Los Angeles is home to the highest concentration of super commuters in America — more than 400,000 intrepid Angelinos brave a commute of 90 minutes or more to get to work, according to rental platform Apartment List. Along the 405, the 101 and the 10 they crawl, deep breathing their way through miles of fitful traffic.
While the City of Angels experienced a brief reprieve from suffocating traffic during the height of Covid-19, congestion has returned to pre-pandemic levels. White knuckles, road rage and gas price anxiety abound.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Los Angeles tech leaders are trading freeway time for increased flexibility. And as professionals from tech companies Slickdeals and Coco shared with Built In LA, the key for employers is intentional planning.
“We focus on bringing people into the office with intention,” said Slickdeals CMO Erin O’Malia Gehan. “We anchor visits to a specific objective with clear output.”
Progressive Southland companies have rolled out flexible work models that call for in-office presence a few days a week or as needed. Employees are free to enjoy sunny office spaces when projects and events arise or their social battery needs recharging.
“The team loves our Los Angeles space,” O’Malia said of Slickdeals. “The offices remain open for folks to brainstorm ideas, catch up with one another or as a place to go if cabin fever strikes.”
Fluid work models are driving the conversation around the future of hybrid work. With inclusive access to remote options and autonomy over their schedule, the tech professionals of LA are empowered to dream of a new age commute — one that is chosen rather than prescribed.
Slickdeals is an e-commerce and consumer web company that hosts a shopping platform powered by shoppers.
Would you describe your current work model as “remote-first,” “office-occasional” or “office-first?”
Slickdeals offers a fully flexible workspace. Team members decide from where they want to work. We announced to the organization our transition to fully flexible in March 2022 — and this choice was met with widespread support. Some people have chosen to work from the offices, and many from their homes.
We don’t plan to step away from our beautiful offices. Our team loves our Los Angeles and Las Vegas spaces, so the offices remain open for folks to brainstorm ideas, catch up with one another or as a place to go if cabin fever strikes.
Everyone has different needs and we want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to provide the best work culture possible.
How often are employees expected to come into the office, and why does this schedule work for Slickdeals?
Team leaders are encouraged to bring people into the office with intention. If managers ask team members to come in, we work to anchor the visit against a specific objective.
By intention we mean that gathering people is done for a specific purpose: a session with clear objectives and outputs. As a leader, I want to be sure that we are creating opportunities for all to contribute versus just consume information. We work to facilitate spirited debate and discussion across the team, taking best advantage of having everyone together.
In the last month, I’ve hosted several sessions for my sales and marketing teams. These include planning sessions and workshops — fueled by agendas that facilitate cross-team dialogue and group-driven progression toward shared goals. In all cases, folks who are unable to attend in person are integrated as best as possible via remote options.
None of this would work without team-wide ambition — along with frequent communications and shared goals.”
What are the key cultural and organizational ingredients that make your hybrid model work?
Prior to the pandemic, our team was split between our Los Angeles and Las Vegas offices, with a handful of remote employees. In order to ensure that team members were able to seamlessly work together despite geographic location, we were already set up with tools such as Zoom and Slack.
Additionally, our people team works to foster our workplace culture through events and activities.
Having the right technical equipment and people team is critical to creating a flexible workspace. None of this would work without a team-wide ambition to make it work — along with frequent communications and shared goals. Ultimately, our core values are what truly power success.
Coco is a logistics and robotics company that deploys human-operated robots to transport goods from merchants to customers.
Would you describe your current work model as “remote-first,” “office-occasional” or “office-first?”
Coco is office-first with a flexible model to work two to three days a week in the office — unless the role specifically requires you to be in more frequently due to the nature of your work.
We employ regular check-ins and frequent leadership in-person and virtual meetings to align on OKRs.”
What are the key cultural and organizational ingredients that make your hybrid model work?
Frequent communication through company all-hands and town halls. We also employ regular check-ins between managers and employees and frequent leadership in-person and virtual meetings to align on OKRs.
While we support flexible working, most of our employees choose to come in four to five days a week. We provide copious amounts of coffee, snacks and daily lunch.
