Why Space Matters for a Collaborative Culture

The worst kept secret in recruiting is that your office space and the first impression it creates with candidates matters. If you have a dark, dingy office it isn’t going to tell a positive story about your company and culture. On the flip side, if you have an office space that is inviting and warm, your chances of landing the best talent increases. As a friend at T3 Advisors once told me, “space matters” and I certainly can attest to that.

It has been over two months since Cogito moved into our new space at 100 Summer. We left the comfy confines of our old office on Water Street for the bigger, bright and open space here. It is hard to leave your original office. While our CEO is quoted as saying, “decidedly unstylish” it was our home. People loved working on the oddly shaped building with faded yellow walls. Our team has amazing memories there but as is life, you eventually move on as the company grows and evolves.

Cogito is currently experience incredible growth. We started 2017 with 40 employees and are now over 90 people. We have plans to double that number in the next 15 months. This is an exciting and crucial time in our history because we have to continue to attract people that will allow our business to expand while adding to our corporate culture. We needed to create a collaborative environment where teams work closely together. We needed a bigger space where we can all discuss the progress on projects in our bi weekly Friday reviews. We now have a large employee lounge where everyone gathers on Fridays to discuss the most recent accomplishments. After years of being split between different floors, we’re now all on the same floor. Those yellow walls have been replaced as ideapaint covers all the columns and walls which allows our team to unleash their creativity. These enhancements have been well thought out and received with open arms by our employees. We’ve also kept a few traditions established in our old space like the weekly happy hour.

While moving offices can be very rocky for companies, our team did an amazing job of making it as smooth as possible. It just shows how we’re maturing as a company and while we are still very much a hyper growth startup, we have the office space to accommodate the employees we need. Our people matter and our space reflects that appropriately.