in there, and there were one hundred and fifty people. So what were people used to doing? Um! You may have seen that the carts that we're kind of sitting under a lot of the desks, you know, and people with the leaves and stuff So I think the current policy on those lockers that are there is that you can You can use them during the day You can bring your own padlock, but you're not supposed to use them permanently, and I think that's the storage people are talking about like you, you know Um, some examples I've heard it like, uh, like I have someone on my team who likes to use a specific keyboard on his computer, right? So he uh um, you know, pre twenty-nine or two thousand and nineteen He had his own permanent desk, and he left his keyboard There Now he has to bring the keyboard back and forth from home It is nowhere in the office He could leave it overnight, you know. That's the thing. But the trick with New York City, and you have to be careful is everyone who's living in a small apartment wants to use the offices, their personal storage space. Right? So yeah, I mean, I mean, I've seen the extreme. I've seen people like to store, you know, big Tupperware containers of their winter clothes under their desk in the summer, and they bring them back in
Interviewee: Michael Darfler
It's because they don't have enough room in their own apartment. So still people always want more storage in the office, but it's not always good to give them more storage. So it is a rule that you will fill up as much storage as you give anyone, but it doesn't matter how much you give that bill always one more. So there you go.
Interviewee: Alan Erickson
Yeah, you the uh, I mean, I mean, yeah, thankfully, this is mostly got you the old engineering office thing when everybody did things on big roles of large paper drawings, you know I mean the and we've removed all the spaces you could store them But, like you know, we used to have, you know, tons of drawing roles and storage on that And what happens is they just keep building up and getting forgotten about right and your yeah, ten ten years ago, if you came into that office you'd see so much paper you'd have so many roles of drawings, and and and what became really tricky is many of them were projects that were done, and maybe those people didn't even work for be or apple anymore. So they just rotted until we eventually just threw it all out, You know.
10/12/22 Engineering Leads
Interviewer:
Could you guys first like introduce yourselves and your positions currently.
Interviewee:
Mike and I actually have the same role because we colead our um structural engineering team in the office. I've been with beer hapled about fifteen years, seven in the Uk. And then I moved to the Us. By eight years ago I've been with beer hapled about fifteen years, seven in the Uk And then I moved to the Us By eight years ago I am always in structural engineering We have a team of about twenty people in New York Structural team is about twenty people The offices, you guys maybe already know this, but the office is sort of over a hundred, close to one hundred and fifty I think structures is maybe fifteen or something, maybe twenty percent of that office Um! And then through the pandemic we've been operating, we kind of more and more as one region So us region Um, We have offices, the you know, on the East Coast We've got a small team in Chicago Small team in Boston Um On the west coast We have a sort of medium-sized team in La and Small team in San Francisco, and we some a lot of our planning is actually with that whole group.
Interviewee: Mike Steehler
Yeah. As for the very, very similar uh structural in here, and I started right around and saying that.
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Interviewer:
So a lot of work is actually in the remote uh remote work, that category right? When you're done that you're doing it at your office
Interviewee: Fraser Reid
Yeah, it's kind of we've we're going hybrid, or we're kind of embracing hybrid as the future of work So um you might have heard we have a once a month day where everyone comes into the office, and after that it's really kind of up to teams to decide what works best for them. Um, you know the Well, there is also cause we have client commitments and um project, site, physic commitments, et cetera. Those will um continue to be in person, but in terms of just like how we use our office space. We're still kind of figuring that out on a team by team basis. And so you know, we've recently. You know we had a listening session had feedback from our staff, and we're kind of this is a bit a a bit of a work in progress for us. But we, for instance, Mike and I have a team within our team We both have about ten people, each of that team of twenty And so our team, we just decided Look, we're just going to call Thursdays our team day So, Mike, we named our teams after New York Park So Mike's team, Central and I'm Team sunset So Team sunset We're calling Thursdays our team Sunset day So we're kind of making a commitment to each other to,because folks just you know we want to strengthen our kind of network of people So some of that is just, you know is done best is in person, regardless of whether we actually need to work together on that specific day is just kind of being available to help troubleshoot problems and um socialize.
Interviewer:
If somebody were to um redesign the office, what would be the core goal from your guys's perspective? Would it be to encourage people to come in more? Or would it be to enable more hybridization?
Interviewee: Mike Steehler
Just to kind of elaborate on what praise already said about how things are going right now I think it is very much a hybrid uh office, where you know everyone's situation is a little different, and each individual person you know, my, the you know some people really like i'm in the office, and people are here every day for various reasons You know It's New York City So apartments aren't always the best for working from home, you know you don't have a lot of face I think you know some people have roommates and things like that, or um, you know they prefer to come to the office because It's better better kind of environment to work in Other people who have a longer commute
For example, if they're going over now or each way, then it's not worth it to make sure all the way here, just the just to be that at the desk or on on the phone all day, or whatever the case may be Um, so it's there's there's quite a range of of uh kind of people across the group Um, I I kind of like somewhere in between I like i'm in the office two to three days a week when i'm not travelingSo yeah, I think, looking ahead towards you know what what our future off might look like, or what you know people might want I think the goal would be to encourage more people to come come to the office more often. Um to have have a space that uh, you know, we enjoy coming to and and being together, I personally think we work a lot better in person sometimes, you know, we in person every day, but a positive environment for everyone to want to come in more and and collaborate more.
Interviewer:
Do you organize by team when you do come into the office?
Interviewee: Mike Steehler
You just kind of book any, just if you want We move to a hybrid environment I think we have two floors, as you, as you know And uh, we were roughly split up by uh, uh, discipline or kind of, you know, job So structural engineering would sit in one area on the twenty-third floor, and a lot of our other different disciplines were sat right near each other within the office But now now it's really anybody books on the desk
Interviewer:
What do you think are the some of the major benefits of this current remote/ hybrid?
Interviewee: Fraser Reid
Reducing commuting time, more time with family home. It's allowed people a lot more flexibility in their work schedules. Um, because everyone is kind of set up for it. So folks uh who do have family commitments, et cetera They can manage those during the day, and sort of catch up out of ours on on work So that's a big benefit Um, it's also just from a business standpoint Um We were at or over capacity in our office right before the pandemic, so we were already in a position of trying to figure out how we have some sort of a hybrid strategy for people to work one or two days from home a week, just to increase our utilization of the space So we don't need to up up scale Um, which in New York City is a big deal right? Because overheads the amount we pay on rent for our space is is very high And yeah So I think hybrid is Oh, it's also great, for I would say recruiting because it's allowed us
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to kind of widen our net of people that um, you know, might be able to work for our New York office They don't necessarily need to be available to come in to the office five days a week, or um, or whatever number So I I do feel good about the the commitment to hybrid uh that we're making, and I think just have to troubleshoot through some of the you know, from a business standpoint, I think it's a good move, but I think, from a people standpoint where we will have different challenges to offices that are kind of fully in person Young engineers who um a lot of their training is on the job. Um! There's a tendency, I think, for them to feel more easily isolated. Um, when they work from home more and less confident in asking sort of technical questions or approaching people. They don't have a close relationship Maybe they've only met on zoom calls, and it's harder to pick up the phone. So these are some of the things we're trying to work through.
Interviewer:
I'm wondering what's the direction that you're taking Do you want expert everybody actually working in the office or office, or just do you want the office to be fully utilized that every time?
Interviewee: Mike Steehler
I don't think the goal is to have everybody back all the time We only utilize it for that that capacity I think it's kind of um you know, have have more people than we're here than we have now It costs a lot of money, and I have it downtown and everything, and uh want to make sure that we're getting the use out of it, and also using it in the right way that people are, you know, collaborating on project work and everyoneocialize and things like that. But I don't think it's the goal to have everybody here all the time in it, and I think even on our magnet days, where we've only had one or two of us on our magnitude, where we kind of encourage everyone to come in the office. But still we still get about eighty percent, maybe, which is really really good. But I don't. I don't think we would um strive to get
Fraser Reid
The thing is before, like Look back before the pandemic We people we're in a industry where people, you know Um people have projects, travel um somewhat regularly, so we were in a position where everyone had an assigned desk before And if everyone has an assigned desk, then you need enough desks for everyone to have a desk Um, but that's that's not the case anymore So we kind of have this remote booking system so already you can kind of plan for seventy of people to like that is your peak But even on the magnet days the goal is kind of not
to have everyone sitting at a desk So we do There's just There's no reason for us to plan to um Sit everyone at a desk like that, whatever That total number is one hundred and fifty people in the space I think I just want to kind of go back to one of your earlier questions Um about like what we need, what we think we need from the space I think part of it is the ability for people who are coming in regularly or the the people that are coming in at all To do focus work is to have spaces for them to do focus work like that will be the majority of how time is spent in the office. But we also, you know, we have um. There's other things we want to use the office more, for like one is having sort of presentation space or client space for almost like event space that we can use. Um, because, you know, we want our office to be a space where we can bring in clients. Show them some of the work we're doing. I think, like having a honestly like a cool space is important that it's fun to show off uh with clients. Also a space that people are like excited to come into So there's kind of a lot of value Well, what do you need for meeting space? Because that would be the other thing, and we have sort of different types of meetings Sometimes you have um large groups, like boardroom size groups, but more often than not it's kind of like Where are these two or three people going to gather and figure out this problem Does that happen in front of someone's desk? That might be fine? Or do we have more kind of um casual breakout spaces I think a challenge of this or a casual breakout spaces is just noise If it's like couches and low chairs, I think that encourages like social behavior rather than natural, like work, behavior, and it can be a bit distracting, I think, for everyone else around. So I would say that any sort of I think yeah, like two to three person breakout space would be probably better at high level, like similar to desk level. The other point I wanted to make is because we're embracing hybrid. It's going to be pretty common for us that we have meetings with larger groups. All are smaller groups where someone is calling in, so there's maybe two or three people there, and maybe couple of people who are calling in So our technology needs to facilitate that regular meeting So our technology and meeting rooms, I think, is being upgraded to make it kind of a bit more seamless to with the video connection So it feels more in person That stuff makes a big difference And the other side is we We do quite a lot of like sketching during meetings, and like to to illustrate concepts or design ideas
Interviewer:
Could you talk more about your booking experience? Do you normally book the same desk? How do you go about that?
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Interviewee: Mike Steehler
It's pretty easy Um, I think there were some hiccups early on that there, you know there were there weren't very many desks, and so it would sometimes be full on it, I think, for me I i'm, cause I don't live too far away, I think uh a lot of times it'll be like a morning of a decision like I go to the office or not, and then i'll book a desk and come in I think it's been fairly seamless all the time They want to come in all the time Four days, eight on average, don't worry about booking every day, or I think that you know the people who are coming in all the time like that.
Interviewer:
Do you notice which floor or area is more popular?
Interviewee: Fraser Reid
I think that question is more about because people pre-pandemic. We were separating where teams are organized in different parts of the office and the biggest benefit, I think, from us, being in the office is to interact and work with with our teams like That's where we need to like people you can trust and sort of strong relationships within team There is obviously benefits to people having a wider network outside of our own team, but people are kind of reverting back to sitting broadly where the old teams used to sit So when you're booking a desk Um, you're typically just booking a desk around your team area, and it's not like we haven't drawn up a map and to find it People just kind of know from before, roughly where people used to sit, maybe with a at like slight adjustment, I think, like, you know, some parts of the office, or better day daylight, or whatever like the the far side of the office when you come in as windows on. You know it's like corner windows, So that's probably the best daylight, and probably the most pleasant area to work. So I think those those sort of sort of areas fill up faster.
10/17/22 Recent Graduate Students
Interviewer:
Could you talk about how you get to work and how often?
Interviewee: Martha Hughes
I usually come five days a week.
Terenia Hankewycz
So I go in person like two, three days a week I live outside of the city, and it takes me an hour and a half each way So while I would like to be in person more often it's not well It's just very time consuming to like Get into the office and um it's hard for me to do that many times in a week I'm looking to move closer to the office, so that I can come in more often But till then I've been coming in like Tuesday and Thursday,
and then sometimes Wednesdays Just because that's easier, and also like Thursdays especially have become our new actually don't know if there's a name for it yet, but like, I guess, like structures day, where, like most, if not all people on the structures team try to come in, which is, which is nice, and that's like helpful Then it's gonna get more out of it from coming into the office on that day
Interviewer:
Martha, you said that most that collaborative work is within your discipline teams. Is there much collaboration with interdisciplinary teams as well to work on projects. Could you give kind of a rough estimate of the percent of your time that's been collaborating through discipline versus with like interdisciplinary teammates?
Interviewee: Martha Hughes
I've been at Big Red Engineering full time since January, so I've only been here for like nine months So being this young, most, I would say, like, I think actually like all of my actual work, collaboration is done with other people on the structures team Occasionally there will be a presentation It's kind of optional to go to This is kind of about whatever, for you know your edification and enjoyment, and that would be with people from other disciplines But basically, all of my project work is with people on the structures team From what I can see of other people meeting with other people, the higher you get up, the more you meet with other disciplines But at least for me it's like ninety nine percent structures people
Terenia Hankewycz
I've been here even less just over a month. So I don't think I've had any project work that I've like directly collaborated with other disciplines with.
Interviewer:
In terms of that work that you do with their teammates. What does that look like and what kind of space would best support you working together in person?
Interviewee: Martha Hughes
One of the reasons why, like working in person over like virtually in terms of the collaboration is usually I have, like a ton of screens open, and I need a ton of screens and different tabs open to do the tasks, be it like an analysis software And then I need some drawings And then I need another model And then I need an email And so, like having multiple monitors It is super helpful, when you have someone in person you can sit by side by side, and you can see all of that versus screen sharing. You can kind of only do one
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thing at a time Having multiple screens is like, super helpful for the type of collaboration and the type of like assistance and mentoring that I need right now We also still have some like physical paper resources like we have this book That's all about steel And so if i'm like working on something with steel with someone and we're in person we can, open up that book and flip the pages Our physical books, resources, materials, things like that that you really can only get with an in-person experience like something that's pretty common That's a really interesting example to think about. You really only get through that in person. So I think the only resource that's only physical is this steel book.
Terenia Hankewycz
It definitely varies for one like I don't have any physical books like When I took steel design I took it online. I definitely wish I had more paper references but otherwise, I don't know something about being in the office and being able to collaborate with people, and just like turning around and saying, Hey, do you have a second, or like being able to see if someone's busy or not like the teams like, Oh, they're available, or on a call like It's fine and good, but like if I see that someone's like has headphones on is like heads down doing work, i'm not going to interrupt them, even if team says they're available Or vice versa, like if it shows up that they're in a call But like they're chatting with someone I know I can also probably go chat to them afterwards But just being able to like, go up to someone and ask a quick question rather than having to message and say, Hey! Like, when are you free for a call? I have my two monitors on my laptop, so I definitely need my many screens at all times, and that is something that's annoying. If I want to show like a spreadsheet, and then like a pdf that's like referencing this stuff, or like a model.
Interviewer:
How does that space make you feel when you walk into that office? What sort of emotions does it bring to mind?
Interviewee: Martha Hughes
I feel it's pretty good, I mean I really like the amount of sunlight that is in the office from the windows This is more sunlight than my apartment gets, so I think that's also a reason why I come in I feel like sometimes i'll I'll be one of the first people into the office in the morning, and so the lights have like automatic dimmers on um, so they'll mostly be off, and i'll like walk by, and i'll start turning them on I don't know that that kind of gets me fired up I'm like Let's go to this dramatic moment Then I feel super proud of myself for being the first one at work. For
some weird, competitive reason I don't know It is kind of weird right now, having so many desks that are mostly empty Some stations don't even have monitors Iit kind of feels a little bit haphazard at the moment I also adore the terrace The terrace is like the only private outdoor space that I really have at, or semi private outdoor space that I have access to, like my apartment doesn't have a balcony I just wanna be outside kind of by myself, or just know that I'm not gonna be bothered by complete strangers like the terrace is the only place I can do that I think relatively recently they upgraded the picnic tables. The picnic tables only fit like four people max because they have these like the way the benches are on the side. It's easier to get in and out, but there's way less seating. And so, whenever you have more than four people, you can't all sit at one table, or you have to like, bring shares from inside, take them outside um, and like the table like they're nice. They're sturdy. They're new. They're sleek, like I get it, but I can't set them up. It's not very helpful If the tables honestly had better seating, that would be helpful I've tried to take like a couple of calls outside before um, and the wi-fi was kind of spotty uh so it would be great if the Wi-fi was a little bit more consistent, I think maybe if I wasn't on a call, and I was just trying to do other work, it would have been fine, but it like wasn't strong enough to like maintain a call with a lot of people with their videos on and everything Um, but I I do occasionally see a few other people like There's a couple of people in the office who like to work out there frequently I’ll go out and sit out there for a couple of hours and get work done It's kind of hard to do without the monitors for me personally. So unless it's, you know, something focused like a call where I only really need one screen at a time, I can't really go outside and like, do a lot of engineering.
Terenia Hankewycz
On certain days when there's a lot of people in the office. It definitely just gets loud. So many people in one space, and just a lot of people talking or chattingThe most of when we had our magnet when everyone came in the office and granted not much work was done that day It was a lot of just chatting in general but very chaotic and just loud I like the office like the terrace A huge plus It's so nice to just be able to see this awesome view of the city from the office I just need monitors and multiple screens to do work so I get frustrated if I only have one monitor in my laptop The fact that the benches fit two people on the side of the table Not ideal, but otherwise it's just nice
Interviewer:
How often do you use the secondary spaces besides your own workspace?
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Interviewee: Terenia Hankewycz
Unless there's a meeting in a conference room or a lunch meeting I'm at my desk um I haven't used the phone booths, the side chairs or anything I honestly forgot that there was a relaxation room until you brought it up So I have not been there
Martha Hughes
I'm in one of the little phone booths right now which are helpful when i'm taking a call where I know I'm going to be talking a lot just because I'm trying not to distract other people. And also if it happens to be a call where I I don't need my multiple monitors. I probably get in a phone booth like once a week. I've taken some casual check-ins with my direct manager in the kitchen like in the afternoon. We just sit there and drink coffee and catch up. I usually don't do work anywhere other than my desk. Um, I mean occasionally meetings in the conference room. I don't use the yellow chairs. There's also some like random tables in like the middle of the kind of like between the two sides, like by the stairs and I don't think I've ever used that for work I think they used to use that kind of space more pre covid when they would like, print out our like blueprint style drawings that you know, like these massive pieces of paper
Interviewer:
Are there secondary spaces that you guys would like to see that you think you would use?
Interviewee: Martha Hughes
With sky being the limit I feel like all the trendy offices have a ton of these spaces like a couch but being young I just do a lot of calculations, just kind of what it is. The recurring theme is I’m pretty tied to my monitors. So wherever they are I will be.
Terenia Hankewycz
I agree. I don't think I would benefit from anything additional.
Interview recording cuts out 10/17/22 Human Resources/Legal
Interviewer:
Hello, can you please introduce yourself
Interviewee: John Piombino
Yeah, sure I'm John P I've been on the head of human resources for the Us Region at Big Red Engineering We’re a global engineering consulting design firm My position is based out of our New York City office We are about three hundred and eighty full time staff
Interviewer:
What's your experience with the the current office space? Do you like it, or do you have some things you just like about it?
Interviewee: John Piombino
I don't think it works anymore for the new way of working So I think it has to be less desks, less uh structured, a little bit more open space, more collaborative space and some more private space It's not really ideal for collaborative space or for people to kind of have some more private space outside of just being stuck in a phone book, a phone booth all day. Booking rooms are pretty competitive. If you wanted to get one of those because of the amount of people in the office, and just the size of the or the amount of conference rooms. The problem is, if you try and have meetings out in the open. Then you're disturbing other people around you right because it's an open kind of floor. Open desk so everybody can hear your conversation Um! So you had to really kind of be very quiet, or try and find a corner of the office where you wouldn't bother as many people
Interviewer:
Do you think noise is an issue sharing the space?
Interviewee: John Piombino
Not as many people are coming in now, but you have to imagine back when it was full, and there was a lot of noise, so there was always a lot of background noise going on when everybody's there, and it, you know, if you you're not really focused in, a lot of people would wear noise, canceling headphones just so they can do work at their desk and not be bothered by some of the background noise. You kind of get used to it after a while, you know. It just becomes like white noise, but it's not ideal. And then, you know, sometimes people would put their phone on like a conference call with a speaker phone, and that would be really disturbing. So because there were just no conference rooms available, and they needed to have, I guess, a call with other people around So yeah, those people would get a lot of dirty looks The conference rooms and stuff They're not fully set up for hybrid or like people wanting on for zoom and stuff like a mixed crowd Yeah, the video isn't great right now
Sometimes people on the other end, if they are hybrid, and you are in the office with a couple of people they can always hear or see you very well The acoustics of some of the conference rooms are not very good, so if you're outside, you know, if you're a hybrid and you're not in the room, and you're on a video call You get a lot of uh background noise and echoes, and just isn't very clear
44
Interviewer:
What's your experience with the the current office space? Do you like it, or do you have some things you just like about it?
Interviewee:
John Piombino
I don't think it works anymore for the new way of working So I think it has to be less desks, less uh structured, a little bit more open space, more collaborative space and some more private space. It's not really ideal for collaborative space or for people to kind of have some more private space outside of just being stuck in a phone book, a phone booth all day. Booking rooms are pretty competitive. If you wanted to get one of those because of the amount of people in the office, and just the size of the or the amount of conference rooms. The problem is, if you try and have meetings out in the open Then you're disturbing other people around you right because it's an open kind of floor Open desk so everybody can hear your conversation Um! So you had to really kind of be very quiet, or try and find a corner of the office where you wouldn't bother as many people
Interviewer:
Do you think noise is an issue sharing the space?
Interviewee: John Piombino
Not as many people are coming in now, but you have to imagine back when it was full, and there was a lot of noise, so there was always a lot of background noise going on when everybody's there, and it, you know, if you you're not really focused in, a lot of people would wear noise, canceling headphones just so they can do work at their desk and not be bothered by some of the background noise. You kind of get used to it after a while, you know. It just becomes like white noise, but it's not ideal. And then, you know, sometimes people would put their phone on like a conference call with a speaker phone, and that would be really disturbing So because there were just no conference rooms available, and they needed to have, I guess, a call with other people around So yeah, those people would get a lot of dirty looks The conference rooms and stuff They're not fully set up for hybrid or like people wanting on for zoom and stuff like a mixed crowd Yeah, the video isn't great right now
Sometimes people on the other end, if they are hybrid, and you are in the office with a couple of people they can always hear or see you very well The acoustics of some of the conference rooms are not very good, so if you're outside, you know, if you're a hybrid and you're not in the room, and you're on a video call You get a lot of uh background noise and echoes, and just isn't very clear.
Interviewer:
How large is your team?
Interviewee: John Piombino
I have seven people, five of them are in New York Two of them are in California
Interviewer:
How do you guys work together and collaborate? Is it mostly zoom calls?
Interviewee:
John Piombino
Through chatting on Teams. We have team meetings uh once a month, and I do individual one on one calls with all the staff weekly. They'll go in, you know, mostly now regular for the magnet Thursday and the onboarding box. Before Covid I used to do a lot of travel I was probably traveling to another office location at least once a month
You can do the calls virtually through teams or zoom and, not many people are in the office So if you, you know, go to an office, you could be sitting there in an empty office for yourself, which doesn't really make it a productive meeting and worth the cost of the flight and the hotel
Interviewer:
In your position, what do you think your key goals are?
Interviewee:
John Piombino
I'm in charge of the strategy for the people strategy for the region So I'm working very closely with the leadership and somewhat with the staff, but mostly with the leadership. And then my team works closely with the staff.
I'd like to see a more collaborative space, more conference room space with better technology and better acoustics. Less heads down working space desks or tables with desks uh with computers on them. Just a a mixed use space where you can have some desks for heads down, working some open areas where people can gather uh some conference rooms, for you know more confidential type meetings, and then more private rooms or private space, just for for an individual
Interviewer:
What's your typical work day? How does it start?
Interviewee: John Piombino
Most of my day is on calls with people across the Us I speak to a lot of different leaders through different offices So a lot of times I'd be spending half my day in a phone booth, because a lot of the calls I'm having are of a somewhat confidential nature, so I can't really be out in the open. Other days it would be mostly in meetings. So it's either meeting with my team, my 45
staff, or meeting with other teams, other staff uh doing presentations, giving office presentations to either my office or other offices Sometimes just sitting behind a computer and answering emails That takes up a good portion of the day as well
Interviewer:
Is there anything that you change about the work area to use it? Do you have to bring stuff?
Interviewee: John Piombino
I only bring my laptop with headphones. Everything else is there.
Interviewer:
Would the office benefit from standing desks?
Interviewee: John Piombino
We do have some standing desks scattered throughout the office for maybe various medical reasons I think everyone should have the option
Interviewer:
Are there any secondary spaces that you like to go to in the office besides your own workspace? How often do you find yourself using the kitchen space, or relaxation room?
Interviewee: John Piombino
There are some people who go into the relaxation room for lunch or some downtime but I never personally use that room Usually I’m in a conference room or a phone booth
Interviewer:
What is your workspace like?
Interviewee: John Piombino
I've been there since February of two thousand and nineteen uh! When I first started we were on the twenty fourth floor, which was the top floor in the corner of the back wall again, for privacy purposes, or as private as you can get in an open floor plan Uh? And then, after about uh, I think a year in that space or a little less than a year We moved downstairs to the twenty third floor, and we were up against the back windows uh, right next to the kitchen The phone booth that was across from our desk space uh phone boots are just a little cramped And uh, honestly, they feel like theres much more germs in there just uh It's not a lot of fresh air flowing in
Interviewer:
How do you think your team works differently than other teams?
Interviewee: John Piombino
A lot of uh what our staff does They work with external clients right designing, engineering, or doing consulting work My team is focused on the internal client, right? So we're working with the staff So uh, all of our conversations are with other employees or other staff members across the Us We're not really dealing too much with external clients, so we do have some external vendors that we work with I don't think we need the same type of space that engineers or consultants necessarily do Um And I think there's also, and I think we can also work easier remotely, because again, a lot of our clients, our internal clients weren't always in our office.
Interviewer:
Do you have a need for storage?
Interviewee: John Piombino
We do have some files, but everything is now really gone electronically So we don't really have the amount Hr Doesn't Really have the amount of paper files that we used to have back in the day There are still like we do have a small file cabinet that we use
Interviewer:
How do you feel about the work quality of the environment, whether it's air quality or climate control?
Interviewee: John Piombino
It's a little cold, but other than that, it's for me It's fine
Interviewer:
Tell us more about onboarding day.
Interviewee: John Piombino
This Wednesday is the first day for all staff to come into the office, and it's an opportunity for new hires that started in the past quarter to meet with their line manage to go over there short-term objectives and meet with other stakeholders uh that are internal. Tt's also an opportunity for them to do interactive training as well as Q&A sessions which we have set up for them It's gonna have to be done out in the open, and it, you know other people will over here, and you know, just have to find a way to block that out People can come in and sit wherever they want It's going to be a first come for serve type basis, and if all staff do come in, there is a chance in some offices We may not actually have enough physical desk space for them, so they may have to get a little creative in finding some space to work But the point, especially Magnet Thursday Isn't Really to be doing heads down work It's really to be interacting really engaging with staff and teams and people right.
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10/14/22 Mid-Level Engineering
Interviewer:
Could you talk about how your work patterns and flow have changed post-pandemic?
Brendan:
Yeah So um, I think from you know, i'm sure Trevor can probably echo this, you know pretty pre pandemic uh from a work perspective, you know Obviously, we're in the office every day Uh, You know our our routines are probably pretty similar, you know It's It's waking up a little bit earlier to compensate for your commute. you know, and obviously, you know, getting ready and stuff. And then, uh uh, coming in the office by about nine um work in the office from nine until you know, whenever we're finished. And then uh um, you know in that time, you know, I think, during the day uh, you know, informal meetings. We're a lot more uh pronounced, I would say, like, you know, just walking up to somebody's desk or um going to meet somebody, you know, for coffee or in the break room, or something, I think, like those informal conversations um you had Whether it was work related or not Kind of uh, you know, took place, you know, fairly frequently in our office Um And then, yeah, you know, after you know, at six o'clock, whenever when we were finished Uh yeah, just to pretty much just to commute home So I think Um, that was the norm, and that was kind of uh, I think everybody's at least my life for like five or six years there Um! And then post pandemic, i'd say from my perspective It's changed quite a bit
Trevor:
I think there's like that trust, whereas like, if you were to leave the opposite, for prior to Covid. Nobody would believe you're actually going home to continue to do work, whereas like now it's very much like your trust is just to get your work done and have that kind of flexibility. The one thing I would say um is because of the lack of those informal communications, because everyone was in the office, and you could genuinely get whatever like any information you needed kind of at any point uh my calendar is much more packed with meetings now, because we have to actually schedule those interactions My typical day, Pre precovid was come to the office and really plan to be productive for like a like be in production for like eight hours, and just know that informal conversations are going to happen throughout the day, and stuff was going to interrupt that, whereas now I actually like to schedule like two hour window of production, because I see that I have four hours of meetings on my
calendar, and there's something I know It's gonna take me like two hours shade of looking, and I don't want to, interrupted with a half hour call, because it's gonna take me while I get back in So I actually have had to start thinking about like Kit do I Can I block off like this? Two hours of work And so I don't know I find production actually kind of be harder because we no longer have those informal conversations
Interviewer:
How would you say you feel about your current office space in general?
Trevor:
I can say this one. Um, I think Brendan also is kind of describe it perfectly as kind of like more of a college library. Um, except there are a lot more phone calls that happen, I guess, than that. So, like even the informal conversations with people in the library, the amount of times. I walk up to someone's desk, and they're like, Oh, sorry i'm on a call um happens way more so Even when people are in the office It is still harder to have, I think, those informal conversations
Brendan:
I would say, like again, like pre-pandemic I think our office is fairly modern in the sense that you know there are no walls It was pretty, you know, no cubicles, no kind of delineations between workspaces and things like that which I think kind of prompted a lot of that um that learning and development, you know the uh having conversations with your neighbors or osmosis, or being like, walk up to somebody's desk without a feeling um uh difficult, or like you're entering their space like again working in Nebraska, I think, is a is a much more uh Excuse me having worked in Nebraska. It's a lot different, like a lot of people are still going with like the full height cubicle Um for me. You know It's almost like having your own office, and like you're able to shut people out a lot easier that way, whereas this was a lot more uh collaboration forward. Um. And then, yeah, since, as Trevor kind of put it, it's almost like, like a spam calling center at times like You're like sitting there, and you know It's like you, you you! You could be in a meeting with three people that are in the office, but they're still taking the call from their desk, because I think that's kind of the norm now, so I think from where we were to where we are now Um, I don't know that our office layout makes a ton of sense Um, you know I think uh it It made a lot of sense when everybody was in the office But now I feel like we're kind of set up to create that type of environment Um, and I don't necessarily think that's a good thing I don't know, you know I mean there's some pros to it as well. Um, you know there's a lot of space now. um!
10/18/22 Consulting /Sustainability: N/A 10/19/22 Marketing/Business Dev.: N/A
I 47
don't mean to bash it completely, but I think it opens up a lot of opportunities for some different types of spaces that I don't think we've necessarily jumped at
Interviewer:
Can you talk a little about how you use and book collaborative spaces in the office?
Trevor:
Um, yeah, It sounds pretty similar to like how we book conference rooms right now, almost Um But the I guess. Yeah, there's on busier days. Now, it's impossible to find a conference room. So if there were, I guess, more collaborative spaces that would help Yeah, definitely something I would use.
Brendan:
I think you know It's a It's always helpful. Uh, I talk about like deadline time, you know, like when you have something important. It's like going out the door. the the setup that we had before that it kind of cordons people off, based on what discipline or what you know what they work on as opposed to like specific project teams which might be a little bit more interdisciplinary I think you You You see that you know You see that people like collaborate really well in in the space that we had set up, so like you know i'm a structural engineer Five questions I just kind of like run across my roads like Go ask somebody else that was on a team I'm sure Trevor did the same, for, like the mep side Um, I think there's like quite a bit of you know There's a really large exchange of ideas that happens like in your own discipline Um! So that's why I think it always made sense, You know. We thrown around the idea of like creating spaces where, you know, you know, Trevor and I worked together on a on a big project in Detroit. Um, it was, you know. It was a really big project team just from our New York office. I think at that time, you know, just kind of candidly we kicked around the idea of like putting that entire team in a you know, on the same floor, and you know, in the same area. And what that would do, you know, I would say, we don't We don't coordinate enough um to like warrant that type of change Um, I think you know, for Trevor and I um, we do need to coordinate like Don't, get me wrong, but, like I think we can do it in like our blips that you know are handled in conference, room type Collaborative spaces, instead of, you know, necessarily needing to all Sit down Um, you know, in a corner together I think that would actually be um not very helpful, because you're kind of taking away, uh, you know, Like for for me, you'd be taking away the power of the entire structures Group um, and losing a lot of that brain power to to, you know, to sacrifice it, to sit with a mechanical engineer, just to coordinate
some, some, some small ticket items or something like that Um, you know that are really project specific So uh, yeah, I think Like what? What Trevor said Conference, room, type, collaborative spaces, I think, are are really positive, and I I don't necessarily think we need to set up anything interdisciplinary I'd say like on the structures side, though some of those like informal gathering places would probably be really helpful Um! And I think Trevor touched on it We used to have like quite a few breakout tables and uh, in the space, and and those just kind of became hotspots for for people to go. I can talk through talk through issues. I know you guys are on twenty-four. We did a ton on twenty-three um, you know, and you can kind of pull in whoever's available on the on the group. It's it's really again. It's like really informal, and it it's it's such a such an easy space to create that like doesn't take away from the wire office when not use. So um, those types of spaces are really helpful. But yeah, just like within our teams, and not necessarily like within our office as a whole
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AshleyHerrera Junior,DEA2024 Headofschedulingand casestudies
AshleyXiang Junior,DEA2024 Headsofgraphicsand communication
QianyaYuan Junior,DEA2024 Headofsiteobservations
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