Scheduling Chronicles

Negotiating Tactics to Reduce Carbon Footprint

Leigh Stringer, in her Green Workplace blog (which is a great blog by the way if you haven't seen it), recently posted about the results of a carbon footprint analysis of her workplace.  Interestingly, while her company implements several environmentally friendly practices similar to us here at PeopleCube, such as using alternative commuting options and greening the buildings they work in, the largest contributor to their carbon footprint is travel.  In fact, the report indicates that it equates to 53% of the company's total carbon footprint.

They've started using more videoconferencing as a way to offset some of this travel but she points out that many trips are customer visits that just can't be ignored.  However, in her post she she does outline some negotiating tactics to help turn this potential dilemma into a mutually-beneficial solution for both parties.

Telecommuting: The Cost (Savings) of Doing Business

Harry Fuller or ZDNet's GreenTech Pastures recently covered the Nucleus Research report about how PeopleCube's Resource Scheduler helps companies reduce real estate costs while attracting/retaining top talent.  from maximized space utilization to flexible work programs, check out why it's been so successful here.

The Cost and Talent Recruitment Benefits of Telecommuting

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee of InformtationWeek recently reported on the "renewed interest in telecommuting."  She cites the rising costs of gas prices and talent retainment and recruitment as two primary reasons why companies are moving in the direction of offering flexible work programs to their employees.  And why not?  It makes sense.  Think of the cost savings from both the employee's perspective and the employer's perspective.  From lower commuting costs to reduce real estate and energy consumption costs, it's a win-win for both.

Of course, she also notes that one of the challenges this presents to companies is what to do when these remote employees need to head into the office.  Fortunately she lists PeopleCube's Resource Scheduler as a viable solution to this problem because it allows employees to search for and reserve shared workspace from home using any browser or, in some cases, using a reservation kiosk on-site.  Again, a win-win for both the employee and the employer.

PeopleCube CEO Featured Speaker at NeoCon World's Trade Fair 2008

On June 9, 2008 I will be a featured speaker at NeoCon World's Trade Fair 2008.  My session, titled Creating a World-Class Facility By Leveraging Your Strategic Assets,” will be held Monday, June 9, from 9:30 to 10:30 AM. During the session I will discuss how facility managers can use technology to track and analyze asset utilization, ensure that equipment is available and allocated effectively, coordinate assets and activities through a centralized information repository, and enable different groups (such as maintenance) to schedule resources.

I will also discuss the trend toward office hoteling and how organizations are using it to reduce real estate and energy costs, increase workspace utilization and flexibility, support the mobile workforce, and facilitate telecommuting or flexible work programs.

NeoCon World’s Trade Fair is the country’s largest conference and exhibition of contract furnishings for the design and management of the built environment. Showcasing thousands of new products from hundreds of the world’s top manufacturers, NeoCon also offers an impressive schedule of educational programming, including discussions of the newest trends and techniques from some of the top-name speakers in the industry. For more information, visit www.neocon.com