Atlassian’s new workspace doesn’t offer meals, has just 12 desks in total and barely offers any meeting rooms.
Occupying two floors of an otherwise nondescript Flinders St building, the company’s co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes describes it as a physical representation of the best aspects of in-person and remote work.Flexibility is the company’s stated goal: some workers come in every day, and some never use it at all. There are around a dozen using the hub on the day of my visit.
A power struggle between employees demanding flexibility and employers trying to drag them back has translated, in some cases, to mass resignations and walkouts. The return to office issue remains contentious nearly five years after the pandemic-induced exodus of workers.Credit:Despite the tumult, Atlassian is holding its ground: it says that its number of candidates per role has more than doubled since it launched its Team Anywhere’ initiative, without any dips in productivity.
Workers who are home all the time may be productive, but they often can struggle to maintain a connection with their colleagues, according to the company’s global head of workplace experience Gina Creegan.She said the hub had been designed to be drastically different to its traditional offices. More than half of its furniture is either from other offices or secondhand stores. It doesn’t have a fully catered kitchen and certainly no hidden speakeasy bar like the one at Atlassian’s Sydney HQ.
The ‘Connection Hub’ concept is not just relevant for technology firms, according to Price, but for banks, for telcos, or really any business.”