Employee Experience: What Works In A Flexible Workplace
Gable2024-04-10
11 views|3 months ago
💫 Short Summary
The video explores the transition to hybrid and remote work models in the workplace, emphasizing flexibility and data-driven decision-making. Companies like Niantic and Exabeam share their experiences with structured hybrid models and remote-friendly approaches. Challenges in defining work strategies, office attendance policies, and communication are addressed, with a focus on talent retention and collaboration. Strategies for maintaining cohesion, fostering community, and attracting technical talent are highlighted. The importance of collaborative intelligence, inclusive remote work environments, and aligning decision-makers is emphasized for successful workplace design and resilience to technological changes.
✨ Highlights
📊 Transcript
✦
Employee experience in flexible workspaces.
03:00Speakers from Niantic, Asana, and a cyber security company discuss managing hybrid and remote teams.
The segment covers offering co-working spaces, HQ desk reservations, visitor management, and event orchestration.
The platform supports various workplace strategies and is data-driven to refine work strategies.
Emphasis is placed on defining work strategies and a special deal from Gable is offered.
A poll on current workplace strategies shows a shift towards distributed and hybrid work models.
✦
Research on remote work policies shows companies are experimenting with various options to find the most effective strategy.
05:23BCG study notes a trend towards hybrid workplace strategies, combining in-person and remote work.
Flexibility is crucial in adapting to changing work environments, especially during rapid growth periods like the pandemic.
Niantic's experience highlights the importance of remaining flexible and responsive in designing workspace and real estate portfolios.
✦
Transition to Structured Hybrid Model
11:04Initially, employees resisted the two-day policy, resulting in low compliance and complaints.
The structured hybrid model improved office dynamics and culture, especially on Wednesdays when the whole company is present.
Accommodating the entire company on one day was challenging, but the team-specific second day for executives enhanced collaboration and communication.
✦
Company benefits and policy changes.
12:45Introduction of a consequence model to track attendance and promote flexibility faced initial resistance but is now better understood.
Increased flexibility for employees in workdays and remote work, with consequences tied to promotions and bonuses for in-person attendance.
Emphasis on setting an example for higher-level managers through consistent attendance.
✦
Exabeam's remote-friendly hybrid approach post-pandemic includes incentives for in-office work and opportunities for remote employees to visit HQ or local offices.
16:55The company emphasizes cultural programming, including ERG events, to connect employees and foster a cohesive employee experience.
Exabeam subsidizes and sponsors gatherings for remote employees to meet in person, ensuring consistency in the employee experience for all staff.
✦
Creation of the Work Innovation Lab.
21:51The lab addresses changes in the world of work, including hybrid and distributed work, AI, and emerging technologies.
It helps customers design their workplaces strategically and serves as strategic partners.
Emphasizes the importance of understanding the intentionality behind hybrid work policies and the need for clarity and certainty in organizations.
Established in response to customer demand for insights on the evolving nature of work.
✦
Importance of bridging academic research with practical application in the workplace.
22:52Emphasis on data-driven decision-making for effective outcomes.
Impact of technology on work environments, including digital exhaustion and the need for a thoughtful technology strategy.
Challenges of technology overload and potential for employees to seek new opportunities due to ineffective technology strategies.
Focus on designing resilient and adaptable organizations in the face of technological changes.
✦
Challenges and Confusion Around Office Attendance Policy.
28:31Varying opinions on remote work led to custom solutions for executives to decide.
Issues with tracking and consistency arose from the custom solution.
Shift towards flexibility in policy was made to address talent retention during the talent war.
New approach implemented in fall 2022 after notice and involvement of cross-functional team.
✦
Importance of alignment and defining decision makers in addressing previous issues.
30:30Lack of engagement from direct reports due to CEO's absence.
Shift towards a smaller, empowered team with a mix of new and experienced voices.
Challenges in meeting employee expectations regarding workdays, with CEO preferring a two-day in-office standard.
Communication and alignment as key challenges in meeting employee needs and company goals.
✦
Remote-friendly hybrid approach successful in attracting technical talent.
37:21Increased employee engagement and collaboration due to flexibility in remote work.
Structured documentation process involving stakeholders instrumental in clarifying decision-making processes.
Talent attraction in tech sector positively impacted by remote-friendly approach.
Recruitment of individuals who may not have been attracted otherwise.
✦
Importance of data and inclusivity in remote-friendly workplaces.
37:52Investing in necessary systems and training employees on remote meeting etiquette are crucial strategies.
Collecting various data sources for insights, including collaborative intelligence on how teams collaborate.
Multi-faceted approach to data collection through employee surveys, interviews, and experiments is recommended.
Understanding workplace dynamics and driving productivity through data analysis.
✦
Importance of Remote Collaboration in the Future of Work
41:55Intentionality is crucial for maintaining cohesion in remote collaboration.
Collaborative intelligence is essential as most knowledge workers spend a significant amount of time collaborating.
Understanding collaboration patterns is key to success in remote work.
Tools like Asana can help connect teams and goals in remote collaboration.
✦
EXA's focus on organizing community service events and gatherings for remote employees.
46:26They subsidize meetings and gatherings to create a sense of community and connection among remote workers.
Fun contests, such as photo contests, are held globally to engage employees and foster a positive work environment.
The emphasis is on building relationships beyond work through hobbies, volunteering, and shared interests to support and recognize the value of remote employees.
✦
Company's Preference for Office-Centric Work and Remote Employee Exceptions.
49:21Remote employees are flown to offices quarterly and exceptional talent may be relocated to big hubs.
Cultural challenges in smaller offices have led to some closures.
Remote employees are typically in specific positions and considered exceptional talent.
Company offers perks for in-office locations like Bay Area or Seattle and assists with transitions, combining office and remote work options.
00:10hello everyone to another episode of
00:12coffee with Gable um today we're going
00:14to talk about employee experience and
00:16what works in a flexible workspace
00:19excited to have everyone here with me
00:23umle trickle in
00:27on um well everyone trickling in just a
00:30few um housekeeping items and zoom tips
00:34make sure that you change your settings
00:36to everyone if you want to you know
00:38comment and see what everyone else is
00:40commenting as well um we do have a Q&A
00:44section so please feel free to engage in
00:46that as well and we will make sure to
00:49send the recording to everyone who
00:50attended here um great so let's Dive
00:55Right In um um so I'm very excited to
00:59have have our incredible speakers here
01:02with us um I will let you introduce uh
01:06yourselves I'll start with
01:09Erica hello I'm Erica herd I lead real
01:12estate and workplace at Niantic we're a
01:15uh Mobile gaming and AR platform company
01:18headquartered in San Francisco I live in
01:20San Francisco and work out of our San
01:22Francisco office which is luckily the
01:24ferry building so amazing place to
01:28work amazing
01:30Rebecca hi everyone I'm Rebecca I lead
01:33the work Innovation Lab at Asuna uh
01:36Asuna is a leading Work Management
01:38platform that helps teams work smarter
01:41and connects the goals that you set at
01:44the top of your organization to the
01:46Strategic projects and cross functional
01:49projects and portfolios all the way down
01:51to the individual tasks and then the
01:53work Innovation lab is our internal
01:55Think Tank where we think a lot about
01:58the future of work and helping
02:00Executives and leaders navigate all the
02:03changes that we're seeing in the world
02:05of work and to do that we partner very
02:07closely with our customers at Assa and
02:09also a leading group of academic
02:14experts amazing and gaana yeah thanks
02:18Lisa Giana driver um I'm the chro of a
02:21cyber security company called exim I we
02:25also headquartered in the San Francisco
02:27Bay area and I overse see our people and
02:31places
02:33functions amazing um and let's get to
02:38know each other so um whoever is here
02:40with us please comment with your name
02:42your role your company and where you're
02:43from where you're dinging from um we've
02:46had honestly all around the globe
02:48participants before so I'm excited to
02:49see quiz here um
02:54today great and while we do that um just
02:58a quick overview about Gable we are an
03:00allinone platform to manage your hybrid
03:02and remote teams um and really the way
03:05that the way that it means is actually
03:08having we have a full Suite of product
03:10to support your hybrid and Moree teams
03:12whether this is a on on demand uh
03:14solution where we offer over 7,000
03:17co-working spaces on demand for remote
03:19employees to work from uh ability to
03:21manage your HQ desk reservation and
03:23booking in any space um that you have
03:26visitor management and event
03:28orchestration as well for whether those
03:30are ons sites and
03:32offsites um and all of it is underpinned
03:35by data uh and insight uh to really help
03:39you uh Define your worklist strategy
03:41moving forward and refine it so uh and
03:45of course sck around for um for a
03:47special offer from Gable until the end
03:50so let's start with a poll um what is
03:54your company's current workplace
03:58strategy
04:04let it
04:23launch
04:24[Music]
04:28second
04:38right perfect okay what a distributed
04:43Bunch um interesting so fully remote
04:46hybrid different types of hybrid zero in
04:51office and a mixture
04:53great okay very very much top of Mind
04:57there um so the the reason that we
05:00usually do those polls is want to
05:02understand you know where you're at
05:04right and I don't want to say that
05:06you're not alone RTO or hybrid policies
05:09are quite a struggle we've recently done
05:11a research with um with several Stanford
05:14professors one of them is Nick Bloom if
05:16you're familiar with um about different
05:18RTO policies and this has been an
05:20astonishing result um we've surveyed
05:23over 5,000 us employees um that
05:27basically we've seen a range between
05:29zero policies to five right so think
05:33about this how how crazy this is a
05:36company that has so many different
05:38iterations right but the reason for it
05:40is not that it means that it's a failure
05:42it actually means that there is an
05:44iterative process of what actually works
05:46for companies um which is a good thing
05:49and we're going to talk about this of
05:50course but one of the things that are
05:52important to show and this is from a um
05:55study done by BCG about the workplace uh
05:58strategies
06:00shows the huge shift right from prior to
06:04co having everyone fully in person right
06:07to have a spectrum and a bell curve with
06:10majority of companies and we've actually
06:12seen this in this in the polls today um
06:15majority of them are actually hybrid and
06:19hybrid again means a lot and we're going
06:20to talk about it what type of hybrid are
06:23those are the key moments are the
06:25structured hybrid I've run I've heard it
06:28all I'm sure all audience as well um and
06:31our speakers and I think that's that's
06:33part of it that every company needs to
06:36choose what work for itself and that's
06:38both you know a great power but also a
06:41great responsibility in that sense um so
06:43we're going to talk about this as well
06:46um so I'll start with Erica um you've
06:51had quite a lot of transformation I
06:54would say leading uh the workforce both
06:57in terms of huge growth then
07:00restructuring Co um walk me through your
07:05workplace strategy prior to co how it is
07:08today and what made it like
07:11that yeah prior well I feel like we're
07:13the company in the statistics so we've
07:15announced two RTO policies like um
07:19between 2020 and I mean maybe it's more
07:22like three but two ones that kind of win
07:24into practice um and it was exactly what
07:27you said like iteration and learning um
07:30is what caused us to change it but preo
07:33we were in the office 5 days a
07:34week um I think being kind of a creative
07:37company like on the gaming side it was
07:39really inperson collaboration was really
07:41important when covid happened I think
07:43our
07:44CEO you know was pretty adamant that we
07:48were going to go back to the office I
07:49think like early covid we didn't know
07:51what that was going to look like you
07:52know it was like are we going to go back
07:54with the the walls like the Plexi walls
07:58and everybody's going to be back
08:00um and I think similar to a lot of tech
08:03companies we grew a lot during the
08:05pandemic so when we were remote we
08:07doubled in size uh 2020 and 2021 were
08:11really big years for Niantic um all
08:14while we were mostly remote trying to we
08:16knew we wanted to go back to the office
08:18so I think you know one key strategy was
08:20to remain
08:21flexible um so that was probably the
08:24thing we really focused on and I think
08:26that was from delivering space when
08:27you're designing out space and you don't
08:29really what the future work's going to
08:30look like you know it's going to be
08:31different but you don't know what you
08:32need just trying to work with your
08:34Architects to kind of be
08:37flexible um and then also like on the
08:39real estate portfolio trying to you know
08:41create optionality when you're signing
08:43leases and making sure that you have
08:44kind of flexibility there um we ended up
08:46going into a neighborhood model which
08:48has worked really well so that was kind
08:49of our
08:51first uh with first hybrid you know
08:53getting away from dedicated desking
08:55which was a challenge especially for
08:57like our big engineering teams
09:00um but I think it's been now that people
09:01are used to it it's pretty successful I
09:04would say we're we're structured hybrid
09:07um so we have signed days in the office
09:10I think our leadership team would love
09:11to see people in more
09:14um and we have benefits kind of that are
09:17tied to that if you come in more you get
09:19free parking there's things there's
09:20bonuses you would get if you came in
09:22more
09:24um yeah I don't know I think that's
09:29and I don't want to take up too much one
09:31that's that's one that's amazing one you
09:34talked about two uh iterations so would
09:37love to hear a little bit more um later
09:40on what what does it mean like two
09:41iterations
09:43basically do you want to hear it now or
09:44you want me to wait yeah let's let's
09:47Okay so I think our first one was kind
09:48of I think what a lot of people tried
09:50like hybrid you can pick your days uh we
09:53kind of did like a soft encouragement
09:55we're like hey we expect you to be in
09:57the office I think what happened was we
09:58were tra in you know we were tracking
10:00attendance we're tracking B swipes we
10:03saw a slight increase and it really like
10:04leveled out like basically most
10:06employees weren't complying with two
10:08days um also we were having challenges
10:10people were coming to the office and
10:11they were like missing each
10:13other um so I say you had choice we had
10:18we allowed every team to decide so we
10:21had and like they were small they went
10:23down to like the small teams and what
10:25was happening was like if you were on
10:28the ux team you would maybe come in on
10:31Tuesday Wednesday and then you would
10:33miss your engineering teams that were
10:35there Monday Thursday or whatever and
10:38that wasn't working and people were
10:40coming into kind of like a dead office
10:43because it was
10:44spreading and so that was I think we're
10:48getting a lot of complaints about why am
10:50I coming in there's this
10:52stupid like and just like the my of
10:54people it wasn't Buzzy like it kind of
10:57did feel like you were coming into these
10:58like ghost off
10:59offices um so we did make the switch to
11:02structured hybrid I think it's worked
11:04really well we have a core
11:06day um on Wednesdays the whole company
11:08comes in on Wednesdays I will say
11:10Wednesdays are the um I think the most
11:13fun probably maybe the most unproductive
11:16in terms of focused work but I think
11:18people talk a lot and it's fun and I
11:20think it's like kind of really improved
11:22our culture and like the
11:24um just kind of the sentiment of like n
11:27Antics we do catering that's usually
11:28when we do our events that's our All
11:30Hands Day there's a lot of energy in the
11:32office on the real estate side it's hard
11:34like it's hard to have the entire
11:36company there in one day and it's kind
11:38of hard to communicate that up to
11:40leadership that it's like if you're
11:42going to have the whole company there in
11:43one day like you can't shrink that much
11:45because you still have to accommodate
11:46all these people and then the second day
11:49is a team day but it's a bigger we went
11:51up to the like kind of exec level so if
11:53you're on the finance team this is your
11:56day if you're on uh we make Pokémon go
11:59Pokémon go like you're on this day um
12:03most of our teams are Monday through
12:05Thursday I don't think any team is
12:07picked
12:08Friday um so I think that's worked it's
12:11worked pretty well for us and then like
12:13I said we have benefits tied we have
12:14like in some of our leases like parking
12:16included so we struggled kind of how to
12:18deal with that we used to give free
12:20parking away in a lot of our Suburban
12:22locations and now we don't like you have
12:25to to get a dedicated desk you have to
12:27come in three days a week we do validate
12:29that quarterly and if you get a hub desk
12:31in the locations where we have parking
12:32we'll give you parking so there are kind
12:35of
12:36like I guess carrots and okay I didn't I
12:40was soft we also we introduced what I
12:43heard somebody call it the consequence
12:45model um so we track so we track badges
12:48we started doing that early I definitely
12:51before a lot of the big tech company
12:53started uh it was very unpopular at
12:55first I think but I think it's worked
12:58like I think it really I think now that
13:01people are used to it it's like an
13:02expectation they understand what they
13:04need to do we recently made a shift to
13:07make it a little bit more flexible
13:08before they were looking at it week by
13:10week and like you had to be in two days
13:12a week there was flexibility on the days
13:15but you had to be in two weeks two days
13:17a week and if you didn't meet that you
13:19ended up like on a list and you got an
13:21email from HR which HR like people team
13:24didn't like it nobody really liked it so
13:26now we've kind of stretched to like
13:27quarterly that you can make up days
13:30um it started April 1st so we're 10 days
13:33in like I think people are excited about
13:35the flexibility so we'll see how that
13:37kind of translates I think one concern
13:39is are people going to try to game the
13:41system and like load you know like come
13:45in the first four weeks and then not
13:47come in um the jur like we don't know
13:51yet like that's not the expectation but
13:54uh we'll see so Erica I'm curious what's
13:56the um what's the consequence if people
13:58don't come in
14:00so we have tied it to Promotions and
14:03bonuses so I think if you're up for
14:05promotion they're looking at list and
14:07making sure you're compant I think
14:08especially when you get up to the higher
14:11manager levels I think there's like you
14:13better be coming in you know setting an
14:15example for your team um I think there's
14:18also on the people team side in our
14:21handbook there's like it's kind of like
14:23three strikes to be honest I don't think
14:25anybody's been let go for it but it's a
14:27pretty serious like you get a pretty
14:29serious email from your people team your
14:32people partner and it's copying your
14:34boss and your exact leader and it's kind
14:37of like you need to you need to come in
14:41so I don't think we've really I think
14:44usually when there's a attendant like
14:45really severe attendance problems
14:47there's other
14:48problems
14:50so we do have remote employees too which
14:53is a
14:54little I think has made it trickier to
14:57be honest like I think the in person
15:00people feel sometimes slided by that but
15:03we don't really hire remote employees
15:05these are kind of just like people that
15:07our grandfather
15:08did
15:10so that's fascinating um honestly it's
15:14so interesting and I'm sure um Janna
15:16wanted to to um to ask you because you
15:20are leading both the people and places
15:23and I'm sure would love to hear a little
15:24bit about this this is I would say a new
15:27thing at least from what I see
15:29um
15:34Forge can you share a little bit about
15:36you know how does how does exim look at
15:40this in terms of real estate and people
15:43aspect how does your leadership affected
15:45real estate um and what takes into
15:48account there yeah um so I I'll start by
15:52saying um with regard to the people and
15:54places aspect um part of our thought
15:57process behind having real estate
15:59facilities you know Global workplaces be
16:02part of the HR people team um is that
16:05your your physical space your workspace
16:08workplace has a lot to do with your
16:10employee experience um and so you know
16:13we tied that together underneath the the
16:15people umbrella because we want to have
16:17a consistent coherent experience no
16:19matter if somebody is remote hybrid in
16:22the office Etc um I think it's probably
16:25helpful maybe if I provide a little bit
16:27of context around what we do um so we
16:30can ground ourselves and then then Lisa
16:32um I'll answer your questions you'll
16:33probably have to repeat them to me
16:34because I'll probably forget
16:35them um so pre pandemic we were um your
16:40traditional kind of in-person um you
16:42know in the office type of workplace and
16:45like many tech companies during the
16:47pandemic we hired and hired a lot of
16:49people remotely um and then you know
16:52post pandemic we have an approach that
16:55we call remote friendly hybrid meaning
16:58um um we still have many fabulous
17:00colleagues who are remote meaning like
17:02they live in Iowa or places where we
17:05don't have um an office at at all um and
17:09so what we do is we say okay if you live
17:11near an office then um similar to what
17:14Erica was saying we've got carrots we we
17:16have various incentives to encourage you
17:19to come into the office it's not
17:20required you could live next door to the
17:22office and never come into the office
17:23and that's okay at exabeam um but we
17:26hope that the various programs and
17:28things that we do we'll encourage people
17:30to come in um for us Wednesdays is kind
17:33of like the day when we do all of our
17:35programming and we have found that um
17:38the the simple fact of offering free
17:40lunches um makes a lot of people
17:42interested in coming in on those days so
17:45um you know catering days for us are on
17:48Wednesdays Wednesdays we also do happy
17:50hours so some of our employees have said
17:53when they come into the office um you
17:54know not only is there a you know a big
17:56you know spread for lunch but then a few
17:58hours later there's the whole big spread
18:00for you know for happy hour so it's kind
18:02of like you know um feasting on on
18:05Wednesdays um it's it's when we have a
18:07lot of our ERG programming as well so um
18:11you know just that cultural aspect that
18:13Erica was talking about I I concur like
18:15we've found that to be um really really
18:17important for fostering the connective
18:19tissue um between employees what we do
18:22from um a programming standpoint is we
18:25know that you know a lot of our
18:27employees are fully remote meaning again
18:29they don't live near an office and
18:30because we want to have a consistent
18:32experience what we try to do is offer
18:34opportunities for our remote folks to
18:37come into um the HQ office or in an
18:40office near them um and or sometimes
18:43just meeting up you know as a as a group
18:45together so we will help to subsidize
18:47and or sponsor those you know GEOS
18:49specific Gatherings um I feel like you
18:53asked other questions Lisa and now I'm
18:55forgetting what questions you asked so
18:57that I can answer them think one you
19:00don't have like a Mand mandated days
19:02correct me correct yeah no it's it's
19:05fully and why did you choose not to have
19:07that basically like we and and Erica
19:09also talked about flexibility but we can
19:11you know we have two people you talked
19:13about flexibility and there those those
19:16are already two different approaches can
19:18you talk a little bit about that well
19:20number one we saw that our workers were
19:23really happy being remote and flexible
19:26um so for us it was philosophically
19:28about trust it was about employee
19:30retention it was about employee
19:32experience um and so because people
19:35proved that they were able to be fully
19:37productive in this hybrid remote
19:39environment our thought process was why
19:41should we shackle them into an office a
19:43they're going to be really upset about
19:45that we were concerned about attrition
19:46we were concerned about Employee
19:48Engagement and we said let's take the
19:50reverse approach here and try to create
19:52an environment with various different
19:54incentives and um you know attraction as
19:58opposed to to um being you know more
20:00punitive so that was that was our
20:02approach and I will I will preface and
20:04say that I personally don't think there
20:06is a silver bullet singular right way to
20:09do this I think what's important is that
20:12we as leaders and organizations are just
20:14really clear about what we do and what
20:16our policy you know is around hybrid
20:19remote flexible in person and then
20:21ultimately it's up to employees to
20:22decide if that works for them or not um
20:25and so again like I I love that we're
20:27all coming together with these different
20:29perspectives right so yeah again I don't
20:31think there's a right or wrong totally
20:33agree totally agree and re I'm
20:36interested to hear one if you can share
20:38how the work Innovation lab was created
20:41right and the second piece I would say
20:43is what do you see what data are you
20:46looking are you looking at what
20:48questions are you looking to solve or or
20:55answer sure and I just wanted to build
20:57on on this conversation because I think
20:59it's so important that both Erica and
21:02Gian have Illustrated the intentionality
21:05Behind These practices and we do study
21:08you know how we collaborate and how we
21:10work together at the work Innovation lab
21:12and one of the things unfortunately we
21:14see across the board is there's a lack
21:17of clarity and certainty from many
21:20organizations in terms of even what is
21:23your hybrid policy and why was it
21:25created and one of the things we see as
21:28well is the biggest predictor of whether
21:31employees are content with their hybrid
21:34work policy is understanding that why
21:37and that intentionality even more so
21:39than what the actual policy is and I
21:42think it's really important and
21:44admirable that that both um of you have
21:46Illustrated that
21:49intentionality and then in terms of the
21:51the work Innovation lab we we started at
21:53about 18 months ago you know the
21:56pandemic was nearing the end and we were
21:59seeing this hunger from our customers
22:03and perspective customers in terms of
22:06wanting to better understand how the
22:08world of work was changing we were
22:10seeing all these different changes on
22:11the horizon not just in terms of hybrid
22:14and distributed work but we were also
22:15seeing the emergence of AI and different
22:19Technologies and we wanted to create
22:21something that could help our customers
22:25understand beyond the Asuna product how
22:27they should be thinking about designing
22:29their workplace and we feel very
22:31strongly that you know we need to be
22:33strategic Partners to our customers and
22:36in helping them navigate all the changes
22:39that are happening in terms of the world
22:40of work and what is really different
22:42about the lab is we partner very closely
22:45with academic experts I have spent many
22:48years in Academia and have felt this
22:52disconnect between the great academic
22:54research especially in terms of how we
22:57work together and how we collaborate
23:00Lisa you mentioned Nick Bloom and some
23:02of his amazing research that's you know
23:04goes back decades and really does help
23:07us understand the science of how we work
23:10how we should be structuring remote and
23:12hybrid environments and I felt this
23:15disconnect between that great academic
23:17research and then what I was seeing on
23:19the ground in practice from
23:21organizations in general and so we
23:24really tried to develop this Think Tank
23:26on the premise that we need to bridge
23:29those worlds and Leverage The Great
23:31academic research in a way that is more
23:34digestible and more impactful for
23:38executives to make data driven decisions
23:41often Executives rely so heavily on
23:44their gut and impulse and intuition to
23:47make important decisions we see this
23:48with hybrid work too where often the
23:51strategies aren't grounded in data or
23:53research they're grounded by preference
23:56and often the preference of the leaders
23:58ship team and we need to do a better job
24:01at grounding in the data and research so
24:03our core research areas include
24:06collaboration teamwork really
24:08understanding the science of
24:10collaboration teamwork technology how is
24:13technology transforming the ways in
24:15which we work AI is a big Focus right
24:18now and really understanding the
24:20intersection between technology and
24:23humans we know that those two factors
24:25are intimately related they influence
24:28each other and technology is never
24:31inherently good or bad it's about how we
24:33adopt it and again that intentionality
24:35behind it so thinking a lot about how do
24:38we better understand that inner play so
24:41that we can design our organizations to
24:43be more resilient and more
24:48adaptable and Rebecca maybe one quick
24:51followup um I think it's fascinating but
24:54was were there any like data points that
24:57you found that surprised you or things
25:00that you would like to share that might
25:01be relevant uh with the
25:04audience I think there are several one
25:07of the most I think concerning findings
25:12that we see in the research is something
25:14that one of our research Partners calls
25:16digital exhaustion this idea that right
25:19now workers and we saw this through the
25:22pandemic where as we lost in many cases
25:26that face-to-face connection
25:29Executives tended to
25:57overinvestment use to do their jobs and
26:00so I think it's a real opportunity right
26:02now as we think about these hybrid
26:04remote work policies to also think about
26:06what is our technology strategy and
26:10investing in those technologies that
26:13bring different groups together support
26:16those cross functional collaborative use
26:18cases and not invest in more tools
26:22because what we're seeing now is
26:24technology overload technology
26:26exhaustion and so much so that about
26:29onethird of workers right now say that
26:31they're considering or they're not
26:33opposed to choosing a different
26:35organization to work at if they have a
26:39better strategy around collaboration
26:41tools and Technology strategy in general
26:43and I think increasingly what we see is
26:46the employee experience is a digital
26:48employee experience and we need to be
26:50thinking about that digital strategy
26:52alongside all the different other
26:54strategies related to hybrid and remote
26:57work
26:59that's fascinating and scary to be
27:02honest to hear um and Eric I wanted to
27:06come back to you you mentioned a few
27:07things that um really were really
27:09interesting to to dive deeper a little
27:12bit you mentioned at the end of the day
27:14you know if it was up to the leadership
27:16everyone would come to the office right
27:18like that's that's and we see this and
27:20we hear this all the time um that's
27:23that's probably the preference but at
27:24the end of the day you did do two
27:26iterations right can you walk me through
27:29why did you decide on those iterations I
27:32think and from what I hear there is some
27:35collaboration with the people team where
27:37the employee themselves how those
27:39decisions are being
27:41made yeah so I think like to be and I
27:44feel like there's a question in the chat
27:45that kind of relates to this so I'll try
27:47to take that in um I feel like to be
27:49clear on leadership our CEO it's like
27:51our CEO was adamant um I would not say
27:55that our entire leadership team was Aly
27:57on that in the beginning like I think we
28:00had a um wide variety of opinions okay
28:05uh for example our engineering leader
28:07really felt strongly that we needed to
28:10lean into remote work and that that
28:12would help us grow our Workforce it
28:14would help us be
28:15strategic and I think that's kind of how
28:17we ended up with that like
28:21really like custom solution where it was
28:23kind of like every exec leader could
28:25decide and it could roll down
28:28and it really was a mismatch I think
28:31there was like first of all people not
28:32coming in on certain days not seeing
28:34people there was also like concerns
28:36about like you would hear like that's
28:38not
28:39fair um that like I mean we had like I
28:42think Pokemon go was coming in like two
28:46days a week and then we had like another
28:48game team that had decided they were
28:49going to come in one week a quarter so
28:52like we had these like variety of
28:54policies they weren't really being
28:56managed at like the corporate level cuz
28:59it was too hard like I mean that was
29:01like an unrealist unreasonable
29:03expectation for the people team or the
29:05workplace team I should clarify I report
29:07up through Finance so I do think
29:10sometimes that um
29:12affects how like what's important to
29:14real estate but anyways um so we tried
29:19that and I think it was just it was just
29:22confusing I remember our CEO being like
29:24well what days is you know blah blah
29:25blah team here and it was kind of like
29:28nobody could really tell you like I mean
29:29it was just it was too much to keep
29:31track of and um it just didn't work like
29:35it just wasn't working I think it was
29:39um I think that the intentionality like
29:43to what Rebecca said we did not answer
29:45that question very well the first time
29:46we did it it was kind of like you need
29:49to do this because your boss told you to
29:51do
29:52it um I think the flexibility we decid
29:55like we decided to do that for a variety
29:56of reasons like not alignment at the
29:58exact level and then also like I think
30:01that if you think back to when those
30:02were happening that was like the talent
30:04War you were worried about
30:06attrition I think the conversation
30:09changed drastically like I think now
30:11we're probably in a different
30:13conversation um we decided to make the
30:17shift I'm trying to think of when we did
30:19it it wasn't fall of 20 it must have
30:21been fall of
30:2322 was when we shifted our policy and so
30:26we gave a few months notice and we had
30:29said that it was a cross functional team
30:30that came together I think one thing we
30:33really realized was we had to have
30:35alignment and we had to kind of Define
30:37who the decision maker was I think one
30:39of the problems last time was like every
30:41exec thought they were a decision maker
30:43and just didn't work and I think
30:45honestly our execs weren't coming in
30:47like I remember sitting down with our
30:48CEO being like why isn't anybody coming
30:50in I'm like well your direct reports are
30:52never here like how can you expect the
30:54engineers to come in when the
30:55engineering leader never here um so like
30:58they had to kind of walk the walk and I
31:00think he kind of had
31:02to um you know communicate what he
31:04wanted and I think often my job is to
31:09you know I think he has a pretty strong
31:10vision and it's to kind of like create
31:12that vision for him like I wasn't
31:14there's some workplace leaders that I
31:16feel like could kind of influence I
31:17think he had a very strong perspective
31:20and kind of has the whole
31:21time so it was kind of trying to figure
31:23out how that worked um second time we
31:25were much more intentional I think we
31:27kind of answer answered the why people
31:29might not have liked the answer to the
31:31why and I think some people left because
31:33of it um but I think we did answer it I
31:36think he really believed that or still
31:40believes
31:41like like in person is where the magic
31:43happens like um I remember him saying
31:46like you're not going to change the
31:48world over
31:49Zoom um like I think on the gaming side
31:53pretty creative um but also on the
31:57platform side we are trying to create
31:59something that's never been created
32:00before and we're competing against these
32:02really big companies and so it was kind
32:05of this this is a critical moment for
32:07Niantic and we all have to be working on
32:10this
32:11together um so that was like kind of the
32:15shift I think when we did the shift it
32:17was a different cross functional team
32:18that came together it was a smaller team
32:20we were more
32:21empowered like I think the second time
32:25to make decisions and make
32:26recommendations like I I think he was
32:28like you need to go figure out what the
32:29best model was it was a mix of people
32:32that had been involved in the first
32:34round and then also some new voices so I
32:37think it was interesting to hear kind of
32:39the new people and then also just like
32:42people that had sat on the original
32:43committee being like this isn't like
32:44this is going to be a challenge I also
32:46think there's you know I said he wants
32:49to he wants people to come in more like
32:51his ideal like he always comes up to me
32:53and asks why Friday's dead and I'm like
32:56I don't know nobody comes in on Fridays
32:58personally I love coming in on Fridays
32:59there's no one there I can get so much
33:01work done I get free lunch it's great I
33:03love it um there's also like no one on
33:07BART it's just like the whole experience
33:09from like door to door is better than on
33:11a Wednesday in a different way
33:15but I think that that is a challenge
33:17we'll continue to face is that he set an
33:19expectation of two days and that's what
33:21we've communicated but in his mind if
33:24you're a good employee you're coming in
33:27like three to
33:28and I think that that's not
33:31necessarily healthy like I think like we
33:34should just say what we want like we
33:36want you to do this um but I think he is
33:39you know reading you know the industry I
33:43think he feels like two days is working
33:45for
33:46us um so I think there's there's a lot
33:49of challenges but I think I think the
33:51question like how do you get alignment
33:54the neighborhood model was also a super
33:55controversial thing and one thing we did
33:57was we did like a rapid document for
33:59that and that was super helpful cuz I
34:02feel like we laid out our recommendation
34:04and we let any stakeholder which was
34:07basically our exec team and then like CR
34:10like key Partners it
34:13people uh I'm sure there was more comms
34:16um comment on it and then I think the
34:18decision maker which was our CEO
34:21coo could kind of take those comments in
34:24and then they asked us to revise it and
34:26then we you know made a we revised it
34:30the decision was made and I feel like
34:31that was super helpful for when people
34:34were like well why do we do this you
34:35could constantly be like remember this
34:38docu like we did this whole exercise and
34:40it was all documented and the comments
34:42were on there and that was a very
34:45helpful kind of tool to use um and I
34:48feel like it made people feel like they
34:50were heard but also was very clear on
34:54who was making the decision and how it
34:56was going to work so I think that was we
34:59didn't do that when it came to hybrid
35:00but for like neighborhood model and if I
35:02ever had to do like a very large change
35:05like that was very helpful
35:09so thank you and I think it's again it's
35:12a you did and I think you know at the
35:15end of the day the answer is that it is
35:18complicated that a lot of stakeholders
35:21in involved in place and there is I I do
35:24think that it's amazing that you've done
35:26this documentation and w you know
35:28document I've seen this uh work several
35:31times as well um and Jen I'm curious
35:33from your perspective um from leading
35:37people right and there is a talent
35:39component to it right and you've chose a
35:41specific type of uh of flexibility in
35:45work model how does this come into play
35:47in terms of talent attraction right
35:49because you mentioned you know you have
35:51majority of employees are remote you're
35:53very flexible um how did you decide to
35:56continue with that approach and still
35:58continue having remote employees and are
36:02you still planning to continue that and
36:05how did this affected I would say to
36:08looping into to what Rebecca mentioned
36:10inlo collaboration and
36:12engagement okay Lisa that was like eight
36:14questions all at once I know I tried I
36:18tried I tried I tried I think I think I
36:21think I got them at least most of them
36:23you can choose two out of the eight um
36:27so let me start by um focusing on the
36:29talent attraction piece uh and and what
36:32I'll say is um you know we're a cyber
36:35security company so we have a large
36:37population of tech workers both
36:39Engineers developers etc etc um what
36:42we've found is um in the vast majority
36:45of cases one of the first conversations
36:48and questions that are engineering
36:50talent and Technical Talent will ask is
36:52what is your what is your in-office
36:54policy can I work remotely can I not and
36:57what we have found is because we are
36:59remote friendly hybrid because we're not
37:01forcing people to come into the office a
37:04lot of our technical Talent leans in and
37:07they want to continue the conversation
37:09so for us having this um sorry my lights
37:12are going off in the office um for us
37:14having this uh remote friendly hybrid
37:17approach has allowed us to attract
37:19talent that frankly we might otherwise
37:21not have attracted um let's see so it's
37:25like one one piece of of that Lisa now
37:28I'm forgetting the other seven parts of
37:29your question I'm
37:30sorry the other part is how does it
37:33affect the employee engagement and
37:34collaboration the fact that you're you
37:37know you're hiring everywhere right yep
37:40so I find a lot of times that there's a
37:43perception that people who are not
37:46showing their face in the office you
37:47know frequently are
37:49unproductive and I think that's where
37:52let's look to the actual data let's take
37:54emotion out of it let's look to um their
37:58output their productivity let's also
38:00look to our systems right like being um
38:03remote friendly hybrid we've had to make
38:06sure that we're a investing in some of
38:08the necessary systems and and tools um
38:12and then also that we're inclusive in
38:14our various types of meetings I'll give
38:16you an example um often when we have
38:19in-person
38:20meetings almost always there is at least
38:22one if not more members of that meeting
38:25who are remote and so to make sure we
38:28have an inclusive experience we need to
38:30be mindful that all of the people who
38:32are in the office aren't speaking over
38:34each other because if that's happening
38:36and you're the remote person who's
38:38dialed in you can't hear anything it's
38:40just a bunch of garbled you know like
38:42sound um and so we've had to train our
38:45Workforce in just being more mindful um
38:48you know around this and similarly if
38:50you're in person and you're having a
38:52meeting that includes people who are
38:55dialing in once the meeting is over
38:58meaning everyone has sort of hung up
39:00those who were in the office need to be
39:01mindful that there's not the meeting
39:03that continues to happen without the
39:05necessary people who need to be a part
39:07of it so you know we've we've had to be
39:10very intentional about um having just
39:13conversations around etiquette and Norms
39:15uh when it comes to being highly
39:17functional in a in a remote you know
39:20friendly type of way we've found that
39:22because our employees love the the
39:23hybrid approach they lean into that and
39:25they're like oh yeah sorry right that's
39:27true you know so we've not had an issue
39:29once we make our employees
39:32aware and I think that's also great that
39:34the employees feel some responsibility
39:36to that as well like you mentioned I
39:38think it's it's quite phenomenal um and
39:41really focusing like like you mentioned
39:43like on the carrot piece that this is
39:46you know this is the policy if you want
39:47to keep it you need to you know you need
39:51to comply with it and help facilitate
39:53that um Rebecca one last question I
39:57would say that would be interesting to
39:59hear from one data standpoint like what
40:01would you recommend companies to like
40:04collect what data would you recommend
40:05companies to collect and look at that
40:08you see that is interesting in designing
40:10a workplace strategy um so I'll start
40:13with that question and I'll not have a
40:15multi- part question like I did to GA
40:19sure and I I think it is essential to
40:22collect as much data as feasible I think
40:26you want different sources ources that
40:27you can triangulate you want those
40:30employee engagement surveys but you also
40:32want interviews and we do a lot of
40:34experiments as well in observational
40:37studies and so I think this is a case
40:39where more different data can tell very
40:42powerful stories and and glean insights
40:45from allow you to glean insights from I
40:48think that the biggest untapped source
40:51of data right now is what we call
40:53collaborative intelligence and that's
40:56essentially in information and data
40:58about how we're collaborating as an
41:01organization as teams and how that
41:03collaboration changes we often work with
41:06our customers to understand how does
41:10their collaboration patterns within
41:13their company change if they're in the
41:16office versus if they're remote or if
41:19they're hybrid and you see such
41:22differences in terms of what happens
41:25collaborative from a collaboration
41:27standpoint when folks are in the office
41:29versus when they're not and in
41:31particular in general what we see is
41:34when people are working remotely the
41:37first type of interaction to break down
41:40are those cross functional interactions
41:43the interactions between the it teams
41:45and the marketing teams in general we
41:47can do a reasonably good job at
41:50maintaining connection and cohesion
41:52within our individual teams but those
41:55cross functional collaboration patterns
41:57really really do suffer and I don't
41:59think they always need to suffer but
42:01again it's about this intentionality and
42:04if you have data on how those
42:07relationships between marketing and
42:09sales change as you're in different
42:12workplace setups you can then understand
42:15do you need to invest in more happy
42:18hours do you need to invest in different
42:20configurations in your in office
42:22environment do you need to invest in
42:24more training in terms of how to conduct
42:26High meetings and so I do think this
42:29collaborative intelligence is really the
42:32next most important um sort of evolution
42:37of the future of work we know that 90%
42:40of knowledge workers time is spent
42:43collaborating and to not understand that
42:47pattern and that important source of
42:50work is a really missed
42:55opportunity and just one followup
42:58question on that is what what tools like
43:01would you recommend using because I
43:04think that part of the challenge and you
43:06mentioned this is there is difference
43:08between in-person collaboration and and
43:10you know virtual collaboration and the
43:12data shows that you know clearly there
43:14is a gap um and what would you recommend
43:18or what do you see um companies are are
43:20using for for the digital aspect so I am
43:24I'm biased because we often use Asuna
43:27because it does connect all your teams
43:29and all your goals and understanding you
43:31know the full picture of work but I've
43:35worked with companies where you can
43:37glean a ton of information from survey
43:40data asking people who do you
43:42collaborate with how often do you
43:44collaborate what source of information
43:47we see different people go to different
43:49other people for information versus
43:52advice versus mentorship versus new work
43:56rated opportunities and asking people
43:59who they collaborate with how often
44:02using what technologies or in person can
44:06often unearth a lot of information that
44:08I think leaders aren't often aware
44:13of thank you and um we have few more
44:18minutes I want to um uh answer a few
44:21questions from the audience they're both
44:24a bit related to the remote population I
44:26would say I would love whoever wants to
44:30answer um to chime in but um Jesse asks
44:34about um you know Clarity and
44:36expectation setting what do
44:37Communications policy and expectations
44:40for the remote population look like uh
44:42especially in balance with your office
44:44presence and perks and it also relate to
44:47jav's question what the kind of
44:49experiences offered for remote employees
44:52to create connections so what what do
44:53you do with the remote population I
44:56would say
44:57um that you all have and how does it how
45:01is it different from um the in office
45:05population how are they being
45:09communicated yeah I'll I'll give some
45:11examples um to be very like specific
45:14around some some programs that we do um
45:17not not exhaustive but just to kind of
45:19um you know articulate it a little bit
45:22better so um we have actually May 17th
45:27here at EXA beam we have our community
45:29service uh day coming up and we call it
45:31EXA cares and so what we do is if you
45:34are near one of our offices there are
45:37organized events that um you know you
45:39wear your exabeam T-shirt and you go out
45:41and you do it could be a park cleanup it
45:43could be a soup kitchen it could be you
45:45know any number of activities that
45:47typically a few people in the office
45:49have organized and then what we do is if
45:52you are in a remote setting so let's say
45:55we don't have an office in Houston but
45:57we have if you look at a heat map we've
45:58got a number of people who live in
46:00Houston a number of people who live in
46:02Austin who live in Atlanta who live in
46:04New York and these are places where we
46:05don't have an office what we do is um uh
46:09there's an organizer for EXA Care's day
46:11locally in these places where on a heat
46:14map we've got five or more employees and
46:17they organize something for those people
46:20who are you know in a 30 minute or hour
46:22radius to come together and um do a
46:26community Serv service event but more so
46:28than just the event it's being able to
46:30hang out with you know your your
46:31colleagues and and co-workers and what
46:34we find is oftentimes people who are um
46:38we've got I think three people in the
46:39like Phoenix Sedona um uh area in
46:43Arizona and they've self-organized
46:45because they want to hang out with each
46:47other and you know participate together
46:49so we help to subsidize those those
46:51Gatherings and and meetings um that's an
46:53example of something we do I'll give you
46:55another um small example
46:57um well actually two if you are remote
47:00um you also get to have a stien um to
47:04help pay for the various expenses that
47:06um we're not incurring as an
47:08organization because you know um you're
47:10not like physically near near an office
47:12so that's kind of one of those perks um
47:14you know because they're not getting
47:15free lunches they're not getting you
47:17know a lot of the other benefits um that
47:19they might have if they were um near the
47:21office um programmatically another thing
47:24that's been really uh well received by
47:27our employees is we do these fun contest
47:30types of things where we did a photo
47:32contest recently and so people across
47:35the organization across different
47:36countries were submitting photos that
47:39then um you know a committee kind of
47:41came up with a curated list of 20
47:43finalists and then the entire Workforce
47:45globally voted on those and then the the
47:48winners we had um I think seven or eight
47:51different winners for the most recently
47:53pet uh contest pet photo contest those
47:56are all printed up and they're over I
47:57mean literally like around the corner
47:59right so it's kind of one of those
48:00things where it's just it's like a fun
48:02feel-good um type of way that our remote
48:04you know folks could could participate I
48:06go on and on but those are kind of some
48:08specific examples of um how we're trying
48:10to be intentional about including the
48:11remote people what I love about the the
48:14first and third example there is they're
48:17all they're they were both related to
48:19things outside of work Hobbies
48:21volunteering and that's what we
48:23definitely see in the research too is
48:25the more you can build what are
48:27sometimes called multilex relationships
48:29for your remote employees where it's
48:32beyond the work itself it's not
48:34scheduling more meetings to talk about
48:35work it's investing in slack channels
48:38about shared Hobbies it's volunteering
48:41it's doing all these things outside of
48:43work to recognize the full people that
48:46remote workers are just as inperson
48:48workers are is is really important so I
48:51love I love those two
48:53examples I would say just to offer a
48:56different perspective I was like I'm
48:57going to let GA go first CU hers is
48:59going to be a little nicer I think we
49:01tend to be an office Centric um company
49:04uh so remote is truly an exception we
49:06didn't really hire remotely during the
49:09pandemic um so it was kind of um if
49:12you're remote it's really an exception
49:14that's approved I think all the way up
49:15to our CEO still um so it's kind of an
49:19exceptional exception so we don't do a
49:21lot uh we we have less than
49:2310% um I think
49:25we fly them to our offices quarterly I
49:29think for holiday parties we um we'll
49:32let them come to like we'll let them
49:33pick a holiday party but I would say we
49:37are also generally willing to relocate
49:40them like we want them to come live in
49:43one of our big
49:45hubs so I think it's a def definitely a
49:48different perspective and I will say I
49:51think we've had
49:53challenges even in where we have smaller
49:55offices we have we are very we have 700
49:58employees 13 offices so we're like
50:00pretty spread out across seven
50:02countries um where we have smaller
50:04offices and we've kind of like
50:05questioned whether we needed them we
50:07shut down one we have seen ret like
50:09we've seen people leave so I definitely
50:12think like the cultural aspect is a huge
50:14piece most of the people I think that we
50:17have remote I don't know like being
50:20remote um and they're usually very
50:23specific positions um not like
50:28I would say they're probably exceptional
50:30talent that I've gotten an exception so
50:33um kind of a different perspective I
50:35would say we don't we we do less and
50:37it's kind of like if you want the perks
50:39then I'm not saying I personally
50:42everything yeah come to the office move
50:43to the Bay Area move to Seattle like
50:45here's some options we'll help you so I
50:47think that's kind of our strategy so and
50:50that's a different one and and that
50:51works like and that works to you so I
50:53think that's that's really cool to hear
50:56um thank you everyone we're over time
50:58that has been phenomenal I hope you
51:00enjoyed the discussion as much as I have
51:03um um thank you for phenomenal speakers
51:07for sharing um different approaches I
51:10hope you've seen um that works and um
51:14just final thing about uh about uh G we
51:17whoever would be interested we're also
51:19happy to offer you a free cost analysis
51:21on why why you should transition to
51:23flexible workspaces through Gable um
51:26thank you thank you everyone for your
51:27time appreciate that and see you next
51:29time in another episode have a great
51:31rest of your day bye everyone by thank
51:36you
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