Office Work Space Is Shrinking

[jandar]

Intra office meetings are just as effective remotely as they are locally.
Do you really want to fly that manager from that office in South Dakota to Florida just for a 1 hr meeting? Nope, you do it by video conference or phone.

Do you really go to your boss's desk and talk to him/her for every question you have? Nope, you send email, pick up a phone, or even use IM. (not just AOL, Yahoo, but Microsoft Office Communicator or such)

Can a call center person leashed to a phone work from home? Yes
Will someone find a way to not work from home? Yes
Do those type of people already find a way to do as little work as possible? Yes

I work in IT, and 90% of my job is done from a keyboard, it doesn't matter where that keyboard is located. The 10% I do onsite I can schedule usually and save time by combining tasks.

I work more effectively remotely.
So do the british telecomm workers who work telecommuting.
Or Sun, or Cisco, or even the numerous call agents who run the phones when the latest Billy Mays ad is on TV. (yes I know he's dead, but using an example)

Look around at your job and what you do all day. Could you really do that remotely? Or do you prefer to just work onsite?

[Bativac]

Intra office meetings are just as effective remotely as they are locally.
Do you really want to fly that manager from that office in South Dakota to Florida just for a 1 hr meeting? Nope, you do it by video conference or phone.

This, especially, is true in our office. Where once upper management would fly around the country to different sites and stay for weeklong meetings and have themselves put up in nice hotels, now they're being told that hotel and rental car expenses are coming out of pocket. Thus we have less flying around the country and more livemeetings and teleconferences.

My department, incidentally, all work on laptops and are issued company cell phones, so we're ready to go at the drop of a hat. During the last tropical storm that came thru, we actually did work from home as sort of a test run. By all accounts, it was a success, but the older members of upper management are old-fashioned and do like to see their people sitting at a desk. But younger managers have no such need - as I mentioned previously, they are generally sequestered in their office all day and "monitor" us from their computers (also laptops).

Word among younger mid-upper management is that as older folks retire, younger late 30s and early 40s managers are implementing newer ideas... so maybe it's a generational thing. If the work isn't getting done, if deadlines aren't met, etc., management knows whether you're ten feet from her office or ten miles from the building.

[Lunican]

According to the Census Bureau, 23,716 people worked from home in Jacksonville in 2010. Up from 15,840 in 2005.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p70-132.pdf

[downtownjag]

Intra office meetings are just as effective remotely as they are locally.
Do you really want to fly that manager from that office in South Dakota to Florida just for a 1 hr meeting? Nope, you do it by video conference or phone.

Do you really go to your boss's desk and talk to him/her for every question you have? Nope, you send email, pick up a phone, or even use IM. (not just AOL, Yahoo, but Microsoft Office Communicator or such)

Can a call center person leashed to a phone work from home? Yes
Will someone find a way to not work from home? Yes
Do those type of people already find a way to do as little work as possible? Yes

I work in IT, and 90% of my job is done from a keyboard, it doesn't matter where that keyboard is located. The 10% I do onsite I can schedule usually and save time by combining tasks.

I work more effectively remotely.
So do the british telecomm workers who work telecommuting.
Or Sun, or Cisco, or even the numerous call agents who run the phones when the latest Billy Mays ad is on TV. (yes I know he's dead, but using an example)

Look around at your job and what you do all day. Could you really do that remotely? Or do you prefer to just work onsite?

No offense intended, but since when are IT people "people persons"?  Not saying you aren't personally, but yeah, my 250 office company has only a few regional offices.  By "my", I mean the company I work for.

Space costs are certainly being evaluated, but synergistic effects arent' fairy tales.  At the very least, CBD's often have districts huddled around the county courthouses for attorney's, those mini-districts aren't going anywhere.

[downtownjag]

And to my statements above; IT doesn't always involve as much social interaction as, say, brokerage, law, financial guidance; etc.

[spuwho]

According to the Census Bureau, 23,716 people worked from home in Jacksonville in 2010. Up from 15,840 in 2005.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p70-132.pdf

BAC just announced this week that they are going to phase out WFH for their technology staff nationally. That is going to bring a lot of people back into the Southside and Deer Lake Campuses.

[downtownjag]

According to the Census Bureau, 23,716 people worked from home in Jacksonville in 2010. Up from 15,840 in 2005.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p70-132.pdf

BAC just announced this week that they are going to phase out WFH for their technology staff nationally. That is going to bring a lot of people back into the Southside and Deer Lake Campuses.

Forgive me; who's BAC?

[spuwho]

According to the Census Bureau, 23,716 people worked from home in Jacksonville in 2010. Up from 15,840 in 2005.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p70-132.pdf

BAC just announced this week that they are going to phase out WFH for their technology staff nationally. That is going to bring a lot of people back into the Southside and Deer Lake Campuses.

Forgive me; who's BAC?

BAC = Bank of America

[downtownjag]

LOL sure we're splitting hairs here; but Bank of America = BOA

[downtownjag]

Or BofA... but just as I know it, maybe I'm wrong

[spuwho]

Or BofA... but just as I know it, maybe I'm wrong

NYSE Stock Ticker for Bank of America = BAC

[downtownjag]

Well that's that