Office of the Future

But people do call it expensive. That's the perception that even satisfied Regus tenants have. They shrug off the cost as the price they must pay for the privilege of having all of that flexibility. Gaudreau argues that leasing from Regus is not more expensive; however, its pricing system is complicated to sort out. The problem, he says, is that you're comparing apples and oranges -- empty space and fully equipped, fully staffed space.

Of course, the price of square footage alone looks like a better deal, Gaudreau admits. But that figure doesn't include all of the startup costs and monthly fees covering furniture, support staff, telecommunications lines and equipment, taxes, utilities, insurance, and the time that managers must divert from their core business. So, rather than calculating price by the square foot, Regus determines its pricing by the person or by the workstation. In the U.S. centers, for instance, the average price per workstation is about $700 per month (tenants receive one bill at the end of each month, rather than several bills from many different vendors) .

Nonetheless, Regus staffers are wary of causing sticker shock and prefer not to quote prices over the phone. They would rather sit down with a customer and go over a comprehensive cost-comparison spreadsheet that factors in everything. "Once they realize what doing it themselves would take, they're more than happy to pay us to do everything for them," says center manager Pam Butt, who opened centers in Tanzania and South Africa before coming to London.

Where Do You Do Your Best Work?

These days, work is about choices. Dixon believes that real estate should be too. When Regus opens an office in a new area, the company often advertises its arrival on trucks that display an enticing question: "Where do you want to work today?" It's a question that more and more people, particularly the growing number of knowledge workers, are asking themselves. In cities throughout the United States, rush hour is only getting worse as the number of commuters continues to rise. And at high-tech companies where the hours at the office are too long, workers spend less than half of their time at home: That's the trade-off for living in the burbs. But it doesn't have to be that way.

"I want to kiss my kid goodnight, and I'm not the only one who feels that way," says Gaudreau. If you truly believe that your assets are your people, then you're constantly examining how to keep them happy and productive, he says. A lot of companies think that the solution is to let employees work at home. In theory, working at home sounds great, says Gaudreau, but the reality is often different. Although working at home solves the problem of commuting, it creates other problems. For starters, there are ergonomic concerns -- and all of the worries about repetitive-motion injuries that go with them. At-home employees lack the proper space or equipment, so they have to make do at the dining-room table. Also, the savings companies accrue by avoiding property costs can be lost elsewhere. Since employees can't take advantage of shared printers, they require additional equipment, and the downtime for off-site repairs is longer. Moreover, studies have shown that people tend to be less productive when they telecommute. Not everyone has the discipline to cope with the distractions of children or with isolation.

The bottom line, says Gaudreau, is that companies should be asking, "Where do people do their best work?" "Most people don't really want to work at home," he says. "They want to work five minutes away from home." They want the convenience of being close to home and close to office resources.

That was exactly the problem that Oracle's operation in the Netherlands had: The commute to its main office in De Meern took some employees two hours or more. Its solution was to put offices closer to its people -- four satellite locations at Regus centers in Hilversun, Eindhoven, Amsterdam, and the Hague. Each office has 10 desks that employees reserve by phone or by email a day or two in advance, and in some cases, on the same day. Using a laptop, they access the Oracle network from a Regus center through an ISDN line and a docking station. Instead of enduring four unproductive and unhappy hours in traffic, the consultants and sales representatives now work wherever it's most convenient. Some take advantage of the satellite offices, because doing so allows them to spend more time with their children. Others work at Regus for a couple of hours to avoid traffic, then head into De Meern during off-peak hours.

The increased flexibility gives employees more control over their schedule. "People are happier at work when they don't have to drive to the office every day," says Netty van der Linden, 45, manager of general services for Oracle in the Netherlands. "It doesn't make sense to drive two hours just to get your mail."