With an increasing number of people working from home offices, the gradual change to virtual work has left empty spaces at many head offices.
Since most of these virtual workers are associated with a company, will that hub of the past, the corporate office, go the way of the dinosaur? With the technology now available for meetings, calls around the world and collaboration, many companies find that there are some employees that they have never seen in person.
More businesses are operating virtually at least part of the time and also using social media for a huge portion of their advertising. The meaning of going to work is quickly changing! The flexibility of having a home office that is plugged into others at their home offices makes the idea of a corporate office redundant. No longer is there any need for a central building where major operations are run.
There is also a growing trend toward virtual office locations, centres for business that provide office space for rent which can be used as a central mailing address or communication hub for large companies. These also provide business people with an office away from home when necessary, without allocating large amounts for an actual building.
One of the most important points to remember about the demise of the corporate office is that it puts all businesses on an even playing field. Efficiency and ability will rise to the top while overstaffed, over managed companies will find themselves lagging behind the forerunners. With a professional website or blog, small companies can now compete with those that are much larger and also have more financial backing on their side.
The present economy has also led to companies taking a hard look at where their finances are best used. Having employees work from their homes is one solution that has led to lower costs and in most cases, higher quality in service. A study by Cisco found that 60% of workers feel that in order to be productive, an office is no longer needed. Work revolves around you, not your location. Most would accept lower pay in order to gain this flexibility. Almost 50% said that they would work an extra 2 or 3 hours per day.
The history of small business, especially in Western society, has almost come full circle as the rush to inner city work has again led back to the business run from home. While most see this as an improvement, there are still many who are finding it hard to adjust to not having a boss overseeing their work.
Time will tell if this trend will continue or if at some point in the not so far off future, a balance will be found between those who are true entrepreneurs and those who are worker bees.
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image by Travis Isaacs
