Musical Chairs
Looking to save on steep office rent? Hoteling could help cut your overall expenses.
Two years ago, Lou Hoffman noticed many offices at his
professional services firm in San Jose, California, often sat empty
while their occupants traveled or visited clients. When Hoffman
actually figured out how ineffectively he was using his overall
office space, the amount of money being wasted made him squirm.
It turns out only 45 percent of the Hoffman Agency's space
was being effectively utilized. After searching for ways to improve
the situation, Hoffman discovered a concept called hoteling.
An emerging facilities management strategy, hoteling doesn't
assign employees desks for their permanent, personal use. Instead,
workers use a desk for as little as a few hours, relinquishing it
to the next employee once their work is done.
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Employing hoteling helped Hoffman set up a system where, for
one-third of his 65-person work force, two employees shared a
single desk on a rotating basis. Additional temporary workstations
helped handle occasional space conflicts and overflows. As the
company grew, Hoffman was able to stay in the same space,
postponing paying an extra $10,000 in monthly rent, for 10 months.
Adding the cost of rent plus savings acquired from not having to
relocate or furnish a new office, Hoffman figures hoteling saved
him approximately $130,000 in less than one year.
Those are the kinds of numbers that get companies'
attention--firms from IBM to Merrill Lynch have been utilizing
hoteling. And despite some drawbacks, indications are that they,
along with many other firms, have checked into hoteling for an
extended stay.
"What drives big companies to consider
hoteling--flexibility, space-use efficiency, functionality and
sensitivity to individual work schedules--also works for small
companies," says Ted Hammer, senior managing partner with HLW
International, an architectural and engineering firm in New York
City. "It's not a big or small thing; it's a
productivity thing."
Mark Henricks is an Austin, Texas, writer who specializes in
business topics and has written for Entrepreneur for nine
years.
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