Page 92 - Security Today, January/February 2019

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As the job market grows increasingly competitive for top talent, and as new tech allows more freedom and flexibility for employees, many businesses have implemented highly flexible work hours and additional remote worker benefits to stay competitive in the market.
As a result of this trend, flexible office spaces are being created and refined. A well-designed space may allow employees to come and go repeatedly throughout a 24-hour business day and supports collabo- ration, team building and a new-found freedom for employees to move freely around the office during preferred working hours.
Changing Footprint
In recent years, the number of employees working in an office space continues to decrease, and with that, so is the average square footage for office space allotted per employee. Since 2010, the square footage allocated per employee has decreased nearly 30 percent from 225 to 151 square feet. Business enterprises are rethinking how office spaces are arranged and administered.
The rising costs of commercial real estate, or more specifically, the costs to a business enterprise occupying space continue to scale rap- idly, particularly in major urban market areas—literally, every square
foot makes a difference. As a result, business enterprises are often modifying the footprint of their offices and look for creative ways of assigning and sharing space wherever possible with minimal or no interruption to the business objectives.
Employees, therefore, may not necessarily be assigned to a specific area or desk, but rather, have the flexibility to securely “choose” their workspace—an office, a desk, maybe even a locker to safely store per- sonal belongings. Flexible solutions such as these help businesses capitalize on space efficiencies and maximize the return on invest- ment for space.
Security Upgrades
With these benefits also come security risks. It’s imperative for busi- nesses to understand that flexible work hours and offices are going to change the flow of employee traffic throughout an office environment. It’s also important for businesses to manage traffic flow and to hold employees accountable for their whereabouts throughout the facility during the workday.
With that in mind, employers are leveraging new and unique access control solutions to ensure that office space is both secure and flexible, fostering collaboration and productivity without compro-
28 campuslifesecurity.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019