Office space evolution: companies going smaller, cheaper and mobile.

• Author: Dano, Mike
• Position: REAL ESTATE REPORT

Perhaps unsurprisingly, a hot topic of discussion these days is how companies can capitalize on technologies that untether and mobilize employees. If an employee can move from a desktop to laptop computer, can that employee suffice with a smaller desk? If the contents of a file cabinet can he digitized and saved onto that laptop, can a company reduce its physical space? And if that employee can take his or her laptop home and work from there, does the company need an office at all?

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"It's definitely a topic of conversation with almost every client in some from or fashion," acknowledged Dan McGowan, senior vice president at the Denver branch of Jones Lang LaSalle, a financial-services firm focusing on commercial real estate. McGowan represents companies in Colorado that are negotiating new office leases.

He pointed to a client's recent lease as an example of how these converging trends are beginning to transform companies' spatial needs. He said the client--an environmental consulting firm that declined to be identified--was able to reduce its office footprint by almost 35 percent evaluating exactly how the work space is used. With employees meeting customers, visiting work sites and producing with equal effectiveness from home, "It turned out only 65 percent of them were in the office space at the same time," McGowan said.

In response, the company issued laptops to each of its employees and reworked its layout by eliminating assigned desks. Now employers on-site are able to select an open seat and have their calls dynamically routed to any desk they are working from that day. Employees can also work from home or a coffee shop if they have no pressing reason to be in the office. To ensure accountability the company invested in software to track employees' productivity so no one slips through the cracks.

"It was really just the culture of that company that has really embraced the concept," McGowan explained, adding that a 35 percent reduction in space is an "extreme example" of the trend toward a more mobile work force. But "I think the trend is that there will he more. ... It just allows people a little hit more freedom."

Added McGowan: "Could I work remotely? I absolutely could."

Jennie Nevin has similar examples. The owner of Green Spaces, a multi-site co-working facility, said that a group of architects recently decided to position their business in Green Spaces rather than purchase dedicated office space.

Co-working...