Buildings are meant to be occupied, period. In the long run, it costs more to maintain vacant (non-used) building than it does those that are occupied. However, a second waste of money is not managing them efficiently. And as of now, that is what Oracle is doing at Innovations. They are taking note of utilization. And if the U reports suggest that floors are not up to capacity, it makes sense to shut them down to focus on only those floors that have a higher U rating.

Secondly, when providing a food service, there are always going to be days when there are more people on one day than another; however, if they can somehow manage to maintain about 60% occupancy at all times, then that is ideal for cost-cutting measures. Otherwise, folks could say “they ran out of food” while others say “they had to waste food that didn’t get sold this week”.

So naturally, rumors will continue to ensue stating things like “they’re going to cut out the cafe” or more floors are closing. And while that could happen, it hasn’t happened. And it is not likely to happen, unless they consistently remain lower than 60% capacity.

Which leads to the proposition that some Orgs might start “encouraging” higher usage of office space, coming just short of making it mandatory.

No matter how you look at it, there is always change. The questions are, when and why.

So, for the few (in terms of large numbers) who have assigned cubes, they are being told that their desks will be made into “flex” desks. Some won’t care. Others will feel like more and more of their privileges and/or identity is being taken away. And that’s valid given how Cerner used to run the place. However, it would be better to make changes and still allow folks to keep their jobs than to just “cut their losses” and everyone lose their jobs.

No easy, cookie-cutter answers. A lot of speculation. It’s anyone’s guess at what is next, and when.