Companies have a problem with overcrowded offices! Remote work is the only salvation?

As the Iron Mountain report explains, companies are having trouble with overcrowded offices, despite working remotely. The place is taken not only by employees, but also by documents. As a rule, decisions about improving or increasing the space are made only after noticing that there is not enough space. This ad hoc measure, without prior planning for an increase in the demand for space, leads to financial losses and not using the full potential of the office. As evidenced by Iron Mountain data, 83 percent. Data migration situations cause problems in the organization, and document storage is still a big problem. Remote working may be a rescue for them.

Remote work and office space management

Due to the pandemic and the sudden need to implement remote work, offices are deserted. Then it turned out that the companies were using too much space and thus incurring additional costs. The problem is that such situations are only responded to “after the event” and not preemptively.

– In my experience, this step is mainly taken by organizations for which there is not enough space. Office reorganization is mainly concerned with organizations with a dispersed structure, with many branches, as well as those occupying several floors in one building. Our analyzes also show that more than 60% of organizations report that they will over budget during mergers or acquisitions, confirming that the aspect of sound property management is also critical for organizations undergoing restructuring. – said Krzysztof Szkólski, Director of Business Development at Iron Mountain.

Remote work on the one hand, and office overcrowding on the other

As Iron Mountain points out, Polish offices are in many cases overcrowded with unnecessary resources that are not used in daily activities. at 83 percent. Data migration generates organizational problems, and “clustering” is the result of an organizational culture of collecting everything and decreasing awareness of space optimization. The report shows that the larger the office, the more unnecessary IT equipment, documentation and marketing materials that have no real value, which still generates costs and the risk of financial penalties. (If only due to GDPR).

– Our observations show that Polish companies are still hoarding far more resources than necessary. This is confirmed by the fact that organizations that decided to reconfigure their offices with the help of our Clean Start service, on average, moved more than 250 cubic meters of documents outside their premises. Even if some resources – mostly accountants – are already organized, digitized or stored externally in the company, a large part of the documents are collected by employees who do not always know how long they should be stored, when they should be destroyed and how to do it safely. As a result, piles of unnecessary paper documents take up valuable office space, exposing the organization to costs. In addition, if the documents contain sensitive data, in case of examination and detection of non-compliance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation, this may lead to the imposition of financial penalties. – explains Krzysztof Szkólski, Iron Mountain’s director of business development.

Remote work as an opportunity to improve office space

Iron Mountain reports that 80 percent. Employees prefer to work in mixed mode, which affects the use of space in offices. Therefore, it is time for companies to start cleaning their offices and make the best use of the space. Therefore, experts advise doing it early to avoid additional costs later and not to make mistakes.

– So far, businesses have strived to make the most of space in the office. This will definitely change in the near future. I am convinced that the arrangements will dominate the hot plates allowing the shape of the work to be rotated. Employees expect more and more flexibility from their employers – both in terms of where they perform their duties and when they work. Even more than half of employees today declare that they are ready to leave a company that does not guarantee flexible working conditions. The office of the future should also be arranged so that it can be reconfigured as smoothly as possible in response to sudden circumstances or changes in team members’ expectations. I think the trend of freeing up space for all unnecessary items is also emerging quickly — Summarizes Krzysztof Szkólski, Director of Business Development at Iron Mountain.