Once it is known whether or not alternative officing strategies are a good match for the work unit. Step Two weighs the potential advantages of choosing this strategy. Alternative officing strategies can yield dramatic savings in rent and other facility costs. AO increases worker satisfaction, improving a companys employee retention and recruitment activities. According to many surveys, employees using alternative officing programs usually are more productive than employees in traditional offices, because they lose less time to interruptions and meetings.
Companies can also use alternative officing strategies to reduce automobile generated smog.
For example, a downtown company could offer telecommuting or satellite office centers to some employees who live in distant suburbs, thereby lessening automobile-generated air pollution and increasing worker satisfaction. Those who are involved in alternative officing and have seen its benefits have expressed enthusiasm about the concept. But there are potential pitfalls, cautions Franklin Becker, Ph.D., head of Cornell University's International Facilities Management Program. One successful AO strategy is simply copied in another setting. AO is implemented wholesale, without a test.