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Workday, a fast-growing software company, has won heaps of praise from the City Council along with a green light to start construction of its new six-story corporate headquarters building off Interstate 580.
The company, which has its roots in the former PeopleSoft company that was taken over by Oracle, already has a corporate campus on Stoneridge Mall Road. The architecturally striking new building across the freeway from the West Dublin-Pleasanton BART station will be Pleasanton’s tallest office building, located adjacent to its current main campus.
Recognizing Workday’s and PeopleSoft’s leader Dave Duffield, Councilman Arne Olson called him “a gold-plated corporate citizen” who took advantage of the new Cloud technology after losing PeopleSoft to help found Workday and make it a success.
Councilman Jerry Pentin agreed, saying “It’s an honor to all of us that he chose to stay in Pleasanton and build in Pleasanton.” Councilwoman Karla Brown added that Workday will bring more jobs to the city with salaries that will enable its employees to live in the area.
In the final construction plan approved by the council, Workday will provide 3,214 parking spaces and reduce the size of its new building from 430,000 square feet to 410,000 square feet.
The first floor of the new Workday building will be slightly smaller in area than the upper floors to accommodate covered pedestrian arcades and to provide visual interest to the exterior of the building. The fourth and sixth floors also will be smaller to accommodate taller ceilings in portions of the third and fifth floors.
The first floor will feature storefront glass with interior and exterior columns. The upper floors will feature a glass curtain wall system with horizontal and vertical panels visible behind the glazing and aluminum mullions.
At the top of each floor, an approximately two-foot-tall portion of the glazing will have a frittered pattern of small silk-screened dots. The form and shape of the building will be visually interesting and the materials and colors both attractive and compatible with surrounding developments and also eye-appealing to motorists driving by on the adjacent I-580 freeway.
Construction of the building will meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum standard, the highest possible rating to indicate that a project’s architecture and design components have fully integrated environmentally friendly features.
“We’re very excited about this new Workday project for many reasons, not the least of which is Workday’s commitment to and investment in Pleasanton,” City Manager Nelson Fialho said. “Their success is our success. Workday is raising the bar for companies to establish themselves not only as entrepreneurs but also as good environmental stewards.”
The campus represents a major achievement in transit-oriented development in the city and region and offers the potential for alternative commutes and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Also, with innovative sustainability features, the new campus will be 48% more energy-efficient and reduce potable water consumption by 50% compared to standard office buildings. Workday also will be developing a new public plaza that will connect to a pedestrian and bicycle promenade along the east side of the BART parking garage.
In addition to all of the environmental and aesthetic improvements, Workday will also be funding a new joint BART/Pleasanton police service center on the ground floor of the BART parking garage to support law enforcement efforts on the north side of town.
Councilwoman Kathy Narum said Workday’s contribution to this pubic safety station will enable police covering this part of town to have a station home without having to travel back to police headquarters for updated reports and assignments.
Another commitment by Workday also drew praise from the council. It agreed to buy all furnishings for its new building through Pleasanton vendors, keeping the sales tax on those purchases in Pleasanton.
The new building will be completed and ready for occupancy in two years.
As a resident of Pleasanton and employee of Workday, I’m thrilled to be part of an organization that has such high standards, and for ensuring their new building will be an asset to the community.
As a San Franciscan and proud Workday employee who enjoys my trips out to Pleasanton, I’d be very interested in any programs/incentives for new residents (especially aimed at young and growing families). Pleasanton and Workday have a great opportunity to lead the way when it comes to Bay Area cities making it more enticing to move out of San Francisco and closer to their places of work.
If you are over age 40, despite having tons of relevant experience (including Big 4), don’t even bother applying to Workday.
Your application will go into a black hole never to even be acknowledged let alone decided upon. (Insert the sound of chirping crickets here.)
It is an unforgiving mistake to be over 40 and over 50 with regard to this company.
Over 40, if you truly believe this is true and can prove it, then you should know that people over 40 are a protected class and you could sue them for this. And, again, if it’s true, you should sue them. If on the other hand you can’t prove it, perhaps it isn’t true and instead they were looking for some skill you might not have? Have you tried learning that skill and reapplying?
To Over 40: Yes, I’m over 55 and I started at Workday this past November in the product development area. I was surprised on my first day when there were at least two other new employees in our group that appeared to be older than me. I think you would have a hard time trying to prove your case.