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

April 23, 2010 - Regus, the world’s largest executive suite provider, has seen a 230% increase in video communication over the last week in the UK, helping to alleviate the problem of displacement and enabling business to continue as usual.

Since the situation began last Thursday, demand for virtual meetings has been unprecedented. Across Europe week-on-week demand increased by 180%, whilst on Monday calls to Regus call centres were 450% above the daily average.

Source

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.

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What would a world without offices look like? Well, Dilbert  wouldn't be funny, and there would be no such thing as rush-hour traffic. Here, thanks to Kate Lister of the Telework Research Network, a San Diego -- based research firm, is a rough guess at what else would happen to the U.S. economy if everyone who could work from home -- about 40 percent of the work force -- did so half the time. The figures are annual. Feel free to rattle them off the next time someone makes fun of you for managing in your PJs.

$200 billion
productivity gains by American companies

$190 billion
savings from reduced real estate expenses, electricity bills, absenteeism, and employee turnover

100 hours
per person not spent commuting

50 million tons
of greenhouse gas emissions cut

276 million barrels
of oil saved, or roughly 32 percent of oil imports from the Middle East

1,500 lives
not lost in car accidents

$700 billion
total estimated savings to American businesses

Source: Inc Magazine

Note:
Seems like Virtual Offices fit in here. Work from home, but have a prestigious address and a place to meet clients. Based on this information, it is the American thing to do!

Find a Virtual Office.

In the troubled world of commercial real estate, where available space far exceeds what is currently needed, landlords have another reason to reach for the antacids:

Demand is growing for virtual offices.

That's not a patch of beach where you plant a chair, crack open a cold one and your laptop, and declare yourself "at the office."

A virtual office is shared work space - meeting and conference areas, reception desks, copy rooms - used on an as-needed basis, at a cost that could be considerably less than rent under a conventional multiyear office lease.

It includes shared support services, too. Depending on the provider, that could mean a receptionist along with a team of administrative assistants to help develop marketing plans, create business cards and brochures, even assist at trade shows.

And sometimes, just a stiff drink is in order. At American Executive Centers' virtual-office facility in King of Prussia, manager Gwen Bonsall Donnon dipped into the office-party stash one day to come to the aid of a client who declared after a rough day: "I need a rum and Coke."

Donnon also is keeper of the props. In her office, among other things, is a box of framed photos belonging to one of the virtual-office clients. She puts them out when he visits, to help personalize his rented space.

"We even put trash in the trash can so it looks like he's been in there," she said.

The Philadelphia region has at least five virtual-office providers offering a range of space - even in such posh addresses as One Liberty Place - and services. Costs range from at least $60 a month (for a corporate address to which mail can be sent) to $460 a month.

At American Executive, believed to be the region's largest locally based virtual-office provider (seven facilities), business is up 75 percent over the last year, said president G. Michael Howard. Lawyers account for 30 percent of new clients; entrepreneurs and start-up companies make up an additional 25 percent.

And for the first time in its 27-year history, Howard said, American Executive's virtual-office clients outnumber conventional tenants, 550 to 375.

For years, virtual-office users were typically global companies wanting a place to hold meetings during temporary visits.

But the concept's appeal has grown recently, in large part because of the recession, said Bruce Bard, owner of Intelligent Office, a virtual-office operator in Marlton with about 135 clients.

"When the times get tough, people look to drop their overhead expenses - to work from home or find cheaper alternatives without losing their professionalism," Bard said.

Nancy Fox, general manager of The Office Works in Trevose, called its virtual offices "the hybrid space between a post office box . . . and an actual physical office" secured by a long-term lease.

"It's a way to take that step forward during these hard times for people who are afraid to spend money," Fox said.

Owners of three local businesses with virtual offices shared their experiences last week.
 
Expand reach, enhance image

Brian Lureen still leases 2,500 square feet in Malvern's Great Valley Corporate Center for $5,800 a month.

But a year ago, the 47-year-old president and chief executive officer of Heritage Fincorp Inc., a wealth-management company, added through American Executive virtual-office space at the Radnor Financial Center for a monthly base price of $330. Some services are extra.

So satisfied is Lureen with the results - he has been able to expand his business reach to other markets without the expense of a conventional office lease and hiring more office staff - that he is about to enter into a second virtual arrangement. It will be with Executive Office Link Inc., of Malvern, where American Executive does not have a presence, but where Lureen has a home.

Why not just have a home office? The need for some space between his personal and professional life.

"I want to separate my house from clients and regulators," Lureen said.

At home, he also would not have the Radnor Financial Center's stunning decor: marble lobby floors, soaring skylights, lush garden boxes, soothing fountains.

"The virtual office enhances not only your business model, but also your professional image."
 
Minimalist, yet serviceable

Brian Pradon set his laptop on the cherry desk before him, contributing the sole personal touch to his virtual office in King of Prussia. The walls were bare, but for an American Executive Center-provided framed picture of the Great Wall of China bearing an inspirational message: "Teamwork. Many hands. Many minds. One goal."

Pradon shrugged off the austere surroundings. Personal effects, he said, belong "at home. Now, I'm on work mode."

At 31, the Valley Forge resident is operations manager for his family's Mack Employment Services, a staffing company with headquarters in Reading. It has five branch locations: Lancaster, Allentown, Harrisburg, Ephrata, and King of Prussia, the latter being the only virtual office. If such an option were available in the other markets, Pradon said, he would switch to it.

Converting from a traditional office lease to a virtual arrangement has saved his company about $1,800 a month, "which, to a small company, is significant," he said. That is especially true for his, he added, since Mack's business dropped 35 percent from 2008 to 2009.

In Pradon's virtual office, for $205 a month, his calls are answered and rerouted to him if he is on the road. His mail is collected. Packages are signed for. Copy machines are just across the hall - and bagels and cream cheese are served every Friday.

"You have what you need to do the job," Pradon said.

Lower rent, fewer hassles

Carole A. and Brian P. Cleere are virtual-office novices. On Feb. 1, they cut the cord on their conventional office, at the Wynnewood Shopping Center for the 23 years they have practiced law together.

They have jettisoned an $1,700 monthly rent and the hassles of maintaining an office with a staff of "one-and-a-half people" to answer the phone and handle some secretarial work.

In exchange, the Cleeres said, they have gained access for $330 a month (plus incidentals) to more extensive support services than they had, including paralegals, and more impressive digs - a 15,000-square-foot suite of meeting rooms and accessory areas on the third floor of a nine-story office building just off City Avenue.

"A stepped-up image" is what Brian Cleere, 71, called it, minus two staples of law-firm interiors - framed law degrees on the walls and shelves of brainy books.

Legal journals are so yesterday, it seems, replaced by online research opportunities. As for the professional certificates?

"They are in my home office, so I feel protected," Brian Cleere said. "My ego is still there.

Source: Philly.com

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