Office Space News
Pacific Business Centers Focuses on ‘Green’ Outplacement Workspaces
Published February 17th, 2009 by Jennifer LeClaire
While the world waits to see what President Barack Obama is going to do on the environment front, Pacific Business Centers is making some green moves in the serviced office industry and working to help companies with outplacement issues at the same time.
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Pacific Business Centers recently announced a new initiative codenamed “GoODWORK.” The trademarked service aims to respond to emerging strategies by large corporations that are driven by economic and environmental considerations to provide distributed workplaces.
Pacific Business Centers also launched a Jump-Start Program, another solution it says will reduce the carbon footprint, slash occupancy costs and provide innovative tools for small businesses. The program aims to help companies help laid off employees get a jumpstart on their next career move.
“We are seeing more clients go out of business than ever before, but at the same time, we have never signed as many new customers as we are today,” says Laurent Dhollande, CEO and co-founder of Pacific Business Centers. “All in all, our occupancy has inched up and we are incubating more start-ups and professional firms than ever before. We feel we have a good pulse on local economic activity and it is comforting to see that the California entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well amidst the worst recession in decades!”
GoODWORK Goes Green
Once again tapping into needs its high-tech audience, Pacific Business Centers’ GoODWORK stands for Grid of On-Demand Workplaces. The company launched the service in December 2008, but it’s starting to gain some momentum.
GoODWORK works to reduce real estate footprints, slash occupancy costs, and reduce the carbon footprint by cutting commute distances. At the same time, GoODWORK aims to increase productivity, improve workforce attraction and retention, minimize the pain of workforce reductions, cut down on on-site and off-site conference rooms, make fixed real estate costs entirely variable, and maximize flexibility.
Here’s how it works: Licensed Pacific Business Center users can use any location any time. No reservation is necessary for open office space, but private offices and conference rooms can be reserved online. The idea is to recycle excess space from corporate anchors into the GoODWORK program.
The company figures this is great for the Generation Y lifestyle and represents the future of work. Think of it almost like coworking with a twist. You are coworking in any number of locations on any given day as it suits your location.
Getting a Jump Start
Pacific Business Centers also launched Jump-Start, another GoODWORK initiative in December. Alumni from sponsoring organizations have free access to professional workspaces through a program called Jump-Start.
Jump-Start aims at ex-employees who have been a victim of workforce reductions, professionals who need to work on their next career path in a highly professional environment, and ex-employees who might want to start their own business.
PBC is billing this as an effective outplacement strategy that creates good will among ex-employees, reduces the carbon footprint, boosts entrepreneurship and creates a helpful ecosystem of company alumni.
The Jump-Start program offers serviced office space for as little as $200 a month. Sponsoring companies can get the first month free. This is effective solution for companies because it offers a normal working environment and helps ex-employees find their next career opportunity or start their own business.
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Elizabeth Sanchez February 18th, 2009 at 7:40 am
It doesn’t surprise me to see PBC pushing the green messages as it relates to executive office suites. California is ahead of the curve when it comes to eco-friendly themes. I did find it especially interesting, though, the concept of connecting outplacement services with serviced office space. That should resonate well, at least with laid off employees. We’ll have to wait and see if companies actually adopt it.
Maggie Correta February 23rd, 2009 at 10:50 am
Is the whole world going green? It seems as if almost everything you see these days has some sort of earth-friendly spin on it. What’s interesting is that many of these products and services — including serviced office space and especially virtual offices — have always been “eco-friendly.” At some level, I get tired of seeing the same messaging on everything. It seems it is easy to be green.
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Rob Zeus February 25th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Looks like Pacific Business Centers is killing two birds with one stone here — going green with office space and tapping into the outplacement industry. I think this could be a valuable service for larger companies who do put together severance packages for employees. The company can look like a “nice guy” by providing outplaced employees a jump start at a serviced office facility. Good move. Let’s see if companies take them up on it.
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