According to the article below from the OC Register, 20% of professional employees are considering quitting their jobs. Undoubtably most won't considering the economic climate and the difficulty in finding jobs. But, if you are one of the ones who act on it, there are many options available to lease office space to start your own business. The options range from a home office, to virtual office space or executive suite office and of course conventional office depending on your needs, budget and image requirements.

"Two out of five professionals think about quitting their jobs after taking their summer vacations, according to Regus, a provider of flexible workplace ideas. Can you relate?

Of course millions of workers heard about JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater's spectacular "I quit" recently, grabbing a beer and sliding down the plane's emergency chute. But he hadn't been on vacation. In fact, he probably needed one.

But apparently a vacation doesn't help for many workers."As workers pack up their swimsuits this summer, they are more likely to dwell on the pros and  cons of the job that is waiting for them at home," said Regus Regional Vice President Sande Golgart.The top reasons survey respondents gave for wanting to quit:   
* Lack of communication with management 40%   
* Lack of career advancement 37%   
* Feeling overworked 34%   
* Company lacks vision 31%   
* Colleagues are incompetent 28%   
* Lack of administrative support 26%   
* Rude colleagues 21%   
* Boss takes credit for respondent's work 20%"

Stress caused by overwork has escalated during the past recession with people working harder and longer to make sure they can pay their bills," Golgart said"

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Study suggests home working and hot-desking will become the norm

The social-networking generation will rely on mobile technology, remote working and 'pop up' offices to get their jobs done, according to a new study backed by public sector think tanks and the Institute of Directors.

The focus of corporate IT departments will shift from supporting dozens of workers in a single office space to facilitating home-based and remote working, and ensuring that staff in temporary, shared offices can get the job done.

"Companies will be a bit more aggressive with how much office space they need," said David Coplin, national technology officer at Microsoft, which contributed to the report.

"The savings in the short term will be around office space. At best 55 per cent of office space is used at any one time, leaving 45 per cent unused," he told Computer Weekly. "That is 45 per cent of your office costs."

The study suggests the companies will benefit from allowing staff to use online collaboration tools and social networks to carry out their work. Knowledge-sharing and collaboration will be made easier by the knew generation of cloud-based computing services and communications networks.

"There is a message here for organisations that block tools like Twitter at the firewall," said Coplin. "You can't do that any more because you are restricting people's activity. Be confident in your security and let go a bit of your control.

"We have talked for a while about the death of the desk phone. Now we are talking about the death of the desk. Its not just about working from home. There are compelling reasons for working from a variety of locations."

Source: Telegraph

A 2008 World at Work consortium study found that more than 17 million Americans telecommute at least part time, a number that continues to grow as companies look for ways to cut costs and increase productivity

To create a functional home office, interior designer Sharon McCormick suggests considering the following:

Location: Possible spaces include a spare bedroom, bonus room, guest bedroom, walk-in closet, unused living room, dining room, basement, attic, landing, kitchen or, as a last resort, your bedroom.

Privacy: Consider how much privacy and quiet you need and whether you hate feeling isolated.

Tax write-off: If you are looking for a tax deduction, your space will need to be dedicated to work.

Utilities and equipment: Consider whether you have, or can install, electrical outlets, phone jacks and cable in the space. Determine your equipment needs: phone, fax, printer, desktop or laptop. Consider wireless applications to minimize cords and allow for more flexibility.

Lighting: Overhead lighting is optimal and compensates for lack of natural light. Task lighting is needed for individual activities, for example, a desk lamp.

Noise: Telephone conversations with clients or co-workers require a professional atmosphere. Think about adding French doors to a living room, changing out hollow-core doors to solid doors, or adding carpeting and window treatments to muffle outside sounds.

Storage needs: Do you need bookshelves for reference manuals? Filing cabinets? Do you use many office supplies? Will you be keeping sensitive information that needs to be under lock and key?

Desk configuration: An L- or U-shaped arrangement may be best if you like to spread out your projects.
Wire management: Will you end up with unsightly wires everywhere? Sometimes just drilling a grommet hole in a desk can solve that problem.

Source: Courant.com

The Telework Research Network estimates 20 to 30 million people in the United States work from home at least one day a week. That’s a lot of bedrooms and basements being transformed into home offices. If you’re one of the many self-employed or telecommuting workers searching for space in your home in which to set up an office, you need to analyze the space available to make sure it’s suitable for an office. While you may be able to commandeer a closet or take over one end of the dining room table and call it your home office, choosing a space that meets all your office needs can save you aggravation and even money.

If your home is your primary place of business, you may qualify for a home office deduction on your income tax return. This allows you to deduct a percentage of your utilities, homeowner’s insurance and other expenses as a business expense for tax purposes. The percentage you’re allowed to deduct is equal to the percentage of space in the home occupied by your office. The office must be a separate room or structure and must be used solely for the business. You should check with a tax professional to make sure you comply with all the rules for home office deductions. If you comply, the home office deduction can be an added benefit of having an office in your home.

Client Access

The location of your office may depend on whether or not you’ll be seeing clients in your home. “If you have clients that need to come to your office once in a while, you will want to make sure that you have a professional looking workspace and consider the rooms that they need to go through in order to get to your office,” says Diana Ennen, President, Virtual World Publishing and author of So You Want to Be a Work at Home Mom. “If you have small kids, making a client go through the play room might not be the best idea.” A room with a separate entrance would be ideal for seeing clients at home.

Ennen cautions against putting your office in a spare bedroom with a bed. “ On the off chance you've have someone come to your home for business that would be an uncomfortable situation,” she says. And having a bed in the room might interfere with productivity. “I think it would be calling you for naptime,” Ennen says.

(Blogger's Note: Here is where a Virtual office may be very useful. Virtual office programs will generally include a fixed numbers of hours you can use an office or conference room each month. It is a great alternative for the home based business person Find a Virtual office.)

Privacy

Even if clients never come to your home office, you need a quiet, private space to work. Michael Bechara, CPA, Managing Director of the Granite Consulting Group in New York, advises locating a home office some distance from the home phone and children’s playrooms. “It’s best to be on a separate floor of the home if possible,” Bechara says. “Even if you are in a separate room, if there are other people in the house on the same floor the voice will carry and there is the risk that someone will barge in to your office accidentally. A basement or attic office would be ideal.”
Bechara cautions against locating your office in an open area such as a balcony overlooking the main floor of the home. While these space may seem ideal since they’re separate from the main living quarters but allow you to keep an eye on everything that’s going on, they will likely end up being too noisy and full of distractions.
Bechara also vetoes locating a home office near children’s activities, due to the noise and distraction this can create. Yet some working parents like to have the office located where they can easily keep an eye on their children. For instance, Ennen has a television in her office so that on days when her kids are off school they can join her in her office.

Utilities

Where you locate your office may be dependent upon availability of a phone line, internet, fax line or even cable television, if you need these for your work. If these utilities aren’t already in place, such as in a basement, attic or garage conversion, you’ll need to add the cost of getting them to your office into the cost of setting up your work space.

Bechara recommends a separate phone line for your business. You don’t want to compete with your teenager for calls from clients, and you want to avoid having your children answer calls from customers.

You also need to make sure your proposed office space has enough outlets to accommodate all your office equipment. The State.gov website recommends bringing all your equipment into the room and plugging it in to make sure the power system can handle the load. If breakers trip you may need to contact an electrician to install new wiring and/or a separate breaker for your office.

Light

“You want a room with lots of light,” Ennen says. The Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics at Carnegie Mellon University surveyed 25 studies which showed that better lighting improved productivity in offices.
But it doesn’t take research scientists to know that a well-lit office is better than the alternative. As Bechara says, “Dark places aren’t very inspiring.”
Office light can be provides by windows, or fluorescent or incandescent lighting, but check to make sure lighting doesn’t cast shadows on the workspace, or create glare. Ennen warns against placing a computer next to a window, since glare from strong sunlight can make it impossible to work. Blinds and drapes can’t always block the glare.

Source

Over the past year the office space industry, OfficeFinder included, has seen a significant increase in the number of businesses looking for  virtual office space. Estimates are anywhere from  30% to 50% more than during the same period last year. Much of it is believed to be related to the economy. In particular, both businesses looking to save money and unemployed professionals setting up their own low ovewrhead home based business. A virtual office allows a business the opportunity to cut costs while maintaining a profession business image at a prestigious business address. While no office space is actually rented, most programs do allow virtual office clients to rent office or conference rooms on an as needed basis for a discounted price. The price range for a virtual office is usually between $60 and $300 perr month depending on the services used and the market.

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