The rising cost of an empty desk

Facilities

ISSN: 0263-2772

Article publication date: 1 January 2000

331

Keywords

Citation

(2000), "The rising cost of an empty desk", Facilities, Vol. 18 No. 1/2. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2000.06918aab.017

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2000, MCB UP Limited


The rising cost of an empty desk

Keywords Sick leave, Costs

Businesses could be wasting as much as £12,000 a year to maintain unused desks, claims Regus, the world's largest operator of business centres.

"The average UK employee spends almost a month away from work through holiday entitlement and sick leave, which means that companies employing ten or more people will have the equivalent of at least one desk free all year round. Add this to increases in parental leave and business travel and the desk in the corner soon becomes a business liability", claims Clive Hammond, director of Regus.

Research by Regus found that the cost of maintaining unused workstations can be quite considerable. Taking into account heating, lighting, maintaining and updating depreciating equipment, servicing and the cost of floor space, the average cost of running a desk in the UK is £46 a day.

Hammond said:

The traditional method of renting office space by the square foot no longer reflects how many organisations operate, or the continual changes in staffing levels which most businesses experience. Changes in working patterns also mean that this discrepancy will continue to increase as more and more people work away from the traditional office environment.

The introduction of hot-desking, flexible working, overseas assignments and the rise of business travel means many organisations are already operating quite fluid structures. In addition the Henley Centre estimates that by 2010 50 per cent of the UK workforce will be working from home. This, combined with proposed changes to employment law extending maternity leave by four weeks and introducing a 13-week parental and 13-week paternity leave entitlements, means that the trend is likely to continue.

Hammond said:

Although employees are spending more time away from the office, businesses are still being restricted by conventional, short- and long-term leases on property. Many companies are now turning to business centres as an answer to the problem, renting office accommodation by the number of workstations rather than the number of square feet.

Regus' claim that savings can be made by renting offices in a business centre is substantiated by independent research conducted by The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply which found that, even in London, companies are making savings of up to 69 per cent on traditional property leases by using fully serviced business centres as an alternative.

For a free, no obligation evaluation of how your company can reduce accommodation costs and increases efficiency, call 00800 5222 5333.

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