The large, white walls of Abiomed’s Danvers 152,700 square foot office are filled with pictures of patients.
Some had their pictures taken with their families or spouses, while others decided on a more individual portrait. The pictures represent Abiomed's patients old and young, with diverse backgrounds across the country. When you walk down the company’s hallways, they greet you with warm smiles, all seeming to communicate the same message.
“Thank you.”
All of these patients were saved by Abiomed’s Impella, the world’s smallest heart pump. The Impella restores the heart’s ability to pump blood to the body, potentially giving the heart enough time to rest so that it can recover its native function. This can give doctors time to open up a blocked artery or perform other procedures on the heart without stopping it from pumping blood, or needing to perform a heart transplant.
“We are the only company truly focused on heart recovery,” said Karen Mahoney, Global HR Leader at Abiomed.
Abiomed’s offices comprise of sales, HR, finance, legal, IT, and other departments normally found in a company’s office headquarters. However, Abiomed’s offices include manufacturing labs as well as a section called the “Heart Recovery Institute”, where Abiomed instructors are trained on how to use the product. The Institute includes a large auditorium and training rooms with dummies, so that the staff can practice using the Impella in a variety of different situations.
In the manufacturing labs, engineers develop the latest Impella models. Because of Abiomed’s focus on patient interaction, Abiomed engineers get one particular perk: They get to meet the patients who were saved by the exact models they created. Abiomed keeps track of the numbering of the Impella devices so that patients can later thank the engineers face to face.
“It’s like the most meaningful day for the employees here because they are so touched by these individuals,” said Mahoney. “Our patients are integral to why we work so hard.”
The Abiomed offices also constitute a large cafeteria, complete with a salad and coffee bar, as well as an outdoor seating area, where employees can come complete work during the warmer seasons for an environmental change of pace. The offices themselves feature an open, modern setup, where employees still have sectioned-off workspaces, but are free to move to more collaborative lounge and meeting spaces. The office space was designed to ensure employees get a lot of light while working, as well as a beautiful view of the nearby forest.
Abiomed’s new space first opened up in 2017, when the company opened the Heart Recovery Institute. In Spring of 2018, it opened up its Innovation Center, which is made up of manufacturing labs as well as wide open hallways where visitors can learn about the Impella from informational displays on the walls, as well as by looking through large glass windows into the labs where engineers are hard at work.
In the future, Abiomed aims to continue to develop new technologies, and to expand its Impella product line. But the company's first and most important goal will always be to maximize the comfort of its patients.
“It all comes back to our patients, they’re featured everywhere,” said Mahoney. “You feel it throughout the entire building.”
Gallery
The sign welcoming you to Abiomed's Heart Recovery Institute. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Pictures of Abiomed's patients and their stories line the hallways of the office. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Staff is trained to use the Impella with training dummies in rooms like these. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
An Abiomed training boardroom. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Outdoor seating for working or eating. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
A large auditorium space for presentations. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Large screens in the auditorium space. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
A large cafeteria space accommodates Abiomed's 500+ employees. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
The cafeteria features a salad bar. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
A closer look at the cafe in the cafeteria. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
A kitchen area for coffee and snacks. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
An employee lounge area next to the kitchen. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
A wall mural of stamps shaped like the continents. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Screens like these are stationed throughout the building to show a real-time image of where patients are being saved by the Impella. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Every employee at Abiomed signs this pledge. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Abiomed's patient stories are plentiful in the hallways. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Wall installations describe how the Impella works to visitors. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
More wall installations. Feels like I'm in a museum! (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Large hallway windows peer into Abiomed's manufacturing space. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Demonstration tables are available to test how the Impella works. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
A demo Impella device. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
More manufacturing space. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Lab space. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Abiomed's open office space fosters collaboration between employees. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
More of Abiomed's office space. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
While employees work, they get a nice view of Danver's forests. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Light fixtures with an elegant, modern design. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Abiomed's assembly-style meeting area. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
This door used to be in Abiomed's old office, where each employee signed to commit themselves to the company's values. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
A second-floor view of the first-floor offices. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Newspaper articles highlighting Abiomed's evolution hang in this hallway from oldest to newest. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
A close-up of the news clippings. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
An Abiomed meeting room. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Abiomed's four central values hang in numerous places in the office. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Office spaces are airy and have lots of natural light. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
Conference rooms are named after physicians important to the creation of the Impella and after patients who were saved by it. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
The O'Neill Conference Room, named after a physician who led the clinical adoption of the Impella. (Photo credit to Emily McNeiece / BostInno).
