Green Office Blog - Where Have All the Office Workers Gone?

Where Have All the Office Workers Gone?

Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 01:12 AM
Posted by Administrator

See all those high rise office buildings in your city? Full of corner offices and cubicles? Filled with managers and their staff toiling away, working hard...

Wait a minute. Perhaps there aren’t that many people in all those office buildings after all.

Greenbiz.com in an October 27 article , talked with John Anderson, president and CEO of PeopleCube in Framingham, Mass. Anderson, according to the Greenbiz.com article, says that “[r]eal estate executives and facility managers at medium to large companies are sometimes way off when it comes to occupancy rates.... Most think their facilities are being used 80 or 90 percent of the time. Upon tracking the data, they are often surprised to learn that they are using their space less than 50 percent of the time.” (Emphasis ours.)

The reason employees aren’t there as much as one would expect?

They’re working at home. They’re telecommuting.

“Facilities represent the second highest expense for large businesses and the No. 1 manufacturer of emissions, according [to] Anderson. Many employers are paying too much to heat and cool conference rooms that are hardly used and to illuminate cubicles too often left empty. Allowing employees to telecommute from home at least part of the week could cut costs significantly.”

Darn straight! If half of your employees worked from home, just think of the cost savings in energy usage. Have half your employees telecommute and the savings would allow you to purchase all your telecommuters a great ergonomic desk chair for their home offices....