Business

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Telecommuters let businesses save money

By: Joyce M. Rosenberg

Posted: 11/13/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

NEW YORK -- There's a downsizing trend underway at many small businesses: moving to smaller offices because of shrinking staffs and as more workers telecommute.

Owners say they're saving money on real estate, office furniture and other expenses by letting employees work from home or by using independent contractors who don't work on-site. And those who have cut staffers obviously don't need to provide space for them.

Adrienne Giannone, CEO of Edge Electronics, has turned seven salespeople in Texas, Florida and California into telecommuters, enabling her to shut those offices. That helped her to expand her headquarters space in Bohemia, on New York's Long Island, and hire more employees there.

"I'd rather keep my people and not spend the money on the bricks and mortar," said Giannone, whose company sells electronics components and displays. The workers weren't sure at first about working from home, but Giannone said they soon realized they were saving money and time by not commuting. "There's a big savings overall," she said. Like many other owners, Giannone found the Internet made it easy to keep in close touch with far-flung workers.

Many kinds of businesses can downsize their real estate by having more people work off-site. Employees whose job is to handle customer service calls can do that at home. So can writers or graphic artists. Anyone whose work is done in client offices probably doesn't need a permanent desk either, and should be able to share with other staffers who are also moving about.

The constant improvements over the years in technology have helped many kinds of businesses use less real estate.

Software has made it possible for businesses to dispense with the typists and stenographers who were once office mainstays. Diane Henry, a senior managing broker with Red Real Estate in Manhattan, says she sees more companies setting aside space for what are called floater stations, or work areas shared by more than one staffer.

She also sees companies that have downsized their staff subleasing their space to help recoup some of the excess rent they're paying.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 13, 2009 B16

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