1. How much do flexible work arrangements improve employee productivity?
GROUP 10:
Cameron Weaver Elizabeth Gratale Katie Bennett Casey Dunlevie
Virtual Office
How much do flexible work arrangements improve employee productivity?
Or do they?

2. Virtual Office Workers Traditional Office Workers
SKIT
Virtual Office Workers
Traditional Office Workers
Casey Dunlevie
Elizabeth Gratale
Cameron Weaver
Katie Bennett

3. Agenda: What is a virtual office? Advantages Disadvantage Conclusion
Disadvantages
Conclusion

4. What is a Virtual Office?
Definition: “mobile or work environment equipped with telecommunication links and basic office furniture, but without a fixed office space”-Business Dictionary
Talk about some background info
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

5. Increase in Teleworkers in U.S.
In 2001, “one in five workers in the workforce worked at home, at a telework satellite office, on the road, or some combination of the three”

6. What is a Virtual Office?
Forms
Hoteling/shared offices
Satellite offices
Home office
Telecommuting
rare that a business will stick to one form of virtual office if any
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

7. Hoteling: Maximize office space
Reserve space or set up permanent hours
Can be customized
Ernst & Young: employees were out of the office 3 or 4 times a week.
These were the employees that worked with a lot of clients
Andersen Consulting and Ernst & Young recognized that many employees worked with clients out of the office three to four days a week while their offices were vacant.
AT&T also noticed this trend and found that up to six people could use the same office space formally assigned to one
Signing up for offices reduces competition and jealously among employees where the location of an office dictates status in the workplace.
most advanced hotel workspace is customized with the individual’s personal photos
feel less alienated when they go to the office, and gives them a sense of comfort and familiarity.
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

8. Satellite Offices: Network of smaller offices Suburban locations
Deloitte & Touche: SmartSpace Program
SmartSpace-Deloitte has a bunch of small offices all over Manhattan
good solution for people that find it difficult to work at home but don’t want to drive the long distance to work.
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

9. Home Office: Designated space New construction of homes
Equipped with right technology
Organized
When compared to Japan, where homes usually do not provide extra space for an office, one can see why a good space for a home office is essential for the virtual office trend

10. Home office:
Not this…
This…

11. Telecommuting: Working from anywhere Always connected with technology
General Dennis J. Reimer, the US Army's chief of staff says, “the network allows me to be productive and to maintain a pulse on what is happening whether I'm in Washington or overseas. It not only saves travel costs but also enables collaborative teamwork across organizational and geographic boundaries around the globe"
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

12. Technology: Laptop Docking station Cell phone with e-mail Scanner
Video camera
High speed Internet
Software
Regus
Officescape
Google Docs
Instant messaging
Web conferencing
TelePresence
software as well as websites that help virtual employees stay connected and share documents and information easily. Regus and Officescape are just two of the many websites that help people establish a successful virtual office.
Even google has ways to help share documents
AT&T had slashed its own travel budget and installed about a dozen "telepresence" sites throughout the company.
telepresence may very well change the way the world's largest companies do business. Corporations like Procter & Gamble and Wachovia are investing as much as $300,000 a site on Cisco's room-size, multiscreen, high-definition systems, which allow employees in Tokyo to feel as though they're in the same room and sitting at the same conference table as employees in New York.
offers users life-size, panoramic images of meeting participants, captured with multiple high-def cameras and high-quality audio
expects sales to reach $1 billion by 2011….in 2007 it was 72 million
put up to a dozen people around the virtual conference table
can cut travel costs (and carbon emissions) and save employees time. The increased "face to face" communication can improve business relationships, and decisions can be made more quickly.
The Regus Group, which rents out offices and meeting rooms throughout the world, plans to add Cisco systems at 50 locations.

13. 2007 Survey of 200 users of Web Conferencing Technology
2007 survey by Wainhouse of 200 users of web conferencing technology. …technologies people use when they telecommute

14. For Students How many use Blackboard?
How many have taken an online class?
How many have taken a class with a live feed of a professor in another location?

15. Advantages: Business Employee Environment Virtual Office Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

16. Business Advantages: Increased productivity Cost-efficiency
Reduced absenteeism by 50%
Cost-efficiency
Employee Retention
Broadens labor market
Studies also show teleworkers put in up to fifty percent more hours and reduce company costs up to fifty percent as well
Higher profits are achieved using the virtual office because of reduced real estate costs,
Decreased maitenance
Deloitte & Touche, for example, observed that at any one time forty percent of the space was not occupied because staff members were out at staff meetings or working off-site
AT&T has also noticed the trend and has saved over $550 million since 1991 just by eliminating offices people do not need
Money saved by reducing the real estate costs can be better allocated to provide more technology, hire new employees, and invest in new projects and research.
that American Express’s alternative workplace initiatives help the company retain experienced employees who find the flexibility to work from home especially attractive
survey at IBM revealed that eighty seven percent believed that their personal productivity and effectiveness on the job have increased significantly.”
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

17. Cost Efficiency of AT&T’s First Shared Offices in Morristown, NJ:
Before
After
Square Feet
45,000
27,000
Annual Rent
$1.2 M
$0.7M
Persons
196
225
Annual Rent per Person
$6,100
$3,100
Annual Savings
N/A
$463,500
AT&T’s first shared offices in Morristown, NJ,
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

18. Employee Advantages: Improves quality of life Flexible hours
Balanced lifestyle
Healthier
Reduces stress
For example some employees work best early in the morning or late at night instead of the traditional nine to five work day.
that American Express’s alternative workplace initiatives help the company retain experienced employees who find the flexibility to work from home especially attractive
No fast food
Able to work out
. Through employee surveys, Jeffrey Hill, a project manager for IBM Global Employee Research has shared why virtual offices work for his employees. One employee enjoyed “coaching [his] daughter’s soccer team at 3:30 in the afternoon” and another was celebrating “eating breakfast with [his] family for the first time in fifteen years at IBM”
David House, from American Express, gave a manager in one of their divisions the permission to take a position in a Chicago office but live in Michigan. If American Express had not given her this option, she would not have remained loyal to the company and left. House also says, “this is a quality of life issue for the employee, but for the company it is an issue of finding the best person for the job”
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

19. Case Study IBM Teleworkers:
“I enjoy coaching my daughter’s soccer team at 3:30 in the afternoon.”
“I can finally eat breakfast with my family for the first time in 15 years at IBM.”
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

20. Employee Advantages: Saves money
Opportunities for mothers and people with disabilities
Companies such as McKesson in Arizona “have been able to attract a different workforce by using technology to allow employees to work from home [such as] those with disabilities and those who are retired. McKesson specifically targets those populations to increase the applicant pool for its positions”
Deloitte & Touche, is a reason why they are one of Fortune’s “One Hundred Best Companies to Work For.” This same flexibility has earned them Working Mothers “One Hundred Best Companies for Working Mothers”
People have the opportunity to spend more time with their families and work at a time when they are most productive.
Save money on gas, wear and tear on a car, child-care, business clothing, dry-cleaning, and eating out.
on taxes by working out of their home and claming a home office to the IRS
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

21. Environmental Advantages:
Reduced need for transportation
Pollution
Reduced by >4,500 pounds of CO2/year in Arizona
Fuel consumption
Reduced by 250 gallons/employee/year in Arizona
These decreases in commute time and distance will in turn decrease the amount of pollution in the air.
The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) conducted a virtual office evaluation project and found that the impact of virtual offices reduced fuel consumption in Arizona by more than 250 gallons per employee per year. They also concluded that there was reduced pollution by more than 4,500 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. Public and environmental savings reached more than $5,200 per year per employee
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

22. What are some disadvantages of Virtual Office?

23. Disadvantages What are some disadvantages to the virtual office?
Lack of face-to-face interactions
Blurry line between work life and home life
Temptation of slacking, becoming unprofessional
Lack of cohesion and unity with the company
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

24. Lack of face-to-face interaction:
Better to take care of business immediately and in person
Avoid chains and phone tag
Stifles creativity and idea creation
Prevents interoffice camaraderie
If you didn’t work in an office, you’d be missing out on this…
Its Getting Hot in Here: Scranton Style
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

25. Case Study Advertising Agency. Employees were concerned…
How do people know how hard I’m working?
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

26. Case Study Advertising Agency. Employees were concerned…
“How do people know how hard I’m working?”
“How do I overhear the important things, since no one bothers to tell me anything?”
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

27. Case Study Advertising Agency. Employees were concerned…
“How do people know how hard I’m working?”
“How do I overhear the important things, since no one bothers to tell me anything?”
“I’m afraid of being out of touch.”
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

28. Blurry line between work and home:
Not a sense of “I leave my work when I leave at 5pm.”
Feel “on duty” even around family members
Company's exploitation
of workers' free time
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

29. Case Study IBM Teleworkers: Virtual Office Advantages Disadvantages
“Even vacation time blends into work time unless I go somewhere.”
“I am always at work… between 5 a.m. and midnight, seven days a week.”
Unintentionally long hours, fewer external cues to stop
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

30. Temptation of Slacking
Slovenliness
Set your own schedule--
“This can wait until later.”
Less monitoring of employees
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

31. Lack of cohesion and unity:
Lack of shared office space and experiences
No dress code
Other office artifacts: logos, notepads, etc
Wiesenfield: “Virtual employees are the least likely to be exposed to organizational factors that have traditionally strengthened member identification.”
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

32. Eat Your Candy and Watch This:
Good Office Worker vs. Bad Office Worker

33. When calculated, the statistics for the benefits versus drawbacks come out roughly the same….

35. Conclusion: Our Opinion
Each company and personality differ in what works
Generation discrepancy as generation X and Y enters the workforce
Personal responsibility and work habits determine which method is better
Kim Heartwell, vice president of RKTL Associates in Washington, D.C., said that “whether it is fast growth or long-term growth, the more flexibility you put into the workspace and the more variety you have for accommodating different work styles, the easier it is to accommodate the ups and downs—the people leaving the workforce and those coming into it”
“although not all employees will be going mobile and offices are in no danger of disappearing, the way people work is changing, and the work environment must change to keep pace with the future”
Is it fair for businesses to say some people can and some people can’t, some jobs are better than others, differentiation is an issue
Same person and same job will go through different cycles, some phases it works
Virtual Office
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

36. Virtual Office (Remember we gave you candy..)
Katie Bennett
Elizabeth Gratale
Virtual Office (Remember we gave you candy..)
Cameron Weaver
Casey Dunlevie