The Ideal Office, Your Office Agent

The office of the Future is where companies balance cost reduction and employee efficiency with increased flexibility in both Workforce and Workplace.  Until now it was difficult for corporations to increase worker productivity, efficiency and well-being while decreasing personnel and real estate costs. Today there are agile workplace solutions which aim to find a solution to this age old problem by focusing on the following:

• Minimize real estate portfolios.
• Implement a mobile workforce strategy.
• Eliminate excess real estate or mothballed space.

It is seldom that we sound our own horn but the team here at Your Office Agent has resources to allow corporations to align fiscal objectives and workforce productivity with real estate, workplace and agile working needs.  With new technologies empowering employees to work virtually and remotely, and collaborate securely from anywhere, the cost of maintaining and operating the workplace can decrease, while productivity increases. Indeed, both HR and Admin costs have been shown to decrease, along with facilities costs, as employees become more mobile, while 60% of reduced commute time is typically used by employees for work.

Technology, sensors and analytics are applied to quantitatively determine a company’s specific officing requirement. Smart working techniques, such as hot desking, teleworking, hoteling, reverse hoteling, etc. are used to reduce the workspace that each employee needs by up to 50%. Your Office Agent also partners with the leading space efficiency implementers in this industry to make this agile working process seamless. The most important of these partners is Satellite Telework Centers, the only automated telework center network in the world.  These telework centers are ideally positioned to be implemented with little capital expenditure, no balance sheet liability and an ongoing cost that is typically less than companies can operate at themselves. Together, Your Office Agent and Satellite can set up fully automated, fully systemized, secure offsite workspace centers of any size to fit a mobile and dispersed workforce — or provide flexible seats at existing ones. Satellite is able to offer 24/7 access for each site’s members through its automated systems and technology, reducing commutes and CO2 emissions, while making space available near workers’ homes on the schedules they need. For many workers who have no appropriate space at home, these centers make teleworking, and its cost-saving, productivity and environmental benefits, possible.

As corporations globalize, the challenges of implementing a mobile workforce strategy can also be addressed with a new offering from the specialist team.  Your Office Agent’s solutions solve the worker productivity and IT security needs by offering centers throughout the world with plug in, collaborative and stand alone spaces, allowing employees to use their own laptops, hardware and security software.  A tailored solution is incorporated using Your Office Agent’s online network of 40,000 drop in spaces to map workforce needs to all available workplace inventories. Business analytics is now merged with a powerful, flexible real estate platform to align corporate initiatives with the perfect officing solutions.

The result of aligning a company’s business plan with their facility plan will inevitably be a significant reduction in space needs and increase in excess corporate space. Again, YOA can help turn this into revenue rather than cost by offering corporations a resource to eliminate excess real estate or mothballed space by helping incorporate a managed space model for other companies to rent or collaborate on a flexible basis.

This is one of the few office of the future blogs that we can’t score because we may have a slight bias but one thing is for sure.  The old brick and mortar outdated concept of low value commercial real estate advice and corporate large office solutions are gone, and companies of tomorrow need to have solutions available today. With today’s technologies and productivity tools workers can collaborate in real time, address business initiatives and move those initiatives to completion in workspaces that promote a better quality of life and allow for increased productivity.  Your Office Agent is uniquely positioned to collaboratively harness the needs of corporations, real estate firms, coworking companies and individuals into a shared platform to reduce costs and find the best workspace solutions.

On Friday, Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO made a statement telling all remote employees that, by June, they needed to be working in Yahoo offices.  Anybody who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, should quit.

Well, wait a second… I thought Yahoo of all companies would be, in part, leading the trend towards alternative working?  Alternative workplace environments fueled by the need to be productive while being sensitive to the employees work/life balance.  The same alternative Silicon Valley work environments made popular by Google and Yahoo as well as other young, tech start ups to promote a more effective collaborative work environment.  So what gives, why now is home working and mobile working not acceptable to Yahoo?

We know the officing trend is clearly moving toward coworking, homeworking, mobile working, alternative workspace or whatever else you want to call it.   Let’s just say the concept of officing is changing dramatically before our eyes for a number of reasons.  Many large companies are changing their stale corporate notion of what an office was, to accept a new notion of the future office which can increase productivity, save money, reduce resources, increase employees work/life balance and reduce their carbon footprint.  So why then is Yahoo moving all employees in house?

The answer as I see it is simple, they can’t manage their employees.  They are unable to account for remote workers productivity and manage initiatives effectively.  They have neglected to sufficiently develop their remote working management process.  Their move clearly supports the importance of a collaborative coworking environment coupled with the need for effective management.

Most corporations are like Yahoo in the sense that they have a diverse workforce,  personnel and responsibilities.  All corporations additionally want to reduce costs and increase productivity by placing workers in the most effective environments.  The issue is the corporations ability to manage and drive productivity through a diverse workforce.  There are a number of technologies available to aid in the management of specific business initiatives.  However the question is whether your organization is up to the task of managing those initiatives? Does your executive management team have a culture which can effective drive remote workforce management? What is your process to manage remote workers?

The question for executives today is not whether coworking is going to be a part of your corporations future, the answer is yes.  However, the question is what are you doing today to position yourselves to be able to effectively execute upon your corporate responsibilities with the coworking office staff of the future.  As always we give a score to what we see as the office of the future and this one will be difficult.  On one side the team here at your office Agent are the biggest proponents of teleworking out there and love to see companies implementing smart teleworking with the right support but on the other side this whole issue has shone such a light on doing the right thing at the wrong time for the right reasons – its complicated right?

As always we are going to have to rank the Yahoo effect as the office of the future based on the same 6 criteria as usual with 5 points being the maximum available per criteria :

A virtual office combines  address services with off-site technological communications enabling people to  lessen their overhead costs while still managing to keep business  professionalism intact. Not all people have the cash to fund and maintain a  traditional office; therefore, a virtual office can provide you with a  professional business address cutting down on your office expenses and at the  same time ensuring that you effectively run your business.

Today, there are now a number  of companies offering professional virtual office services, from the big  executive suites such as Regus to the newer and trendier coworking locations  such as WeWork.  With all the options inbetween there are thousands of options  from as little at $39 a month all over the world. These  companies will focus on jump-starting your business as soon as possible, while  you concentrate on strategies to promote and grow it. If you are a start-up,  setting up the virtual office can be done almost instantly. No need to worry  about office leases and rental rates since the premise of working in a central  office has been eliminated. Moreover, you won’t ever have to be bothered by the  morning rush since you don’t need to commute to your office. You and your  employees will have access to the virtual office by simply connecting to the  internet. That said, you can do your work even while on the go. Furthermore, you  work at your own pace and you make your own work schedule, thus lessening  work-related stress.

Getting professional virtual  office services from a reputable company will definitely be to your advantage.  Professional virtual office service companies employ experienced, multi-tasking  staff who are equipped to handle the needs of their clients. They will be the  one taking messages or handling calls for you, it is like you have your own  professional secretary but the difference is that you are only expected to pay for the services you use.In case the  secretary falls ill you won’t have to worry about the medical bills that would  be the problem of the virtual office company.

Aside from having someone to  take phones calls and messages for you, it is also important that you have a  professional city address where you can receive your mail and package deliveries when necessary. By using a virtual office service, you will also be provided  with a virtual business address, which will give your company a more  professional and prestigious feel.

There are over 1 billion mobile workers in the world today according to statistics from International data Corp and this number is due to rise to 1.3 Billion by 2015. This means that many more people are working from home, more companies are having to change their culture to reflect these new work style choices and the workplace of today looks or feels nothing like it used to. The visible impact of all this workplace change is that the coffee shops are filling up and this is a sign that we all still need some form of human interaction to keep moving forward in this new business world of ours.

Here is the question though. Have we gone from bad to worse? How great is it really to work in a coffee shop with the noise, the music, the people listening to our conversations. Surely there has to be a better way. The good news is that there is a better way, but only for those in the know. Over the last 5 years an industry has been growing at over 40% annually, while the rest of the world has seen falling production and output. This industry is the flexible office and meeting room space market and comprises of a growing number of international, national and local executive suite, coworking and bespoke meeting room venues who are catering to the mobile workforce. Not only are these workspace emporiums providing the exact solutions that companies and individuals need but they are doing it for less than the coffee cost in Starbucks.

So who are these providers of the workplace of the future. The biggest one is Regus business centers who now have over 1,300 locations worldwide and with their business world card you can get access to their business lounges for under $30 a month. This is on average less than the price of one Starbucks coffee per day for a workspace, unlimited coffee and filtered water, free wifi access and the pleasure of being surrounded by other people doing business rather than buying a cappuccino. Premier business centers also offer 16 hours meeting room access a month for their mailbox clients for $50. That’s $3.00 an hour for a boardroom. Coworking Spaces like Blank Spaces or WeWork allow access to desk space for $20 to $30 a day, where you are surrounded by other companies who are all encouraged the network and refer business to each other and if you look hard enough you can use this space for free in many locations. It is impossible to mention every option because there are over 10,000 around the world and all offer office and meeting rooms by the hour, day or month in an environment that works for your business. Your office Agent exist to educate companies for free about smarter ways to work and then guide you to the best one. This is the future of work.

As always we are going to have to rank the coffee shop though based on the same 6 criteria as usual out of a maximum score of 5 points for each criteria:

These days’ great entrepreneurs are coming straight from the classroom to the boardroom. The books make it look so easy and with the advances in technology it really is possible to go from poor student to Face book billionaire in a few short years, but only if you are careful not to let your mistakes cost you too much. The following are the seven sucker punches which will knock you out cold before you even get started. Beware:

The number one, two and three reason for such a high percentage of businesses failing (70%) in their first 3 years is insufficient cash flow. You have an amazing idea, you discuss its implementation with other people who are equally energized about it and launch headfirst into world domination. The problem is that most business don’t make any money until year 2 or 3. This means that, no matter how good the idea is, if you don’t have the cash to keep you going, then you are going down. Before taking one single step there needs to be a backup plan. It does not matter what the plan is (keep your job at the same time, get help from a friend, partner or parent, secure financial assistance from the bank or get a second job. Assume the worst and then the worst potential outcome is that you will be right.

Deadly sin number 4 is overspending on items which you think are important but they only feed those other businesses who are trying to excel thanks to your generosity. Examples of this are inflexible office space leases and overhyped marketing, which promises the world for just a few dollars more. The lure of a glitzy office building to impress your friends is overwhelming, as is the promise of your face in every face book ad there is, but you have to stop and take a breath.  Remember that you have just become a target for every Business to Business salesperson on this planet and you need to be able to see the helpers from the hustlers. The only word that matters to every pitch you are given is “why”. Why do I need this space? Is there a smarter and more agile alternative such as a virtual office, or a day office, or a coworking space / home office? Why is this marketing cost true value for my business?

Death nail number 5 is focusing on the detail of your service or product rather than trying to make money from your service or product. Not everyone is a perfect salesperson but everyone suddenly becomes the perfect boss in their own mind when they become CEO of their business and suddenly you are too good to sell. This rule is a biggie. Put your ego aside and hit the money shot hard in those first few days, weeks and months and don’t let up. If you can get sales in early then you can develop twice as quick but if you don’t get them in then you will have to deal with your worst demon – self doubt. Also focus on multiple sales channels so you can gauge what works and what does not.

Number 6 is listening to consultants. Listen to those who love you first. Your family has your best interests at heart. Then listen to people who are doing it right now, not those who have long forgotten what it is like to work and have one bright fleeting moment of greatness in-between a beer and a belch in the last century. Follow the guidance of doers, not advisors. The doers have felt the pain you are about to go through and can help you with some of the more expensive silly mistakes you are about to make.

Knockout punch number 7 is not being prepared for the task ahead and ultimately your own weakness. You have no concept of the world of work pain you are about to enter. Your party life is gone, your sports life is gone, your family life is gone and you will work 20 hours a day for less money than working in a 7/11.   After the first wonderful few months you will want to give up every day and those of you who need the right excuse will find it.  Those few who are left will ask yourselves why you are doing this for so little back – maybe it’s that remote possibility that you can make meaning, or the chance that you can change the direction of life just one small degree, or possibly the opportunity to be your own boss in a world where everyone is part of the herd.  To make it through the eye of this needle you will need to want it more than Rocky getting into the ring with Apollo Creed but just remember that after this point you will leave that ring a different fighter.  God Speed.

This week’s office of the future is focused on Deloitte’s officing philosophy and how they view the term work as something you do and not a place to go.  Over the past 20 years Deloitte have moved their office environment from a fixed space where everyone came to and had the right to their own walled office to a place which facilitates the work that needs to be done.  There is an important distinction here as generally companies allow their employees to have rights to a desk plot without thought for the amount of time the space is occupied or its use.

Deloitte solved this problem back in the 1990’s when they introduced reverse hoteling and hotdesking.  The primary goal at inception was for their staff to be efficient from the moment they arrived and to be able to work immediately without waste.   Today Deloitte have 40% of all their desk space  reserved for hoteling and the remainder is all allocated to the concept of reverse hoteling where employees give up their desks when they are not in the office.  What is even more staggering are their plans to increase the hoteling side of the equation to 70% as soon as they can. This will bring their square foot usage from 150 to half this number when all the office space moons align.

In Your Office Agent we just love when efficiency meets better work life balance and this company tick that box in a big way.  It also ticks most of the sustainability boxes too.  Mobile and home working are encouraged, less travel is needed, fewer buildings need to be build, less fit out is required in the space that is occupied and in general the seed of waste being good is not planted.  The other staggering aspect to this is the sheer scale of the task.  Deloitte have tens of thousands of employees in hundreds of offices all around the world.  They manage the efficiency of the work platform by implementing real-time technology such as onboard and phone switching along with empowering their team members to direct the hoteling movement like traffic cops in rush hour.  This team keeps desks clear, supplies at the ready, helps people find desks and manage the smooth running of the hoteling policy.  They don’t miss a beat.

Deloitte also point out that communication with the internal clients (their staff) is also vital and They train their managers to excel in this new environment and have a hoteling survey which goes out every quarter along with pre and post move surveys every time they implement or change a process.

Your Office Agent scorecard.

Our Ideal Office scorecard is always based on six criteria out of a maximum score of five points for each criteria. We adapt our criteria based on your feedback and the latest needs for office users, so please keep giving us your views so we can stay on track.

• Lease flexibility  and Space Agility – 4 (we do not know the lease terms yet but agility has to be a maximum with such a fluid workforce)
• Personal employee growth – 5 (surrounded by different people daily)
• Community collaboration  – 5 (this is only because it is managed so well)
• Premises look and feel – 4 (the concept has been adapted to older buildings too)
• Desire to be here  – 4 (not everyone loves hoteling but its well overdue)
• Employee work      life balance - 5 (you get to choose where you work from)

27 out of 30 is our best score yet and will be hard to beat.  Deloitte may not have the prettiest desks or the brightest colors or table football for all their employees but they have one important concept which trumps all the rest.  Do what you need to do as efficiently and quickly as you can so you can get on with the rest of your life.  Maybe they are on to something..