New Research Reveals Untapped Potential for Real Estate Savings Through Alternative Workplace Solutions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joe Aki Ouye, New Ways of Working (831) 392-6060 Joe.ouye@newwow.net
PACIFIC GROVE, CA -- October 29, 2008 – In these volatile economic times, organizations are looking for ways to reduce fixed costs and are closely examining their real estate portfolios, typically their largest expense after people and technology. Yet, many organizations are ignoring a largely untapped resource: acres of empty desks. Technology has freed employees to work virtually anywhere – and they are doing so each day.
A study released today by New Ways of Working, a member organization focused on alternative workplace solutions, found that more than a quarter of employees in leading edge organizations do not work in a traditional workspace. Yet, 73% of respondents still assigned a dedicated workspace to these workers, therefore not realizing the full potential of space savings.
Even among those who “go to the office,” many have no assigned workstation or office. Of those who were reported as mobile employees (13%), nearly half (45%) are mobile within the office – attending meetings, working collaboratively with team members, or checking emails while in the company cafeteria.
And these figures tell only the official story. “The actual mobility rate is much higher as employees don’t wait to be formally enrolled in a program, but literally vote with their feet and seats, “says Joe Ouye, co-founder of New Ways of Working. “All they need is a laptop and a broadband connection.”
At Sun Microsystems, almost 20,000 employees (more than 56% of the workforce) work away from the office at least one or two days a week. “In 2007, our Open Work program saved the company nearly $68 million in real estate costs,” says Ann Bamesberger, vice president of Open Work, Sun's 14-year-old distributed work program. She adds, "Throughout my career with Sun, I've found that when employees have technology solutions that enable a choice of work styles and work places, there is a direct positive impact on job satisfaction and work/life balance."
Most corporations haven’t caught up with this fact. “Next time you go to a corporate office, walk around and take an informal survey of the seat occupancy,” Ouye adds. “It is typically between 35 to 45%, far below what managers think it is.“
Other key findings from the survey:
- The top drivers of alternative workplace solutions are employee related –work / life balance (81%) and attraction / retention (69%). Cost savings (66%) were the third-most frequently mentioned driver.
- A variety of work locations and workspaces are provided at leading companies including on-site flexi/drop-in/touchdown spaces (94%), home-based offices (78%), satellite offices (47%) and non-company locations (41%).
- Of all companies providing support for home work environments for employees, 69% had employees spending three or more days working at home, 8% spent two days and 23% spent one day a week.
- Most companies (69%) consider employee satisfaction as their top metric for measuring performance of their alternative workplace program. While 53% of them measure square footage reduction, interestingly almost one fifth of them (19%) do not measure anything.
- No surprise, middle management concerns continue to be the dominant barrier for implementing virtual work environments.
The survey, a benchmark study of alternative workplace solutions, was conducted by New Ways of Working and sponsored by Sun Microsystems with assistance from the Helsinki University of Technology. Thirty-two Fortune 500 companies participated in the invitation-only web survey, representing a wide range of enterprises including finance, government, manufacturing, technology, healthcare, consulting, research, and construction. Organizations from Canada, USA, Finland, China and Germany participated. Combined, these companies represented about 1.5 million employees, ranging from 100 to 299,000 employees per organization.
About New Ways of Working:
New Ways of Working (New WOW) is an interactive network of organizational innovators - people who are transforming their work environment – or preparing to do so. New WOW researches and exchanges knowledge of how the integration of the worlds of human resources, information technology, and the workplace can lead to greater productivity and engagement.
For more information on New Ways of Working, please visit www.newwow.net
To learn more about Sun's Open Work platform, visit www.sun.com/openwork
