Anatomy of a Corporate Transplant : Unocal Moves to Costa Mesa

Workplace 2000

On Friday, 700 Unocal employees start moving into a Costa Mesa high- rise designed to carry the company into the next century. Unocal has spent five months and $15 million gutting and rebuilding the interior of the building in an attempt to breathe new life into the company.

Fiber Optics

Computers will be linked by 750,000 feet of high- speed cable, including fiber optics, branching out to every desktop.

Conference Rooms

Offices were also shrunk to make more room for conference rooms, some of which are equipped with cameras and giant video screens so executives and employees can hold video conferences with co- workers in other cities.

Workrooms

The middle floors are designed to cultivate teamwork. They feature wired workrooms where employees from different departments can congregate for weeks to cooperate on short- term projects.

Gym

Offering a release to employees confronted with longer commutes and confusing new technology, Unocal has built a fitness room where workers ‘ gym clothes will be laundered every day for free.

Club

Designed to be an employee hangout, this room will look like a restaurant, with tables and booths. But no food is for sale her. Outlets for laptop computers outnumber napkins holders and catsup bottles.

Fast- Break Food Area

Employees can get tacos and sandwiches at miniature Taco Bell and Subway outlets modeled on the Fast- Break takeout counters Unocal is installing in its gas stations.

Workers Get the View

Offices wee moved to the center of the building, clearing space near the windows for lower- level employees who spend far more time at their desks than their managers do.

The Psychology of the First Floor

The first floor is designed to encourage employees from different departments to get to know one another. To accomplish this, the company is using sandwiches and tacos as bait. The ground floor is the only floor where food is available throughout the entire building. Not even vending machines are being installed on other floors. To get a bite to eat, employees have to walk past the gym and through the club room, where the company hopes workers will congregate.

Researched by GREG MILLER / Los Angeles Times