Office Work Space Is Shrinking

[Lunican]

Office Work Space Is Shrinking, but That’s Not All Bad



HILLSBORO, Ore. â€" Intel was never one of those technology companies where employees had beanbag chairs, designer desks and pinball machines. Its offices were known for their endless rows of gray cubicles, low ceilings and fluorescent lighting. For decades it resisted any changes to its office environment.

...

Over the last two years, AT&T has been trimming excess space as leases expire, and introducing a telecommuting policy.

This June, AT&T opened its first tPlace, a flexible workspace with on-demand desks and videoconferencing, for its employees who live north of Dallas. The 4,000-square-foot space allows people to work closer to their homes and saves the company money: up to 25 percent of its employees did not have to move downtown to its new offices. It plans to open as many as five tPlaces in the next year.

“For every square foot we shed, we save a few dollars,” said Mark Schleyer, senior vice president for corporate real estate at AT&T.

Full Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/realestate/commercial/19space.html

[simms3]

This is not really yet a huge huge trend actually being implemented on a large scale, but in the next decade it could be.  Still, I doubt we'll say goodbye to concentrated CBDs and regional employment centers.  If we do, then there goes a lot of potential feasibility for rail transit systems as we build them today and we'll have to rethink them entirely.

Interesting article, though.  Thanks for sharing!

[Bativac]

My company is tentatively experimenting with working from home. We're a pretty big employer and an industry leader but, frankly, slow to adapt (some of the systems we use are based on 20+ year old software). If we're testing out telecommuting, I can't imagine that other companies aren't seriously considering it.

Why pay for leasing, maintaining and powering a huge building (basically a "people warehouse") when your employees are already paying to do that themselves for their own dedicated space?

[Shwaz]

My company is tentatively experimenting with working from home. We're a pretty big employer and an industry leader but, frankly, slow to adapt (some of the systems we use are based on 20+ year old software). If we're testing out telecommuting, I can't imagine that other companies aren't seriously considering it.

Why pay for leasing, maintaining and powering a huge building (basically a "people warehouse") when your employees are already paying to do that themselves for their own dedicated space?

Because employers want to oversee production. Working from home or small satellite offices would take a lot of trust from employers and a lot of responsibility from employees.

[Bativac]

My company is tentatively experimenting with working from home. We're a pretty big employer and an industry leader but, frankly, slow to adapt (some of the systems we use are based on 20+ year old software). If we're testing out telecommuting, I can't imagine that other companies aren't seriously considering it.

Why pay for leasing, maintaining and powering a huge building (basically a "people warehouse") when your employees are already paying to do that themselves for their own dedicated space?

Because employers want to oversee production. Working from home or small satellite offices would take a lot of trust from employers and a lot of responsibility from employees.

Not physically - not where I work. There are numerous pieces of software to track productivity - time spent in specific electronic files, time spent on the phone, etc. Part of our workforce, as I said, has begun working from home, and is being tracked remotely, held to the same standards as those of us in the office.

My manager "sees" me for probably 2 minutes out of the day, spending the rest of the time in her office, reviewing work product and checking realtime stats provided by tracking software.

The day is fast approachin where working from home will be the norm, not the exception.

[Shwaz]

My company is tentatively experimenting with working from home. We're a pretty big employer and an industry leader but, frankly, slow to adapt (some of the systems we use are based on 20+ year old software). If we're testing out telecommuting, I can't imagine that other companies aren't seriously considering it.

Why pay for leasing, maintaining and powering a huge building (basically a "people warehouse") when your employees are already paying to do that themselves for their own dedicated space?

Because employers want to oversee production. Working from home or small satellite offices would take a lot of trust from employers and a lot of responsibility from employees.

Not physically - not where I work. There are numerous pieces of software to track productivity - time spent in specific electronic files, time spent on the phone, etc. Part of our workforce, as I said, has begun working from home, and is being tracked remotely, held to the same standards as those of us in the office.

My manager "sees" me for probably 2 minutes out of the day, spending the rest of the time in her office, reviewing work product and checking realtime stats provided by tracking software.

The day is fast approachin where working from home will be the norm, not the exception.

For every avenue out there to track production there are 5 ways around it. I totally understand there is a large faction of folks that work from home... I do it myself from time to time... but I think most companies want to keep an eye on their employees.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

just curious, what kind of work are you guys doing that can't be tracked based on your performance?

It doesn't matter if I work in my office, at home or in Antarctica, if I don't hit my deadlines and projections, then I have to answer to the higher power.

[ChriswUfGator]

My company is tentatively experimenting with working from home. We're a pretty big employer and an industry leader but, frankly, slow to adapt (some of the systems we use are based on 20+ year old software). If we're testing out telecommuting, I can't imagine that other companies aren't seriously considering it.

Why pay for leasing, maintaining and powering a huge building (basically a "people warehouse") when your employees are already paying to do that themselves for their own dedicated space?

Because employers want to oversee production. Working from home or small satellite offices would take a lot of trust from employers and a lot of responsibility from employees.

Not physically - not where I work. There are numerous pieces of software to track productivity - time spent in specific electronic files, time spent on the phone, etc. Part of our workforce, as I said, has begun working from home, and is being tracked remotely, held to the same standards as those of us in the office.

My manager "sees" me for probably 2 minutes out of the day, spending the rest of the time in her office, reviewing work product and checking realtime stats provided by tracking software.

The day is fast approachin where working from home will be the norm, not the exception.

For every avenue out there to track production there are 5 ways around it. I totally understand there is a large faction of folks that work from home... I do it myself from time to time... but I think most companies want to keep an eye on their employees.

Well Schwaz, either you do the work or you don't. If you're wasting all your time jerking off instead of working, then you're not getting around being fired for substandard or uncompleted projects, however good a computer geek you may be. And if you waste time and get your work done competently they don't normally care anyway. It really all boils down to that, you either do the work or you don't. And if you don't it's not going to work out regardless of whether you're in an office or offsite.

[ChriswUfGator]

just curious, what kind of work are you guys doing that can't be tracked based on your performance?

It doesn't matter if I work in my office, at home or in Antarctica, if I don't hit my deadlines and projections, then I have to answer to the higher power.

+1

It doesn't matter how good a computer geek some slacker is, when their work doesn't show up they're still busted.

[Shwaz]

My company is tentatively experimenting with working from home. We're a pretty big employer and an industry leader but, frankly, slow to adapt (some of the systems we use are based on 20+ year old software). If we're testing out telecommuting, I can't imagine that other companies aren't seriously considering it.

Why pay for leasing, maintaining and powering a huge building (basically a "people warehouse") when your employees are already paying to do that themselves for their own dedicated space?

Because employers want to oversee production. Working from home or small satellite offices would take a lot of trust from employers and a lot of responsibility from employees.

Not physically - not where I work. There are numerous pieces of software to track productivity - time spent in specific electronic files, time spent on the phone, etc. Part of our workforce, as I said, has begun working from home, and is being tracked remotely, held to the same standards as those of us in the office.

My manager "sees" me for probably 2 minutes out of the day, spending the rest of the time in her office, reviewing work product and checking realtime stats provided by tracking software.

The day is fast approachin where working from home will be the norm, not the exception.

For every avenue out there to track production there are 5 ways around it. I totally understand there is a large faction of folks that work from home... I do it myself from time to time... but I think most companies want to keep an eye on their employees.

Well Schwaz, either you do the work or you don't. If you're wasting all your time jerking off instead of working, then you're not getting around being fired for substandard or uncompleted projects, however good a computer geek you may be. And if you waste time and get your work done competently they don't normally care anyway. It really all boils down to that, you either do the work or you don't. And if you don't it's not going to work out regardless of whether you're in an office or offsite.

I think you're over simplifying the work place. In many companies it's not just about meeting deadlines & projections.

It's human nature for employees to become complacent in their position and rest on their laurels. 

[dougskiles]

Interesting subject.  At first glance it makes sense for people to work at home, but that ignores the basic social need to be around other people.  I was just in a waiting room today reading an article about a guy who started a business for people who had been assigned to work from home but decided that they really missed the companionship.  These workers could lease small cubicles from his office building and share some of the basic equipment like copiers for a small fee.

So, it works for some people and not for others.

[simms3]

^^^This.  It's much easier to hold meetings and collaborate and just to be in the thick of things when you're in a concentrated work environment like a CBD or regional employment center.  People like to work with other people, they like the professional environment, ideas can drift a little easier, meetings can be had via going to another floor or walking a block down the street to another building, certainly other businesses prosper with high concentrations of office employees, etc.

The office culture will most likely not be going away in this generation/decade.  Experiments and new ways to work will seep into the culture, but there are so many reasons why working from home/telecommuting will not be predominant.

Another thing to point out is that when you have guests over to your residence for purposes of business, liability is strict, no questions asked.  You hold a business meeting at your house or have clients over to your house and you are dead meat should something happen to them while they are at your house.  There is way more liability with business guests than even social guests.  It's much safer legally to throw a huge party with a band and alcohol served at your house than to have a business meeting with a couple cocktails.

In order of liability/potential for tort:

Invitees (business guests, those who can potentially bring economic benefit to landowner)...owner owes full duty of reasonable care

Licensees (entry is with permission or tolerance of landowner)...similar duty to trespassers, basically no intentional harm and warn of hidden dangers

Trespassers (no permission granted by landowner, but it can be complicated)...no duties so long as you don't intentionally harm trespasser and to warn of hidden dangers

[Overstreet]

Work space getting smaller................

Some of that is because we are keeping less paper files. I used to carry five five drawer filing cabinets from project to project and fill them each project. Now days with electronic files we have plenty of filing cabinets but few paper files. Storage space is in MGs instead of boxes and Square footage of warehouse space. 

However they lost the electronic files for one of my projects and I often refer to the paper file boxes in the warehouse now five years after their planned destruction date.

[ChriswUfGator]

My company is tentatively experimenting with working from home. We're a pretty big employer and an industry leader but, frankly, slow to adapt (some of the systems we use are based on 20+ year old software). If we're testing out telecommuting, I can't imagine that other companies aren't seriously considering it.

Why pay for leasing, maintaining and powering a huge building (basically a "people warehouse") when your employees are already paying to do that themselves for their own dedicated space?

Because employers want to oversee production. Working from home or small satellite offices would take a lot of trust from employers and a lot of responsibility from employees.

Not physically - not where I work. There are numerous pieces of software to track productivity - time spent in specific electronic files, time spent on the phone, etc. Part of our workforce, as I said, has begun working from home, and is being tracked remotely, held to the same standards as those of us in the office.

My manager "sees" me for probably 2 minutes out of the day, spending the rest of the time in her office, reviewing work product and checking realtime stats provided by tracking software.

The day is fast approachin where working from home will be the norm, not the exception.

For every avenue out there to track production there are 5 ways around it. I totally understand there is a large faction of folks that work from home... I do it myself from time to time... but I think most companies want to keep an eye on their employees.

Well Schwaz, either you do the work or you don't. If you're wasting all your time jerking off instead of working, then you're not getting around being fired for substandard or uncompleted projects, however good a computer geek you may be. And if you waste time and get your work done competently they don't normally care anyway. It really all boils down to that, you either do the work or you don't. And if you don't it's not going to work out regardless of whether you're in an office or offsite.

I think you're over simplifying the work place. In many companies it's not just about meeting deadlines & projections.

It's human nature for employees to become complacent in their position and rest on their laurels. 

If the work's not getting done how would that not be self-correcting? How would you not notice missing work?

[Singejoufflue]

With all the nebulous "consultants" in the workforce, this makes great sense.  Companies already are paying exorbitant costs for travel, why then pay for an office?  Being in an office doesn't equate to productivity in the least.  I am daily amazed at how much dicking around is done while at work.  It used to be sloughing off around the water cooler for a chat, but now, Facebook, message boards, personal email, hellsbells, even elaborate personal phone calls eat up a good chunk of a worker's day. And in their minds they are entitled to it.  Consider the proliferation of "NSFW"...boy, if everyone was busy, I dunno, working, maybe we wouldn't need to worry about such things.