'Google on the hill'

By John Howell
Posted 2/23/17

By JOHN HOWELL David Hammarstrom and Stephanie Meunier both started working for MetLife on Quaker Lane more than 20 years ago, but it wasn't until Hammarstrom and Karen Roche took the mayor on a tour of building renovations last week that they met. That

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

'Google on the hill'

Posted

David Hammarstrom and Stephanie Meunier both started working for MetLife on Quaker Lane more than 20 years ago, but it wasn’t until Hammarstrom and Karen Roche took the mayor on a tour of building renovations last week that they met.

That meeting and sharing of experiences is just what the new MetLife work environment is all about. And to do it, MetLife turned to some of the nation’s leading technology companies. So, it’s no wonder that the 400,000-square-foot office that houses 1,300 employees and was on the breaking edge of office design when built in the 1970s is being transformed into the “Google on the hill.”

The Google workspace isn’t just a makeover, either.

“We took the walls down to the studs,” said Roche, client relationship manager in business planning and administration.

That work started in the summer of 2015 and won’t be finished until this summer. Renovations are being done while maintaining operations. That has required the uprooting of departments and relocating them to temporary space while everything goes in the former office from the floor to the ceiling.

It was that “out with the old and in with the new” that brought Mayor Scott Avedisian to the office.

Along with the floors, walls and ceilings that were lowered to provide brighter lighting, so went the desks, cabinets, coat racks, desk lights and chairs. That furniture was destined for the landfill until it became apparent it could serve another life elsewhere. A call was made to the city and soon truckloads of office furniture were going to the Cooper Armory on Sandy Lane. City employees picked out what they wanted for their offices, with most of the furniture going to the renovated second floor offices of the annex building across from City Hall.

While city offices now have MetLife furniture that was new 10 years ago, it’s hard to imagine that anytime soon City Hall offices will resemble the workspaces at MetLife.

Areas are open and bright. Many desks can be elevated, enabling employees to stand while working on their computers. Everything is wireless so work can be done from anywhere in the building, or from home. File cabinets that once took up so much room are virtually all gone as the information they held is now so much more readily accessible by computer.

“When you think about it, we’re really bringing it from the 20th to the 21st century,” Hammarstrom said of the building that houses regional operating and MetLife’s Auto and Home national offices.

The workspace is designed to inspire. There are areas where employees can congregate, share ideas and work on problem solving or simply have some down time. White boards with markers where plans can be outlined are ubiquitous. There’s a Lego wall where employees can create what they like and if they’re hard-pressed for inspiration it already has a Lego portrait of Albert Einstein. Quotes from industry leaders discretely adorn open walls like that of Steve Jobs, “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.” In another area, a white board carries the name “Huddle Board” and the declaration, “great ideas start here.”

A wooden structure – it’s called yurt, although it lacks the canvas of the Asian tent-like structures – dominates the open space of one department. It makes for a gathering area with its hanging chair where presumably a group leader would sit.

There are also individual spaces – “focus rooms” – where employees can get away from the rest of the office to concentrate on their work. The rooms are the size of a closet with an etched glass door and, of course, totally connected through wireless.

Equally out of the ordinary is the coffee shop where employees are treated to free coffee. The shop resembles a Quonset hut and, appropriately, is named the Quonset Cup. That local identification is reinforced with the use of names such as “The Breakers” for conference rooms.

“I used to think we were cool,” Hammarstrom says, reflecting on his early days with the company.

Roche agrees the work environment was modern at the time, although it was “somewhat of a rabbit warren.”

What’s cool now, as Hammarstrom and Meunier can attest, is meeting fellow employees, comparing notes and brainstorming even if it’s taken 20 years.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here