In a Chiat/Day office people will not have a desk, a telephone or a computer. Instead, they will have their own cellular phones and notebook computers. Nor will there be any need for filing cabinets - all documents will be saved in a computer network. Chiat/Day has long dispensed with the divisive walls and obsessive privacy of the conventional office. In the 1970s the company became open plan and now intends to replace this approach with an office organized around public meeting places.
The skeptical might suggest that what happens in a fashionable and trendy advertising agency in Los Angeles has little bearing on the office world elsewhere. They would be wrong. Offices are taking on radical new shapes and appearances as organizations come to terms with new technology and the increased expectations of customers and staff. This means that the old stereotype of an office is fast approaching extinction - except in television comedies where the sturdy desk, utilitarian chair and grey filing cabinet can still be seen (usually accompanied by an unused year planner, a pot plant and a family portrait).
As the pace of technological change continues at break-neck speed, the new world of the office is one of high-tech wizardry, color and creature comforts - from being unadorned cells, offices now resemble a combination of computer salesroom, hotel lobby and conservatory. The talk is of ergonomics as well as economics. The simple things in office life can no longer be taken for granted. The humble desk is no longer sacrosanct. The desk of the average executive once had to simply bear a hefty weight of paper. Now, instead of in-trays, they are likely to carry a computer, printer, telephone and fax. They might also have a desktop videoconferencing system or the latest in desktop photocopiers.
Of course, the way offices look is closely tied up with the way people work. Changes in working practices are propelling offices towards the next century. The growing emphasis on team working, for example, means that desks are no longer set apart in glorious isolation, but grouped together. Indeed, as Chiat/Day is attempting to prove, managers don't necessarily have to have a desk. The office world is championing the idea of 'hot desking' - this means that people do not have a fixed place of work. Desks are regarded as corporate resources so people move from one to another depending on the task in hand.
While 'hot desking' is a fashionable term, it is nothing new - people like auditors and VAT inspectors have been doing it for years. And while it sounds attractive for companies, there is often a lot of reluctance among people to give up their desks. They like the security of working in the same place every day.
The emphasis on increasing productivity and efficiency among managers and office workers has led many major corporations to seek professional advice. There are a growing number of specialists whose services cover everything from carpeting to reconfiguring office layouts and buying the furniture. Companies are only now paying more attention to the cost implications of their offices. In the past, they tended to select a particular location without thinking about planning the office configuration, their furniture needs or even calculating running costs. The trouble with turning your office into an ergonomic triumph is the expense. The office equipment market is thought to be worth around £1.5 billion in the United Kingdom alone and the office furniture market adds many more noughts to corporate budgets. Smaller and less well-off companies are likely to blanche at the cost of bringing in interior designers to decide what color of carpet will create the right atmosphere for their business.
There is no escaping the fact that offices are highly expensive. Take away the empty nights, weekends and holidays and you have an enormously expensive asset utilized for 21 per cent of the year - equivalent to 76 out of 365 days,' says Bruce Lloyd of South Bank Business School.' The trend, therefore, is for large offices to be abandoned as companies seek out flexibility - there were 250 planning applications in 1994 to switch properties from office use to housing in London alone.
The temptation is to regard the cost of your office in a different light from other business expenses. Businesses often fail to consider the level of return on their investment in office space. Research has shown that a maximum of only 5 to 10 per cent of an office building yields any return at all. Often the real return is about one-third of this figure. Independent calculations from large organizations come to the same conclusions. Based on a total possible utilization of 365 days a year, the figure is arrived at after making allowance for a five-day week, an eight-hour day, holidays, sickness, late arrivals and early departures. The time utilization of office space clearly represents an appalling return on capital employed.
The true figures are probably even worse than this when space utilization is also accounted for. Large portions of office buildings are often taken up with expansive reception areas. Many contain offices that are constantly unused. It is probably fair to say that the real utilization of office space must often be in the region of single figure percentages.
Key questions
- Why do you need an office?
- Could you set up an office at home?
- Who will work in the office?
- Could they work at home?
- Who will visit the office?
- What do they expect to find?
- If you really do need an office how can you ensure it is fully utilized?
- The office at home
