More breathing room for office workers
Companies don’t have to pack employees into cubicles like they used to.
So far this year, Denver companies have leased enough space to give workers – on average – 4 percent more room than they had last year. That’s roughly an additional 10 square feet per employee, said Ethan Reed, research director of commercial real estate brokerage CB Richard Ellis. In the past year, area companies have expanded into about 1 million square feet of space.
Architectural, engineering and manufacturing companies with about 250 employees have almost 290 square feet of space per worker, according to commercial real estate analysis firm CoStar. Accounting firms of comparable size rank a close second with 287 square feet per worker.
Government workers (237 square feet) and employees of communications (227 square feet) and transportation (222 square feet) companies are the most pinched for space.
Since those are averages, none of this means that individual workers actually get that much elbow room.
Displaced execs would rather stay than leave
Metro Denver executives like living here, and they’re willing to take a financial hit to stay here.
Only 6 percent of Denver- area executives who lost their jobs in the past year relocated to another state for a new position, according to employment firm Right Management Consultants.
That compares with 57 percent of executives nationally who moved to take new jobs.
“This speaks to our ideal location and quality of life,” said Rex Rolf, senior vice president in Right’s Denver office. “Many of our executives choose to stay here and take positions with less responsibility or less pay, or they’ll commute to other jobs while still living here.”
Other recent employment findings from Right:
Big Tobacco earning even more post-suit
Big Tobacco’s bottom line is still smoking, despite its 1998 quarter-trillion-dollar settlement.
The Big Four tobacco companies – Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard – are making more money than before the lawsuit, according to a report published in the Journal of Economics and Finance.
The study, sponsored by Middle Tennessee State University, found that because the four firms agreed to a fixed market share, the settlement resulted in less competition from other companies. The tobacco companies then increased the price of cigarettes, enabling their stock prices to outpace the market.
“What happened is that there are fewer people smoking fewer cigarettes, but the profits are going up because they are raising the price to make up for it,” the report said.
About the Rockies: “I’m a Reliever”
Post subscriber Brian Olson of Highlands Ranch wrote to say that he used to be a Rockies fan, but switched to NASCAR after the threat of a players’ strike in 2002 and subsequent losing seasons. He suggests these promotions as ways for management to lure fans back to Coors Field:
Autographed Baseball Night. During the seventh-inning stretch, fans can throw their autographed baseballs onto the field.
I’m a Reliever Night. When the starting pitcher falls apart, the announcer will say, “Section 23, Row 12, Seat 6, COME ON DOWN!” Fan/pitchers can keep their uniforms.
Uniform Night. Rockies will play the game wearing another team’s uniforms so fans will think the Dodgers are losing.
Trading Places Night. Sky Sox players will dress in Rockies uniforms. The first fan to notice will win Avalanche tickets.
Dollar Night. Fans pay a dollar to get in for one inning. If they want to stay, they pay an extra dollar an inning.
Generation ‘R’ Night. After the game, one lucky fan gets to fire the employee who came up with that stupid slogan.
Westin’s bed items for sale at Nordstrom
Fans of Westin Hotels’ famed Heavenly Bed can now hit the mall and bring home a little slice of heaven.
Roughly 50 Nordstrom stores nationwide are now selling Westin’s signature all-white Heavenly Bed line, including the Park Meadows outlet. Prices range from $1,250 to $1,450 for the Simmons Beautyrest Pocketed Coil mattresses. The 300-thread count Egyptian cotton sheets, jacquard duvets and feather down pillows are going for $35 to $300.
Wedding services now on the gift list
In a new twist on wedding economics, brides and grooms are starting to use services that ask invitees to pay for everything from the bridal manicure to the officiant’s fee.
The reason? Nearly one-third of all weddings this year will be paid for solely by the bride and groom, up from one-quarter in 2004, according to Fairchild Bridal Group.
More than a third of Lafayette photographer Wendy Saunders’ clients now use a registry that allows guests to designate which aspect of her services they want to fund, for example. In reality, the engaged couple get a lump sum to spend as they see fit.
“Guests like the idea of a gift versus a financial donation,” Saunders told The Wall Street Journal.
