Remote work looks to become a permanent part of the working future for many. The days of limiting business class flights to save a few dollars may be gone. However, with many employees working remotely, there is still an opportunity to save money with a change in the approach to cost savings for services and facilities.
- Renegotiate office cleaning to reduce the scope to just the areas actually being used.
- Reduce building space leased that is no longer being used. If you are unable to get out of your lease and still have an office manager on-site, you could sublet office space for entrepreneurs or anyone needing office space.
- Re-program thermostats for sections of the building where employees are working remotely and temperatures do not have to be held to a comfortable level.
- Change coffee service to every other week, with fewer employees in the building, the coffee should last twice as long reducing the number of visit and refills needed.
- Put any travel agent’s programs with service subscriptions on hold
- Renegotiate any volume-based pricing or rebates on travel (rental cars, hotels, flights) based on total market volume declining.
- Replace some of the security guards with cameras and smart monitoring. You’ll want to keep the pest control service going full speed, as unoccupied areas can become overrun with pests even faster.
- Reduce inventory in supply vending machines and any PPE item where reduced usage will result in contractual requirement to purchase inventory at a certain period.
- Reduce any equipment with monthly rental fees no longer being used (think copiers, welding gas cylinders, water coolers)
- Buy used office furniture for any new requirements. There is a lot of office furniture currently available at discounted prices due to company closures.