DALLAS – Like fax machines and desktop telephones, your individual office workspace may be headed for extinction.
More than half of corporate execs say they plan to switch to unassigned worker seating for all or some of their employees during the next three years. Instead of having their own desks, workers will grab an empty workstation when they come to the office in the morning.
Don't be late to work, or you could wind up sitting by the dumpster.
It's just one of the ways that employers are shaking up the traditional office environment to cut costs and — supposedly — increase productivity, according to a report by commercial real estate firm CBRE.
In the last decade, business employers have increasingly shifted from individual offices to open work environments. They usually say the moves are to increase collaboration among workers.
But major office users also acknowledge that they are slashing real estate costs with these shifts.
At a growing number of office centers, including JPMorgan Chase's new campus in Plano, Texas, and Liberty Mutual Insurance across the street, many workers don't have assigned desks and keep their personal items in a locker or cabinet when they leave.
"The modern workplace is in a state of transition as workplace design standards have evolved from traditional layouts with a mix of enclosed and open workspaces," CBRE research analyst Julie Whelan said in the report. "Managing employees through this change is critical, so that the initiative is viewed as being additive to productivity and wellness instead of a pure cost-cutting measure."
