Jonah Otis is passionate about building happy, productive workplaces. And fortunately for him, this is a key part of his role at PayPal. As Senior Manager of Communications and People Operations within the office of the Chief Information Officer, Jonah’s responsibilities are two-fold:
First, Jonah helps keep employees up to date about the latest technical changes impacting their daily professional lives. He also helps to nurture internal talent development at PayPal and supports diversity and inclusion.
A relatively recent addition to the Bay Area chapter of the Opportunity affinity group, Jonah is helping to ensure a safe, friendly and inclusive environment for those who are specially-abled or disadvantaged in some way, creating a supportive community for all employees in the process.
You’ve been at PayPal for 15 years. What keeps you here?
I can really get behind the mission, vision and values at PayPal. We’re changing the way people around the world interact with their finances. I truly believe in the opportunity to democratize financial services for everyone, and I want to continue being a part of that for as long as I can.
What’s your role within the office of the CIO?
I am Senior Manager of Communications and People Operations. The office of the CIO is responsible for communicating technical changes that impact employee productivity, such as employee tools, technology, and devices of any kind. I also manage some external communications, liaising with media. And in the people operations part of my job, I look after manager effectiveness, talent and leadership development, and diversity and inclusion.
What’s your favorite thing about your role?
My passion is helping others to love what they do every day. I love bringing people skills to technical organizations and turning managers into great leaders. Everyone comes to work with the right intentions, but every day isn’t perfect. However, if we’re all in it together, and we can all get behind a common mission, it makes for a happier and more productive workplace – and that’s what the company needs. I love being a part of that.
What is it like to work remotely from Portland?
I have a wife and two kids, and I love the work-life balance that it offers. That being said, I’m an extrovert, and I do miss the hallway conversations. I like to talk to people - a lot of brainstorming and ideation occur in casual conversation. In place of being physically together, we have a great collaboration strategy with technology that enables people across time zones to emulate a high-touch collaboration experience.
What are the best parts of living in Portland?
I love the access to outdoor activities, like camping, hiking and fly fishing. With close access to agriculture, Portland has a lot of farm-to-table dining. I’m also a big fan of our Major League Soccer team, the Portland Timbers.
You recently joined the Opportunity affinity group at PayPal. What inspired this?
I decided to join the Bay Area chapter, and I’m also involved with the Global Opportunity Steering Committee, because it’s important that PayPal continue its efforts to be an inclusive organization for anyone who is specially-abled or disadvantaged in some way.
As a person who stutters and has two immediate family members with unilateral hearing loss, this topic is personal for me. I used to be pretty quiet about my stuttering, until a colleague asked me if I would be okay with talking to their son, who also stutters. I was more than happy to, and that interaction inspired me to be more outspoken about it. There’s no sense in pretending it isn’t there, and the act of self-identifying helps reduce my stuttering because it helps to decrease anxiety about it.
What is stuttering exactly?
Stuttering is a communication disorder, covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, in which the flow of speech is broken by repetitions, prolongations or abnormal stoppages of sounds and syllables. There may also be unusual facial and body movements associated with the effort to speak. More than 70 million people worldwide stutter – about one percent of the population.
Have you found the PayPal community to be supportive?
The Opportunity affinity group has helped me on my personal journey to become more open about my stuttering. It’s given me a channel to talk about it, and sometimes that’s all anyone really needs. And being a person who stutters has enabled me to be supportive with others facing challenges. I’ve always had a strong support system at PayPal; it’s given me a great sense of belonging.