Cost Savings and Coffee

Arizona Republic has recently adopted a new cost saving strategy involving mobile workers. Approximately 20 of its community reporters were given laptops to work remotely. However, rather than expecting workers to operate from home, Arizona Republic has been encouraging them to get out into the field and work in public locations, for example Starbucks or McDonalds (1).

Often time, when businesses are faced with increasing costs, the default response is to lay off workers. In this case, Arizona Republic’s response to rising costs was highly innovative. It allowed Arizona Republic to eliminate the costs of setting up and maintaining the offices, facilities and offices supplies of several extra workers. Instead, the burden of those operating costs were transferred to businesses like Starbucks and McDonalds which both offer excellent wireless internet services and are especially designed to accommodate individuals who would like to work away from home and the office.

The hope is that this freedom to work comfortably and flexibly would also improve employee morale and loyalty. However, the idea of forcibly becoming a mobile worker may be unattractive to some. Nonetheless, the cost benefits associated with this strategy are unprecedented.

 References: 

(1) Sending Employees Out to Starbucks—and Telling Them to Stay

 

 

 

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