Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 24, 1994                   TAG: 9404220048
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: F-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Diana Kunde Dallas Morning News
DATELINE: DALLAS                                LENGTH: Medium

SHARING DESKS AT HOME OFFICE A TREND FOR WORKERS IN FIELD

Such firms as Arthur Andersen & Co., Ernst & Young and IBM Corp. - whose accountants, consultants and sales personnel spend a lot of time out of the office - are taking a look at those frequently vacant offices and taking out their calculators.

They're designing new systems, sometimes called hoteling, hot-desking or just-in-time offices, that let professionals reserve their offices as they would hotel rooms - that is, only when they need them.

The payoff for management is more efficient use of space. In the best systems, the company's productivity grows because little-used space is reserved for teams and task forces.

"The concept behind it is that we (in accounting and consulting) work differently, and we might as well adjust the processes to the space in which it is done," said Deborah Kops, partner in charge of real estate consulting for Arthur Andersen in Dallas, where the firm will launch a "just-in-time" pilot in September.

Ernst & Young's Dallas office is working on redesigning its space to include some "hotel" offices and possibly incorporate casual rooms for reading and meetings, although managing partner Dennis Wander said he isn't ready to talk about details.

In a San Francisco pilot, Arthur Andersen reduced annual occupancy, including rent and related operating expenses, to $1,450 per person from $1,850, Kops said. For managers' overhead, the cost reduction was more dramatic - to $1,300 from $3,640. Fifty-eight managers now share 13 offices, a ratio of 4.6 per office.

"We figured if we could implement this all at once, we'd have a potential worldwide savings of $42.3 million" in 1993, Kops said. Arthur Andersen is choosing to gradually phase in the plan, but the $42 million figure "at least frames the opportunity," she said.

Ernst & Young's Chicago office pioneered its office experiment after Ernst & Whinney merged with Arthur Young to form the present company.

"Culturally, I think the idea was somewhat scary for people," said Barbara Rose, director of administration in the firm's Chicago office. To counter that, Ernst & Young involved employees in designing the new system. It also upgraded facilities that everyone was now going to share.

In the past, junior members of audit teams and some managers shared large offices, each with his or her own desk. Now, the "rented" office is private.

When an accountant is ready to leave a client's site and come "home" to complete his report, he phones in to reserve an office. A staff member retrieves his personal effects from a storage locker, gets any needed office supplies and puts them in place. By the time the auditor arrives, his phone number has been transferred to the new office. A computer map locates him for co-workers and supervisors.

"Actually, we have more privacy now," said Dan Duffy, an auditor whose clients include Whirlpool Corp., Steiffel Lamp Co. and the Chicago Bears. Because auditors work in teams on the field, isolation isn't an issue, he said.

The new system garners points with clients because it fairly reeks of money-saving efficiency.

"If our overhead goes down, we can offer the same product at a lower price, and that's what we're all about. It's competitive as hell right now," Duffy said.