We spoke with Andrew Barrett-Weiss, Director, Workplace Experience at GoodRx about his experience using Deskpass.
Founded in Santa Monica, CA in 2011, GoodRx provides a free-to-use website and mobile app that track prescription drug prices and helps consumers find the most affordable option for their medication. To date, GoodRx has helped consumers save $30 billion on prescription drug prices.
Deskpass has transformed the way we think about our footprint and is the first option we think of when considering real estate in a new city.
The effect of Covid on hybrid work trends
Covid accelerated everything. We see a lot of our benchmark companies going fully remote and while we believe that remote works well for head-down work and deep thought-work, if you want to collaborate and ideate on new ideas and its generative process, evidence shows being in the same room is better than if you’re all on TVs. Having those spaces in different cities to be able to do that, we really want to encourage people to be together. Deskpass gives us the ability to do that.
It’s less about having individual spaces for people to go, and more about having spaces where people can be around other people. Being around other people they work with is great, but around other people that are human beings that they don’t work with is also good. We’ve added mental health benefits over the last year because of the sense of isolation we’re all feeling in Covid. Just being able to be around people is life-giving for some people.
How hybrid helps in recruiting efforts and employee retention
Flexibility and adaptability are key. In the search for talent, you have to look everywhere. Finding tech talent in Seattle is not that easy because you’re up against Google and Amazon and others. Finding tech talent in LA is also challenging. If we can find it in the second tier of cities - Des Moines for example - it really expands how we can recruit and gives us a lot more flexibility and opportunity. I think any company that’s not looking at an agile solution with flexible options for your employees is not considering what’s best for employees who are human and dealing with the challenges ahead of them and behind them. If you’re not providing options for your employees, you’re not the best in-house workplace. Deskpass really helps to make those options viable, easy and user-friendly.
We have some employees that are traveling full-time and who check in from different offices and across the US. One day they’re in Phoenix and the next day they’re in San Francisco, and the next day they’re in Seattle. Having the ability to pick up and go between places is really valuable. We also hire a lot of parents who just need to get out of the house with the kids. It certainly boosted our ability to hire in Chicago and in Austin—two markets where we’re using Deskpass a lot—and people love that they don’t have to go to the same place every day. They enjoy getting to choose different spaces and being able to work together in new parts of town.
Favorite Deskpass features:
Ease of use, for both managers and employees
The best thing for me is that the user interface is clean, clear and intuitive. The risk you take in any program like this, is how hard it is for any individual employee to access the site and make a choice and make a reservation. I don’t think I had one complaint or concern. The ease of use for the end user has been a big differentiator for me. It’s easy to administer and to manage.
Flexibility and freedom it allows
While I know I can set some restrictions, being able to provide an open platform where people feel the freedom and feel no restrictions creates an environment where people feel supported and encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity rather than being nervous about spending too much. It’s generated so much good will and positive energy. It’s great.
Quality of spaces and services
We’ve been finding that the spaces are high-quality and offer good services in nice environments, which isn’t always the case in the agile office space. The amenities have been good, and the environments have been very warm and inviting and encouraging.
As a test, we started with 30 employees in Chicago, with a budget of $5,000. We never came close to this amount, leading us to quickly expand the program nationally.
Interested in seeing how
Deskpass could help your team?
Let’s get started and set up your account.
