How Much Do You Value Your Office Space?

reason asks: "I've heard that office space costs around $10,000 per employee, and sometimes much more. I have a great office: it's a nice size and I have a lovely view out the window. It's a good working environment, and I know I'm lucky. Still, if it came down to dollar terms, I'd be willing to share my office with a colleague or even move into a cubicle in exchange for a mere $5,000/year pay rise. Am I undervaluing what I have? If you have an office to yourself, how much would they have to pay you to make you willingly give it up? If you don't have an office, how much of a pay cut would you be prepared to take to get one?"

Maybe $10?

[Anonymous Coward]

I probably bought it for $15, but that was a few years ago, and it's not the newer edition "with flair" which means it's probably worth less. However, it's still a very funny movie and worth owning, whatever the cost.

hmmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

What is this "out the window" that you speak of?

Per Square Foot

[CokeJunky]

I have found that nice office space is good, but if the company is more concerned about appearances than their employees, that is not so good.

In the long distance past, I found out that the office space for a company I was working at cost 40$ (Canadian) per square foot per month. Now that doesn't include anything other than the rental itself... not power, plumbing, etc. So, I did the math... I was using up an area of 8ft by 6 foot, so 48 square feet. Round it off if you include use of common areas, so make that 50 ft^2. At that price, they were paying 2000 $/month for the space I occupied. Funny thing is that happened to be what I was earning at the time. So when they offered me a 100 square foot office, (raises had occured -- I was up to 3k/month by then) I started looking for a new job. I for one think that an employee should be worth at least as much per month as the floor under their feet. I felt the company was more concerned about appearances and having a fancy address than it was concerned about having employees who could afford clothes to match the office.

For reference, 40$/sq foot/month is for AAA office space... Just about any other building in the city would go for 12-20/month.

Don't get me wrong, I like having a nice office as much as anyone, but not when the company is paying a premium for the address and can't afford to pay a better wage. Maybe it's just ego, but I would like to think that good employees should be worth more to a company than an expensive address. The expensive address may add prestige to the company and bring business, but happy employees who are well paid tend to work harder, produce better quality work, and are less likely to leave the company for greener fields in the middle of a project.

Office Space!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Has anybody seen my red stapler?

Re:Per Square Foot

[pclminion]

Let me get this straight. They gave you a raise, and offered a bigger office, so you... quit?

Re:Google and Me

[lucm]

This is why I got my RTFM coffee mug. For a while each time someone asked me a question out of stupidity I would take a sip and point to the mug. Works like a charm.

If you don't know what RTFM stands for, then... RTFM!

Re:Maybe $10?

[Mr. Firewall]

They can have my Office Space when they unwrap my cold, dead fingers off of the DVD!!

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Re:Cost is way lower, differential cost is even le

[eric76]

cost of your space is probably only half or less of the total: conference rooms, bathrooms, corridors,

My office used to be a conference room.

We never had much in the way of conferences so I moved into it.

Re:Actual office space costs from a business owner

[tomhudson]

Plus, there is a comfy couch where anyone in the company can crash out or just sit and think, and some snacky things to chew on while pondering problems. These are fun amenities that I couldn't justify the cost for as easily if they were at my house. ;)

You can't justify a couch and some munchies for your house? Gee, and here I thought I was cheap!

My cubicle

[FullCircle]

is a hexagon made of dry erase board.

All the hexagons are attached in a sort of hive configuration.

Would I give it up?

Hell no.

Re:Google and Me

[OrangeSpyderMan]

each time someone asked me a question out of stupidity I would take a sip

I couldn't possibly drink that much :-)

Re:Google and Me

[SomeoneGotMyNick]

After you move to the basement, if you could could go ahead and get a can of pesticide and take care
of the roach problem we've been having, that would be great.