What Provisions Corporations Offer Telecommuters for

Home Offices 164 Summary 173

Chapter 8. Creating Policy and Applying Traditional Law in the

Alternative Worl\place 175 Preparing Alternative Workplace Policies 175 The Basics of Labor Law As Applied in the Alternative

Workplace 176 Property Damage and Liability Insurance 180 Zoning and Tax Issues 181 Summary 184

Part 3. Industry: Case Studies on Alternative Worl<place Environments and Strategies

Chapter 9. Case Studies: Companywide New Worl\place Strategies

187 Introduction 187 Amdahl's New e/n/v/i/r/o/n/s Project and the Workplace

Project, 1992 to the Present 188 Autodesk, 1993 to the Present 193 The Canadian Government's Consulting and Audit Canada

Agency: Hoteling, 1996 Through 1997 196 Cigna, 1996 to the Present 201 NCR America's Virtual Workplace Program, 1994 to the

Present 205 Southern California Edison's New Workplace Business

Strategies 210 Tandem Computers, 1993 to the Present 215

Chapter 10. Case Studies: Design That Supports the New

Worl\place 225 Introduction 225 Axiom Business Consulting, San Francisco, California,

1995 226 BBDO West, Los Angeles, California, 1996 228 Benevia, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, Illinois, 1996 231 Deloitte & Touche, New York City, 1996 235

Fallon/McElligott/Duffy, Inc" Minneapolis, Minnesota,

1994 238 Gould Evans Goodman, I(ansas City, Missouri, 1996 241 HotWired, a Division of Wired Ventures, San Francisco,

California, 1996 245 I(PMG Peat Marwick, Radnor, Pennsylvania, 1995 248 MCI Boston Rally Center, Boston, Massachusetts, 1996

252 0+0 Software, Inc" Naperville, Illinois, 1996 257 The Steelcase Leadership Community, Grand Rapids,

Michigan, 1995 261

Chapter 11. Building a New Worl\place from Scratch 265 76 Products' Headquarters: Costa Mesa, California, 1996

266 The New York Information Technology Center, New York

City: 1997, Work-in-Progress 270 Pfizer Headquarters, New York City: 1997, Work-in­

Progress 274

Appendix A: Sample Cost-Benefit Analysis for a Telework

Center from the Employer's Point of View 279

Appendix C: Sample Housekeeping and Reservation Sheet

Appendix E: Sample Telecommuting Screening Survey for

Appendix F: Sample Telecommuting Agreement Template

Appendix B: Client Questionnaire for Use As an

Alternative Workplace Readiness Test 281

for Hoteling 283 Appendix D: Sample Telecommuter'S Home Office

Inspection Guidelines and Employee Checklist 284

Employees 287

290 Appendix G: Sample Text Template for Telecommuting

Policy 294

Glossary 299 Notes 303 References 306 Resources 309 Index 315

viii CON TEN TS

.. ~

Figure 10.3 The open plan of BBDO

West shows a distinct

lack of private office

space. Prior to this

floorplan, BBDO was

housed in a traditional,

stuffy, very 1980s-style

hierarchical space decked

in granite and gray

flannel walls.

(Photo by Tom Bonne,..)

228 I N D U STRY

ADVERTISING

BBDO WEST, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA,1996 PROJECT BY BECI<SON DESIGN ASSOCIATES

(BDA)

OPEN PLAN, FLATTENED HIERARCHY

COMPANY BACKGROUND

At BBDO West, most employees are in one day and

out the next. It has nothing to do with downsizing.

It has everything to do with face-to-face client con­

tact. BBDO West, whose parent is Omnicom, one of

the largest marketing communications companies

in the world and owner of other ad agencies

including TBWA/Chiat/Day, has recognized how

different the ad agency business has become since

the 1980s (Fig. 10.3).

BEFORE: THE OLD WORKPLACE

But BBDO West management still wanted to create

the kind of organization that had identity. a place

where over 200 people felt as if they belonged to a

piece of the whole, that there was a home to go to,

an office to be in-but pared down, on a budget,

and all within two floors totaling 49000 square feet.

Gray granite, gray carpeting. gray flannel walls,

engraved logos in granite---all connoted more of a

traditional law office than it did a West Coast adver­

figure 10.4 Proof in the pudding.

David Lubars, president

of BBDO West, sits in

this open workstation.

The only difference from

the others' stations is that

Lubars's is 2 feet larger.

(Photo by Tom Bonner.)

tising agency. No longer did the corporate trap­

pings, all packed together under the roof of a "big

black box" office building, serve their needs or

reflect the highly creative agency atmosphere of

BBDO West. Everyone was housed in offices, so they

wanted to create space where aU employees ,vere

on an equal playing field and interacting, a better

environment in which to foster interoffice commu­

nication and allow for what they termed "informa­

tion osmosis." As BBDO West's president David

Lu bars says in an article about the space in Interior

Design (see Cohen 1996), "At our old space, people

were having too many meetings. They would talk a

lot about what they were going to do, but they

spent too little time actually doing it."

AfTER: THE NEW WORKPLACE

To begin, BBDO and BDA decided it was best to

drop the old standard of the private office arranged

by department. The other mandates: no drywall, no

traditional panel systems. Everyone, including the

CEO, would sit in equal, custom, open workstations

grouped more efficiently by client core teams in

workstations that measured 80 square feet. The only

exception would be Lubars's area because his work­

station is two feet larger than others (Fig. 10.4).

The other exception would be the media buying

offices. Although they would measure 80 square

feet, as well, there would be a door to close when

they were on the phone-which is constantly-hav­

ing intense conversations that shouldn't be heard.

There would be work rooms, war rooms, and

phone rooms available for others. However, no one

would be aSSigned to individual panel workstations

because people might begin to feel that those were

permanent places.

All the architectural elements would be reduced

to their rawest natural states without decoration,

including the exposed columns, decking, duct­

work, and conduit. Interior Design writer Cohen wrote

that the "most often-heard comment is 'When will

this project be finished)'"

ERECTOR SET WORKSTATIONS

The design team, Steven Heisler, Ed Gabor, and

Michael Beckson, custom deSigned the worksta­

tions for BBDO West. Intended to be a kit of parts,

the workstations can be easily reconfigured and

CASE STUDIES: DESIGN THAT SUPPDRTS THE NEW WORI(PLACE 229

moved because they are made up of an Erector set

of building components. The framevvork is made of

galvanized steel bars used in the construction

industry but more commonly recognized as the

sticks on top of which traffic stop signs are found.

A variety of parts are available to snap into the

frames such as magnetic writing surfaces and

chalkboard and are made of a variety of materials

such as metal or perforated metal. The cost to build

the workstations came to $11 per square fool.

Snapshot: BBDO West

Advertising agency

EMPLOYEES, LOS ANGELES: 200

ADDRESS: 10960 West Wilshire Blvd.

Westwood, CA 90024

WEB SITE: Imp:/ /vvww.bbdo.com

PROJ Eel: 49,OOO-square-feet, bilevel facility

DESIGN TEAM: Michael Beckson, Ed Gabor, and

Steven Heisler

230 I N 0 U STRY

BBDD West Interior (Photo by Tom Bonner.) See page

229.

Benevia Drop-In Space (Photo by Steve

Hall at Hedrich

Blessing.) See

page 233.

-

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Zelinsky, Marilyn.

New workplaces for new workstyles I Marilyn Zelinsky.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-07-063324-X

I. Office decoration-United States. 2. Interior architecture-­

United States. I. Title.

NK2195.04Z46 1997

725'.23 '097 3--dc21 97-30216

CIP

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