ATLANTA - As debate flourishes around
the practice of teleworking and the recent decisions by Yahoo! and Best Buy to restrict working from home, companies need to carefully address and articulate their workplace strategy, advises CoreNet Global, the premiere professional association for corporate real estate and workplace professionals.

One way to do this is to measure "quality of life per square foot," and give knowledge workers a stronger voice in influencing major changes, including the way workspaces are designed.

The group's 7,800+ members directly influence the design and operation of corporate workplaces worldwide.

"Workplace strategy is a vitally important aspect of corporate
organizations, because it directly influences outcomes with branding,
human resources management, real estate, sustainability, site selection and risk management," said Richard Kadzis, Vice President at CoreNet Global. "It is not a one-size-fits-all proposition."

Out of necessity, how a company manages these options will be unique to that entity, Kadzis added. "But one thing is certain. Workplace strategy is a vital business-enabling resource that has caught the eye of the CEO, because it dictates a company's success in many other areas. It enables employee engagement, creative interchanges, innovation and, ultimately, competitive advantage and shareholder value."

With as much as 70 percent of the U.S. workforce either not engaged or actively disengaged on the job, the economic and competitive stakes are getting higher, as is the value of human capital.

That's one reason why the advocacy statement recommends that corporate real estate executives shift away from traditional "two-dimensional metrics" for productivity like cost per square foot or revenue per employee. In some companies, a more pronounced partnership is emerging between the corporate real estate and human resources sides of the corporate shared services suite.

CoreNet Global therefore advocates that its members work more closely with their counterparts in HR to develop a more quantitative, empirical way to measure productivity around the concept of "Quality of Life per Square Foot."

Click here to view the CoreNet Global position statement advocating
quality of life per square foot measurements.

NOTE: The "Quality-of-Life per square foot approach" to real estate is a philosophy developed and espoused by Sodexo, a CoreNet Global Strategic Partner.

Numerous related case studies are documented within CoreNet Global including:

Inside the Life and Times of Google

MyWork at Bank of America: From Concept to Capability

Gensler on the Value of Human Capital

Steelcase on The Next Office: Why CEO's Are Paying Attention

To access these and other case studies, please contact
rkadzis@corenetglobal.org

With more than 7,800 members internationally, CoreNet Global is the world's leading professional association for corporate real estate and workplace executives, service providers, and economic developers.

Please visit www.corenetglobal.org for more information.