Office Buildings

The office building is a very tangible reflection of a profound change in employment patterns that occurred over the last one hundred years. In the U.S., northern Europe, and Japan, at least 50 percent of the working population is employed in office settings as compared to 5 percent of the population at the beginning of the 20th century. However, today's office buildings are experiencing even more change due to the recent pandemic. The office is now a place for collaboration, talent recruitment, onboarding, and inspiration with new requirements and expectations that combine physical spaces with technologically supported ways to work, in the office or remotely.

Typically, the life-cycle cost distribution for a typical service organization is about 3 to 4 percent for the facility, 4 percent for operations, 1 percent for furniture, and 90 to 91 percent for salaries. As such, if the office structure can leverage the 3 to 4 percent expenditure on facilities to improve the productivity of the workplace, it can have a very dramatic effect on personnel contributions representing 90 to 91 percent of the service organization's costs.