IRVINE, CA-The creative-office trend certainly makes the case for efficient use of space and reduced operating expenses, but its benefits aren't all about the bottom line. Panelists at RealShare Orange County here last week had a lot to say about the value of creative-office space in terms of sharing ideas and developing better, stronger and more nimble companies.

Heidi Hendy, founding principal of H. Hendy Associates, spoke of the office design her company created here for Goodman Birtcher, a global property group that owns, develops and manages industrial and commercial property. The space, which moves away from the process-driven layout of traditional office space—features lower panels, more collaborative spaces and no assigned seats for workers—from the top down.

“There's no hierarchy,” said Hendy. “Everybody has an open environment, and it's working well. There's cross-pollination in this type of space.”

The state-of-the-art creative office also features a virtual receptionist. In a format reminiscent of high school, employees come to work and go to their lockers to get their backpack, which contains everything they will need to do their work for the day. Then, they move to a team locker and on to more collaborative environments. “They can't sit at the same desk for more than one day, and there are no traditional conference rooms,” says Hendy. The arrangement promotes new interaction between new sets of employees every day, which allows for more ideas to be shared and for everyone to be in the loop.

Benching—the polar opposite of sitting in an enclosed private office—is becoming common for people at all levels of the organization, and it's not only catching on at Goodman Birtcher, but at other firms, too. David Wensley, a partner with Cox Castle & Nicholson, said that the Irvine Co. is incorporating a lot of collaborative space in its newly built offices, “and if they're doing it, it won't be long for us dinosaur lawyers to be doing it, too.”

John Trulio, VP of facilities management for Quest Software, said, “We're bringing panels down in our offices, and the new trend is going wireless. The staff works from their laptops; you pretty much work wherever you have an Internet connection.”

Trulio says his company is down to 150 square feet per worker, and some offices in Asia are down to 80 square feet per worker, which significantly reduces the amount of office space needed to house more workers. The main issue that this brings up is parking, but the issue is being addressed with smaller spaces, said Hendy. “Four (spaces) per 1,000 (square feet) is almost yesterday's news. We're seeing five or six per 1,000.”

Naturally, there has to be a process of change management for this transition to work, said Hendy. “You can't take people from all private offices into benching because the productivity level will go down if you do that. Also, some people can't be put in a noisy room.” One way around the noise problem is to spray the ceiling with black acoustics that absorb excess sound, she added.

“There has to be a balance between collaborative and focus space,” Hendy pointed out. “It's not for everyone, but it's where we're going.”

The trend is playing into the preferences of Millennials, who will be the office decision-makers before long, Hendy commented. Even though Echo Boomers are signing many of today's office leases, most of them are for seven to 10 years, by the end of which those Echo Boomers will be retiring and Millennials will be deciding whether or not to renew. And Millennials tend to prefer a more open, less hierarchical layout to their offices.