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Tech companies you'll love to work for: Tableau

By Liu Hongzuo - 27 Mar 2016

Tech companies you’ll love to work for: Tableau

This is a four part mini-series about the cool tech companies we’ve visited. To read about other tech workplaces we’ve seen, click here.
Photos by Tableau.

Tableau

Going far by going together

It’s a tough find when you want an office that has your best interests at heart, while ensuring that you feel involved at every step of the way. But such a workplace is real, in the form of an organization that helms Tableau Software, a data visualization program founded in California back in 2003. Fastforward nine years later, Tableau brought a Singapore office upon our shores, ready to show us what true collaboration is all about in its shiny new office.


What’s cool about this office?

The pantry is clean, and it features a variety of seating arrangements for different purposes.

If you had the chance to speak to anyone at Tableau, you’ll quickly realize that the makers of data visualization are big on teamwork. Coworkers are quick to greet and check in with each other, just like long-time neighbors, even with the hubbub of work floating in the brightly-lit compound. Their 50,000 square feet office in Singapore spreads across three levels (with two still under renovation), and it facilitates the collaborative rhythm engrained into their work and play.

Tableau's Singapore office also follows the design language of the original Seattle headquarters.

The office follows the design language of their original headquarters based in Seattle, and Tableau goes out of the way to import identical workplace tools to match. Everything - from the desks to their well-stocked pantry - uses the same stuff that their headquarters does. That’s no small feat, considering how almost every desk is an adjustable workstation that lets the Tableau staff transform their spaces into standing desks, and back.

Private collaboration rooms furnished with work equipment are available to staff from all levels, and it lets fellow colleagues at Tableau get together while remaining productive.

The flexibility of Tableau doesn’t simply end there. Around the compound, you will find many small meeting booths that can sit approximately four people within. Any employee can just book a slot using the electronic room reservation system outside each booth, and do their work distraction-free. Equipped with a conference call system, these pods can grant a good deal of privacy while keeping the bustle down to a minimum. Everyone can benefit from these shared spaces, be it for a quick chat or an important meeting.

Tableau would seem like an ideal place to be if you don’t like using PowerPoint or Excel. Data visualization is their core business; the office uses their flagship products – Tableau and Vizable – to do their presentations. It’s only sensible, and there’s the extra benefit of interacting with the graphs and charts the way they prefer. With such technology, it breeds further collaboration, especially across workers of different tiers.

All this is further amplified by the kind of talent Tableau hires – which their own staff coin as “Humble-smart”. Everyone and their ideas are valued, micro-management is not a thing here, and management is always ready to take up suggestions if there’s a sound plan to fix the problem. Tableau also makes extra effort in recognizing workers at every level. Every year, all 3,200 employees are flown to Seattle for their Annual General Meeting, and the offices located in the Asia-Pacific region also hold their own kickoffs for goal setting. Nobody’s left out.

Fully adjustable workstations allows Tableau staff to get the conducive environment they need.

But that’s just about getting the best. Tableau also keeps the best by offering their people a chance to explore within their company – if someone feels up to the task for the job, they can request for a transfer across different disciplines or even countries. Short term transfers would see reimbursement for accommodations while making up the difference in cost of living, which rides firm on how important each member at Tableau is a crucial part of their data visualization engine.

How do we know Tableau is truly as good as they seem? A quick talk with Vaidy, Product Marketing Manager for Tableau, shows that the company doesn’t pull punches if they are serious about working together. Originally a client who used Tableau’s services, Vaidy’s U.S. work visa expired, and both his workplace and he had trouble getting the necessary paperwork done. Tableau stepped in, and brought Vaidy on-board, creating a role just for him so he could work in Singapore. It’s one thing if a company respects their employees enough to care for their personal struggles, but Tableau’s story starts the moment you’re working with them – client or staff.
 

This place is the best for…

If you’re a talented person who loves collaborating with your colleagues while making friends in the process, Tableau is the firm that lets you do that while getting involved in your achievements. It’s easy to install a pretty pantry, but it’s a whole different level when a tech firm is so involved and invested in their people.

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