Balancing Egos and Space... Last week's critical comments about smaller offices, Bigger Cave = Bigger Status (Jun 10), triggered many reader comments promoting the benefits of non-traditional office space, originally mentioned in the Dispatch Office Space of the Future (Jun 3).

Bill Tresham, Executive Vice President at Trizec Properties in Chicago writes, "If anyone would choose to leave our company with a notion that individual office size or placement influenced the thought process by even a scintilla, then I would wish that person the very best of luck with great haste and enthusiasm and count ourselves fortunate that we could allocate our scarce resources to someone who better fit into the culture we endeavor to foster.

"We use our newfound space for meeting areas, health rooms, dining areas on the windows, phone rooms for visiting clients, proper spaces for secretaries to assemble Board materials, staircases connecting adjacent floors, wide circulation areas to foster impromptu conversations, proper document storage areas close to users, adequate workspaces for visiting employees, etc. And we give the window spaces to those people that sit at their workstations all day versus the cavemen that should be spending their time in their clients' offices."

Dean Remoundos believes that even small savings are important. "I would wager that if you asked the recipients (who, by the way, have been lovingly referred to over the years as bean counters) whether they would rather receive $5,000 less per year over the remainder of their careers or take a

smaller office, my guess would be that they will opt for the smaller office. ... Individual egos will always play a role in a decision, and I am sure that the HOV lanes will translate into a HTO 'High Traffic Office' where those individuals that have a need for many multiple person meetings will reside. Until then, the reality is that these meetings can take place in a nice small conference room. Let's get real, the management team that is still wasting money on empty space in offices probably has a lot of unused capacity in their gray cell storage area as well!"

Broadcast Your Message... Many thanks to Lee Roth at Insurance Data Services (IDS) for sponsoring this week's Dispatch. IDS monitors compliance by tenants and vendors. If you would like to tell Dispatch readers about your services, send e-mail or call 415-485-6700.

--Peter Pike