Glassdoor is an online platform that connects workers with jobs they love, a place where people provide unvarnished reviews of their employers, so it is no surprise the company puts a lot of stock into its own offices. When one of the company’s stated goals is to foster “…a world where people have the support and resources they need to find a job that loves them back,” it takes the workplace seriously, obvious in its new Fulton Market offices in Chicago.
The new space, with its abundant light and spectacular views of the Chicago skyline, is described as a blank canvas that allows for creativity and inspiration, though it is definitely not sterile or simply designed. In fact, it is a space born out of the COVID pandemic that gives us a glimpse of what workers want and need from offices in the future.
Glassdoor’s interpretation of the future of work includes bright, vibrantly colored offices that are flexible, filled with amenities and focused on creating a comfortable and collaborative place for its Windy City workforce.
“There is a really nice flow to this office that we love,” said Jason Pike manager of workplace experience at Glassdoor. “There’s nothing plain about this office, but we think of it as a blank canvas that is there to be used however helps (our employees) do their best work.”
The space was created by Chicago-based architecture and design firm Valerio Dewalt Train, which also completed Glassdoor’s San Francisco headquarters.
“Glassdoor’s newest office in Chicago was designed to facilitate connection and camaraderie in a setting that is uniquely ‘Chicago.’ The spectrum of materials reflect Glassdoor’s grit and the city’s vigor, while the space’s natural qualities and curved geometries encourage social interaction, collaboration, and inclusivity,” said Matt Gamache, a principal at Valerio Dewalt Train.
Glassdoor’s headquarters is in San Francisco, but it has a major presence in Chicago as well. Glassdoor had been in an office across the street since 2017 and signed to move to the new location in 2019 — right at the start of the pandemic.
With learning from the pandemic guiding it, the company created a space that is a little different than what was originally envisioned. It uses a smaller footprint, more spaces where workers can gather for organized and casual meetings and perks designed to attract its workers back to the office, all while adhering to the company’s evolving corporate identity.
Glassdoor has a work from where you want policy. Even though the pandemic ended, Glassdoor employees can feel free to work from the office or anywhere else they would like. There’s no requirement to be in the office. That does not mean Glassdoor doesn’t want employees in the office. In fact, that’s why its Chicago location is filled with amenities that draw them in. About 120 Glassdoor employees are assigned to the Chicago office and Pike said they have space for everyone.
“If more people come in on a given day, that’s fine,” he said, noting that the Glassdoor team in Chicago is cross trained to do each other’s jobs if needed. “All of our spaces are do it yourself. You can walk in and use any space that you’d like, easy peasy. Same thing with the desks, the chairs, the furniture, the spaces. Worst case, if we had a lot of people come in, we have to fill the snacks and the drinks more often.”
Glassdoor uses a visitor’s app called Envoy that allows employees to reserve a desk — or if someone comes in regularly — assigns it permanently to them.
The office floorplan takes the “Y” shape of Chicago’s Wolf Point– the diverging point of the North, South and Main Branches of the Chicago River. Visitors enter the 10th floor office in the center of the Glassdoor space and are greeted by graphics in the lobby featuring artwork that highlights Chicago landmarks by local artist, Mac Blackout. Next to the reception station is a deconstructed Williams pinball machine, broken down to its basic components and displayed as a piece of art.
The office is filled with millennials and it has a young and vibrant feel, which is reflected in the Fulton Market location. At the same time it is meant to embrace the company’s hard-earned maturity and sophistication, dedicated to improving the workplace through its website, a human resources platform, for staff and employers alike. These programmatic demands shaped the design of a single floor of a renovated building in Fulton Market.
The design solution interweaves the company’s inward and outward voices. The entry zone, facing the elevators, is defined by a series of curvilinear nodes; the voids between these forms create three entries into the secure office space. The taut forms, curved glass, and clean lines of the nodes reflect Glassdoor’s newly redefined brand identity. This aesthetic is the purest representation of the brand.
Though Glassdoor is not encouraging or discouraging people from coming in. Instead, said Pike, they want the office to be so nice and desirable that people want to come in. “I don’t want them to come in just for the sake of coming in. So if it’s summer and there are festivals and concerts and things to do downtown and it’s convenient, easy for you to get to the office and go straight there after work, that’d be awesome. We want the most hospitable environment for them,” he said.
Glassdoor has an events and experiences team whose job is to help its employees get together for meaningful connections so when a team does need to get together, their job is to help them get together, figure out the budgets, figure out the content, and figure out how to plan their event so it’s successful.
Since the office was developed during COVID, it is not unusual for a Glassdoor employee to come in who might have worked for the company for three years, but is just arriving in the office. Everyone comes into the office at some point, though it is the product engineering and sales teams that seem to utilize it the most, said Pike.
The space is filled with art, color and light. It is also filled with impromptu meeting spaces. The conference rooms and phone booths — most small, but large enough for a team of four to six — are named after mythology and radiate from the building’s core. The conference rooms are assembled in alphabetical order beginning with Arcadia so it is easy to find the meeting place even if the employee doesn’t know exactly where it is. The conference rooms are decorated in fun themes as well. One room is wallpapered in fictitious resumes from actual Chicago celebrities and historical figures with everyone from President Barack Obama to basketball legend Michael Jordan to television star Oprah Winfrey.
The space uses colors that match Glassdoor’s —a mix of pinks, oranges, greens, blues and whites.
Hidden behind a bookcase wall is a secret speakeasy that acts as the company’s gaming room, complete with all the latest video game consoles and blackout drapes to make seeing the screen easy. And two large flex/hospitality spaces anchor the east end of the office. It is a space for company gatherings and podium presentations, but it is also filled with snacks, drinks (with a full bar that includes beer and coffee on tap) and casual meeting spaces that is a popular place for employees to gather. A large, custom wooden booth fitted with colorful acoustics and comfortable furniture serves multiple uses throughout the day. In addition to creating a private seating area, it provides quiet, framed views to the city. The flex space also has portable furniture to make it easy to build and reconstruct areas for work and play. Another small kitchen area is found on the other end of the office.
The kitchen includes a number of gadgets so workers can not only warm up their lunch, they can actually bring the fixings to make it.
“That is one of the benefits here,” Pike said. “What would make you get out of your home, your comfortable home with all the conveniences and ease to actually come into the office? And one of the things we talked about is making lunch. I don’t want to just grab my box and heat it up in the microwave. I want to use an air fryer. I want to use a pressure cooker. I want to make chili for my team. I want to make a panini. So some of these small little safe gadgets make people feel like they have control over what they eat and how to prepare it.”
Glassdoor employees also have full use of a rooftop patio, gym and other building amenities that are shared with other tenants.
