Paycom Headquarters

[Rover]

Good point. My concern was just the lack of what seems to be any real plan for the campus. Paycom should develop a master plan as we see today a big part of luring top talent is appealing work environments.

They have a plan. It's just that some people don't like it.

Oh, Chesapeake had a plan to make a live/work/play campus and neighborhood. See how that worked out for them.

[Plutonic Panda]

They have a plan. It's just that some people don't like it.

Oh, Chesapeake had a plan to make a live/work/play campus and neighborhood. See how that worked out for them.

That was because natural gas prices tanked and shady dealings from Aubrey. Not because of their campus plan.

[Plutonic Panda]

I don’t think this has ever been part of the culture, from what I’ve heard from EE’s. And corporate culture is a lot like the Titanic. Not at all easy to course correct.

The top companies usually have great HQ campuses for their employees. The best OKCs top tech company can do seems to be a glorified suburban office park.

[WheelerD Guy]

The top companies usually have great HQ campuses for their employees. The best OKCs top tech company can do seems to be a glorified suburban office park.

Totally agree. I’m just saying, I don’t think they care too much about creating an appealing work environment. This new rendering is further evidence of that.

[Rover]

That was because natural gas prices tanked and shady dealings from Aubrey. Not because of their campus plan.

Aubrey got WAY too aggressive in trying to make it happen. But show me how many others are successful in doing what you are expecting? Growing companies tend to build campuses by adding buildings as they need them. And, if they are lucky and in HIGH profit industries and can become dominant, THEN they can afford to start creating the kinds of urban mecca's like a Google can. They are investing BILLIONS over the next decade in downtown San Jose now after 23 years and it will take another decade for them to do it.. This is because they now can afford BILLIONS. You can't do that while you are establishing and first growing. Google is 23 years into fantastic growth success.

[Jake]

The software department is returning to office only 1 day a week starting in August. Seems at least semi-permanent for the near future. Wonder how that affects a "master plan."

[Plutonic Panda]

Totally agree. I’m just saying, I don’t think they care too much about creating an appealing work environment. This new rendering is further evidence of that.

If it were me, I’d either build a skyscraper with extra floors downtown or buy land around their current HQ for a future master planned campus and work with the city for an LRT orbital line around OKC.

[Plutonic Panda]

Aubrey got WAY too aggressive in trying to make it happen. But show me how many others are successful in doing what you are expecting? Growing companies tend to build campuses by adding buildings as they need them. And, if they are lucky and in HIGH profit industries and can become dominant, THEN they can afford to start creating the kinds of urban mecca's like a Google can. They are investing BILLIONS over the next decade in downtown San Jose now after 23 years and it will take another decade for them to do it.. This is because they now can afford BILLIONS. You can't do that while you are establishing and first growing. Google is 23 years into fantastic growth success.

I understand what you’re saying but I can’t pull every plan tech companies have for their campuses around the country. Of course I don’t expect Paycom to build an HQ like Apple’s “Spaceship” but there lies a solution in the middle of that and a suburban office park, no?

[Plutonic Panda]

If it were me, I’d either build a skyscraper with extra floors downtown or buy land around their current HQ for a future master planned campus and work with the city for an LRT orbital line around OKC.

Hell, how cool would it be if they worked with Wheeler to establish a new HQ in the neighborhood. One could only hope for something like that.

[jn1780]

The software department is returning to office only 1 day a week starting in August. Seems at least semi-permanent for the near future. Wonder how that affects a "master plan."

I'm sure Paycom is probably hoping this is temporary and that developers loose their leverage as time goes on. 1 day a week in August is a very small dip into the water and I'm sure they are getting some pushback from their workforce for that.

[barrettd]

I'm sure Paycom is probably hoping this is temporary and that developers loose their leverage as time goes on. 1 day a week in August is a very small dip into the water and I'm sure they are getting some pushback from their workforce for that.

I was under the impression they've gone to 1 day per week in office because they kept hiring workers during Covid, and if all the workers came back, they'd have to build yet another building to house them all.

[Mballard85]

The software department is returning to office only 1 day a week starting in August. Seems at least semi-permanent for the near future. Wonder how that affects a "master plan."

The majority of their everyday workforce will be back in the first week of August.

[Jake]

From what I've gathered, there was significant pushback from the dev department to keep working from home and the 1 day a week thing was sort of a compromise from the higher-ups. A lot of devs/QA didn't want to return back to the office at all.

[bombermwc]

Well and to compete and/or keep those developers, Paycom will have to allow it too. In the post-COVID world, the companies that are flexible will be the ones to survive. Those that aren't, won't be able to attract the right talent and will slip. It's contrary to Paycom's heavy fisted management style, so we'll see if they can pull their head out of their butts or not.

[Teo9969]

I understand what you’re saying but I can’t pull every plan tech companies have for their campuses around the country. Of course I don’t expect Paycom to build an HQ like Apple’s “Spaceship” but there lies a solution in the middle of that and a suburban office park, no?

You have to understand that when the spot on Memorial was chosen 15-ish year ago, nobody was thinking that this company would have grown to where it is today AND nobody really knew what was going to happen with the city. If they could have somehow known where the hotspots in OKC would be in 2007, I'd guess they would have still gone suburban though maybe would have tried to incorporate with the Chisolm Creek people at that site (which of couse that conglomerate didn't exist at that time), but who knows. Realistically, they didn't know they were going to have the enterprise scale to try and incorporate a secure campus with life-style amenities, they were just trying to make the next step in growing from small to medium sized company, and even if they did, the landscape of OKC was entirely different.

Surely, I also wish Paycom was downtown, (or at least located along the Embark 005 so I could get rid of a car), but realistically, this setup is ideal. The business still doesn't entirely know what the future holds and they can build whatever they want however they want it with relative ease and no concern for space. And realistically, there is very much space to still do some lifestyle things with Paycom owning the land directly to the east.

[bombermwc]

I know a lot of people would rather they be downtown, but what would that offer them, realistically? Higher priced rent in a structure they don't own. Parking pains, inability to create things like the fitness spaces. There are actually a lot of benefits to the campus layout, depending on what you're trying to do. Not every company, in fact i would argue that MOST, in OKC are not downtown because they have no desire to be downtown.

Now, I'm anti-Paycom leadership till the cows come home. But, for them, i think they made the right decision and it's worked out very well for them. I dont really see how being suburban influences any of the COVID response nor do I see it in any way different from Microsoft/Google/Apple building a campus out in the burbs. Let's not oversell Paycom here. They will never have Apple's Spaceship (and even Apple wasn't happy with it before it was even done). Microsoft is a tenant of suburban office complexes across the country. And Google, well they do whatever they want and spend more in a day on office space than PayCom does in a year. So it's not a fair comparison at all.

[stlokc]

I understand not every company wants to be downtown, but at least if you are in a more central location, you can draw from all parts of the metro for your employee base. As it stands, this location disproportionally favors those living on the NW side. Particularly at lower salary ranges, it’s far more of a hardship to get there on a daily basis from say, south OKC or Midwest City. I bet some talented workers never even bother looking there due to the distance they would have to drive every day.

[ShadowStrings]

How big is the Chesapeake campus compared to Paycom? Isn't there quite a bit of space opening up soon?

[bombermwc]

I understand not every company wants to be downtown, but at least if you are in a more central location, you can draw from all parts of the metro for your employee base. As it stands, this location disproportionally favors those living on the NW side. Particularly at lower salary ranges, it’s far more of a hardship to get there on a daily basis from say, south OKC or Midwest City. I bet some talented workers never even bother looking there due to the distance they would have to drive every day.

One could then argue the same about any business or even Tinker for that matter (since you brought up MWC). What actually ends up happening, is the area it draws from, just shifts. Yes, Paycomm has a larger draw from the NW side, but the NW is far from short of economic ranges. There are people in EOC that do work at Paycom. Just like there are people from my office (Reno/Council) that drive from Newcastle or Guthrie. People are nuts.

[stlokc]

BomberMWC, I know you're right and people are going to do what they do. If you're management or at a slightly more elevated position, that's one thing. But what a weird tradeoff for somebody to spend an hour or more in their car every day, not to mention $3/gallon gas, for an entry-level job. I sure wouldn't, unless I was damn sure that is the place I wanted to be long-term and build my career. I'm sure "the area they draw from" shifts. But from the standpoint of the powers-that-be at a company, doesn't it put you at a disadvantage?

Maybe they haven't found that to be the case because people in OKC are so used to making that work/life balance tradeoff.

[chssooner]

How big is the Chesapeake campus compared to Paycom? Isn't there quite a bit of space opening up soon?

Paycom is not moving. They are building a new building, and have probably hundreds of millions tied up where they are at. so them moving isn't happening, because they could never, and I mean never, sell those buildings on their campus.

[PoliSciGuy]

Given how much the north side and Deer Creek in general is booming, I wouldn’t say “never.” The land it’s on may get to be pretty valuable in and of itself.

Not imminent, but not never.

[ShadowStrings]

I know it would never happen, but I was just asking a hypothetical question, given that the location of Chesapeake's campus is (arguably) more desirable than Paycom's.

[chssooner]

Given how much the north side and Deer Creek in general is booming, I wouldn’t say “never.” The land it’s on may get to be pretty valuable in and of itself.

Not imminent, but not never.

Well, a company would have to buy it to move an HQ there. And those are not coming to OKC, for a multitude of reasons, unfortunately. Unless an investor wants to buy it and have it sit empty. It's Paycom or bust for that spot for a long time. Not bashing anyone, just stating the facts of the situation, as bad as they are. The area is booming, yes. But the campus is set up for a corporate HQ.

[BoulderSooner]

I know it would never happen, but I was just asking a hypothetical question, given that the location of Chesapeake's campus is (arguably) more desirable than Paycom's.

not if you are the CEO and live north of the current HQ