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Sunday, January 5, 2014

In the search for savings, the workplace gets an overhaul

The mobile workforce necessitates new office designs for on premises space. Today's post was shared by The Green Workplace and comes from www.theglobeandmail.com


The fifth floor of Manulife Financial Corp.’s stately headquarters on Toronto’s Bloor Street East sat empty during a recent tour, the workers having vacated about a week earlier.
The traditional offices on the periphery of the floor, in many different sizes and configurations, are destined to become a relic of the past.
Vancouver's real estate scene; Fairview slopes townhouses under construction (foreground) and high rise condo towers in the city's Yaletown district, May 3, 2013.
Vancouver's real estate scene; Fairview slopes townhouses under construction (foreground) and high rise condo towers in the city's Yaletown district, May 3, 2013.


The Canadian Press

MARKET VIEW

Video: Market View: Canada's housing market poised for stable 2014
A for sale sign outside townhouses in the Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver on Monday, March 4, 2013.
A for sale sign outside townhouses in the Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver on Monday, March 4, 2013.
That space will soon be open, well-lit and dotted with smaller workstations like the ones two floors below, where there is also a lounge area reminiscent of a modern coffee shop.
Manulife, one of the country’s largest life insurers, is embarking on a massive overhaul of its offices, one that will make more efficient use of its real estate by changing the way its employees work.
The company plans to increase the proportion of its work force that is mobile – that is, working remotely or dividing time between multiple locations – to 30 per cent.
Currently, that number stands at less than 5 per cent. It also intends to...
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