The PPS Dispatch_005

Placeless companies and company-less places. The importance of participating in the process of becoming and recognizing our caring responsibilities to our communities.

Every day, we come across stories of people and places that inspire us. The PPS Dispatch is our way to capture, share, and amplify some of the incredible things happening within different communities. These signals resonate with us and inform our work, which is focused on moving towards more resilient systems, communities, places, and services.

We live in what you could describe as a company town. Historically, there has been one major employer who not only brings economic prosperity to the area, attracts talent and provides jobs…but this is also an example of a company, whose history is deeply intertwined with that of the place itself. The business and the business leaders have not just been participants but leaders in the process of a place becoming…This kind of company-place entanglement is changing for many communities in a post-covid world, as there is less presence and less investment in a place. Some of this is tied to the changing world of work.

We have moved around a lot and many of my jobs were fully or partial remote. I also worked for companies that didn’t feel a sense of responsibility or being anchored in a place - they were placeless companies.

And we never fully felt anchored to the place we lived either. All this means we often never really settled into a place. We didn’t become active community members or participants in the shaping of a place. We were there, always with the knowledge that it was a transitory stop. We saw ourselves as visitors, never fully considering that we were taking from, but not really adding to a place, a community, a neighborhood even…We never lingered enough to be part of the becoming.

I am and have always been a proponent of flexible work, including remote work, because of the benefits to the workforce, especially for those with caring responsibilities.

And I always thought about caring responsibilities in the sense of children, elderly parents, family…but I never really thought about the relation of our place of work and our caring responsibilities we all have to our communities, our neighborhoods, our places. We have these responsibilities as individuals, but do companies or business also have this responsibility?

I see many benefits of remote work in freeing up time and bandwidth for employees to spend less time commuting and more to be active participants in the local community…But on the flip side, companies who are together in office have other benefits. Of course there is the opportunity for face-to-face communication and collaboration. But there is also the benefit to the community when employees are active members of a place - think work lunches, supporting local businesses, or people using public spaces, supporting the need for them. And more so, when a company invests resources and care into a place and a community, they can help create places that are the kind of communities we crave and that we want to be a part of - not just as visitors passing through, but as active community members.

So how might a company offer flexibility to its workforce, without being a placeless company?

What happens when places become company-less, when a workforce is remote or when workers feels little commitment or anchoring to a place?

What can happen if companies not only feel a sense of pride in a place, but act as responsible shepherds and leaders in the becoming of a place?

How can we all be active participants in shaping our places, and what role do our places of work play?

Lots of lingering questions…Feel free to hit reply if you have thoughts, answers, or even better, more questions :)

And as always, thanks for coming along!
Lena with Process/Practice Studio