Friday, September 3rd, 2010
OFFICE SPACE AND BEING COOL
CPA firms are not only great places to work, the CPA office itself is almost always very upscale and beautiful. Many I have visited simply make me say, “Wow!” And honestly, a few have made me think, “Eeeeek!” The “eeeek!” firms usually win this designation because they simply have too much junk sitting around…. everywhere.
Allan Boress recently did a great blog post about being cool. Allan says, “Cool is different, it is new. It is something people want to associate with, versus boring. It is daring, cutting edge. People pay big money to try to acquire it.” Be sure to read the entire post. Allan embraced a project to make his office space extremely cool.
Ever notice how you can spot a cool accounting firm almost immediately? You meet someone at a MAP conference or a CPE session and when they describe their firm, you can just tell that they are cool (or not). My goal for all my clients is for them to be the cool firm in their market. That not only means office space, it means all-star people, brand recognition, website, etc. Is that you?
One of the on-going issues for decades has been getting a private office. It is certainly a status symbol of the CPA profession. Some firms even design their build-out so that they have offices available for ALL accountants. However, most floor plans look very much alike….. cubicles in the middle and partner/manager offices lining the window walls of the space. A newer trend is to put the private offices in the middle of the floor, with glass walls/doors, and put the cubicles along the outside so that more natural light is allowed into the workspace. The AICPA facility in Durham, NC is designed this way. It is very cool.
Having a cool space really is a factor in recruiting. Well, in light of the recession and focusing on saving dollars, some businesses are changing their approach and shrinking their footprints. They are moving many of their people OUT of private offices and putting them in cubicles. As you can imagine, this move does not initially make people very happy. However, they do admit that communication usually improves.
Something you might want to look at is your square foot per person. the average square footage per employe has dropped from around 250 sq. ft. to 180 sq. ft.
- "If you have a job without any aggravations, you don't have a job."
