Occupancy Costs Research Articles

Modes of Labor Market Incorporation and Occupational Cost among New Immigrants to Israel

Modes of Labor Market Incorporation and Occupational Cost among New Immigrants to Israel

The Role of the Managing Agent

The manner in which the role of the managing agent has evolved in recent years has been well documented. In these times of recession and economic uncertainty there has been a further and equally significant change in the role of the managing agent – this time in philosophy. Looks at the reason behind the change in philosophy and the value in providing a balanced service catering for the needs of both landlord and tenant, with particular emphasis on the payment of occupational costs by the tenant and the way in which these can be controlled by the landlord.

Occupational risks associated with cigarette smoking: a prospective study.

Studies have indicated that cigarette smokers have more occupational accidents and injuries and use more sick time and health benefits than nonsmokers, thereby producing sizeable costs for employers. However, they usually have not controlled for other possible sources of these costs. We analyzed occupational costs associated with smoking while adjusting for a number of potential confounders. We conducted a prospective, controlled study of the association between smoking and employment outcomes in 2537 postal employees, adjusting for age, gender, race, drug use, job category, and exercise habits. For smokers, the relative risk for turnover was 1.01 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83-1.21); for accidents 1.29 (CI, 1.07-1.55); for injuries 1.40 (CI, 1.11-1.77); for discipline 1.55 (CI, 1.19-2.02). Their mean absence rate was 5.43% compared with 4.06% for nonsmokers. Our study shows that cigarette smoking is associated with adverse employment outcomes after controlling for a number of possible confounders. This finding has implications for companies formulating smoking policies and considering the establishment of smoking cessation programs.

Extending the use of clinical audit data: a resource planning model.

To create a means by which we can examine and understand the interrelations among the fundamental elements of hospital inpatient care (patients, beds, theatre time, and staff). Predictive study of resource utilisation based on a computerised clinical information system of five years' audit data from a surgical management system. One surgical firm (of one consultant, one registrar, and one preregistration houseman) in a district general hospital. 5267 Patients whose admission records were part of the five years' audit of surgical management. Mean length of stay; number of occupied beds; turnover interval; throughput (patients/bed); percentage elective theatre occupancy; waiting time for elective admissions; and theatre, hotel, and total costs. Predicted outcome was analysed in the model, taking the actual outcomes in 1988-9 as baseline values, for four clinical scenarios: an increase in accident and emergency admissions, a reduction in beds, a reduced length of stay, and creation of a new firm. Baseline values showed a mean stay of just over five days in 15 beds and with a theatre occupancy of 94%; the total cost was 812,000 pounds (hotel costs 597,000 pounds). Increasing the accident and emergency admissions to 460/year (19%), based on projected trends from 1984 to 1988, resulted in increased hotel costs (55,000 pounds) and reducing bed numbers (by halving admissions) in decreased use of theatres to 71%, decreased throughput, and increased waiting time, from 20 to 92 weeks, at a saving of 99,000 pounds (12%). Reducing stay marginally reduced bed occupancy (8%) and hotel costs (14%), and creating a new surgical team considerably reduced bed occupancy (14%) and waiting time for elective operations (by 20%). The minimum number of beds for referrals, accident and emergency admissions, and planned admissions was 9.0; that for urgent elective admissions was 3.3 and for non-urgent admissions was 2.4. A well designed clinical information system with the routine collection of data can provide the necessary output data to enable resource modelling. Use of such a model will allow clinicians to participate in resource planning on the basis of what is actually happening within the hospital.

Attracting the retailer – the information weapon

Discusses the difficulties facing retailers whose profitability has fallen while sales have risen, and the effects this has on the retail property market. Identifies the financial health of the retailers, discerning customers, occupation cost uncertainty, boom in floorspace, and competition from the non‐property market as factors which require a marketing effort by the property industry. Concludes that the use of information is vital for the property market to attract retailers.

A PROFESSIONAL APPROACH TO FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

The facilities department in larger organisations has recently become the focus of greater recognition, as a consequence of widespread acceptance of the fact that good working environments matter and the realisation that the costs of providing them are now second only to personnel costs. What used to be a necessary yet expensive and low‐status department has become a vital component of the organisation with short lines of communication to the chief executive. The shift in focus is also a consequence of the high‐tech building boom in the South‐east. Large new buildings equipped with intelligent systems carry with them the burden of high occupancy costs and heavy funding and depreciation.

The cost of resection for colorectal cancer.

The aim of this study was to determine the average total cost and component costs of the surgical management of colorectal cancer (CRC) in a large teaching hospital and to examine the relationships between cost and several characteristics of the patients. Data were compiled for 97 consecutive patients undergoing resection for CRC at Concord Hospital in 1979. The cost of the following components was calculated for each patient: (a) pre- and postoperative bed occupancy; (b) investigations; (c) operation; (d) anaesthetic; (e) prescribed drugs; (f) allied health services. The cost of bed occupancy was by far the largest item in the average total cost (72%), followed by the cost of investigations (11%). There was no correlation between pre- and postoperative bed occupancy and no patient characteristic had a statistically significant effect on pre-operative stay. Several factors were associated with prolonged postoperative stay including the number of clinical problems, operation for rectal as opposed to colonic cancer, having a two-stage procedure, surgical complications and wound infection. By far the greatest reduction in total cost could be achieved by reducing the length of postoperative stay.

A Time-Series Analysis of Self-Employment in the United States

In the early 1970s the proportion of the nonagricultural labor force self-employed in the United States ceased its downward trend and has been rising ever since. This study provides an analysis of the causes of this change. A general-equilibrium model of self- employment and wage employment is analyzed, and aggregate U.S. time- series data are used to test predictions derived from the model. The empirical analysis indicates that changes in technology, industrial structure, tax rates, and social-security retirement benefits have contributed to the reversal of the previous downward trend, which had persisted for over a century. Copyright 1987 by University of Chicago Press.

Compare your occupancy costs

Interesting comparative data on occupancy costs have emerged from a premises survey conducted last year by William Jansen of the Dutch Insurance Society, Centraal Beheer. The summarised figures present an overview of three major cost components — energy, maintenance and cleaning — in relation to building size, age, number of occupants and non‐building related overheads, such as administrative and communication costs.

Economic review

For a number of years the Building Maintenance Cost Information Service, an arm of the RICS, has been collecting and disseminating property occupancy cost information on a standardised basis. David Wells of the BMCIS writes about this invaluable research activity, which has resulted in the creation of universal cost comparisons between buildings — and which tells the facilities manager a great deal about the real occupancy costs of his buildings.

Analysis: floor maintenance and cleaning

Cleaning costs represent 6 per cent of total building occupancy costs (excluding rent and rates) as our month by month Economic review pie charts showed. A massive 40 per cent of those cleaning costs may be attributed to floor cleaning (Facilities 1/2 p5) — a significant portion of the costs in use of the building and one that merits detailed analysis.

Design consideration for the daylighting of new commercial buildings

The first section of this paper discusses the economics of commercial office buildings. It is demonstrated that even under the most optimistic assumptions, daylight savings are small relative to occupancy costs. Therefore, improving occupant satisfaction and productivity should receive as much, if not more attention than energy conservation. The second section of this paper outlines an approach to daylighting design that meets both of these criteria. Detailed guidelines covering architectural, lighting, interior space planning, and HVAC considerations are presented.

Superstores and the inner city — Some reflections

In the May/June 1982 issue of RDM we published an article by Stuart Eliot of UMIST which discussed the contribution that superstores can make to inner city areas. In this article Leigh Sparks develops some of the points made by Stuart Eliot, and in particular discusses the employment and locational policies of superstore retailers in more detail. However, there are considerable costs involved for retailers in opting for inner city location, as has already been pointed out by more than one major retailer. Occupancy costs — especially rates and car‐parking — are considerably more than the same costs in an edge‐of‐town location. There are also indirect costs in terms of the greater risks arising out of vandalism and shrinkage. Distribution and handling costs are, in general terms, lower in single‐storey stores which are more suited to edge‐of‐town locations. But, argues Leigh Sparks, why should retailers be expected to pay the cost of the government's inner city dilemma? The government should recognise the contribution that inner city superstores can make in employment and social terms, and extend inducements to retailers by way of capital expenditure and rates allowances.

The high cost of stress on women managers

E xecutive health is an issue of great interest over a ten-year period. This study reveals and importance to occupational health docthe costs of stress and some of the problems tors, personnel managers, and others faced by managers in general, many of responsible for the well-being of people at which may also be faced by women execuwork. But there has been very little longtives. To put into perspective the evidence term research into its nature, extent, and that we have available on female managers’ causes. One of the first major studies in this health, this article includes a brief summary field is currently being carried out by Cary of the Cooper and Melhuish study followed L. Cooper and Andrew Melhuish (a British by a review of the research on the physical, physician) among a group of nearly 500 male mental, and behavioral manifestations of executives -each subject is being studied stress among women executives.

Maintenance policies under imperfect information

This paper presents a continuous time maintenance problem where deterioration is Markovian and the state of the system is not directly observable except by means of an inspection. The costs incurred are inspection costs, state occupancy costs and replacement costs. We examine the problem of minimizing the expected average cost per unit time.

A critical review of Korman's self-consistency theory of work motivation and occupational choice

On the basis of a review of research testing Korman's self-consistency theory, chronic self-esteem and situational self-esteem appear to be important determinants of performance, choice, and satisfaction. Further, the findings of some studies support Korman's predictions that high self-esteem persons will perform more effectively and show higher correlations between task liking and success, between reward expectancy and performance, between need fulfillment and satisfaction, and between self-implementation and occupational choice. However, one cannot conclude on the basis of this research that “man is self-consistent and not self-enhancing,” since self-enhancement theory is a viable alternative explanation for most of the findings. A major source of ambiguity is that researchers have not tested the crucial self-consistency prediction that low self-esteem persons would seek consistency even at the cost of a dissatisfying occupation, failure, and other negative consequences. Several methodological and conceptual improvements are suggested for future applications of self-consistency theory to work motivation.

Maintenance Policies When Deterioration Can be Observed by Inspections

In this paper we examine maintenance policies for systems in which the degree of deterioration can be observed through inspections. We develop a Markovian model in which the holding times in the various states are exponentially distributed. The costs incurred include costs of inspections, state occupancy costs, costs of preventive repairs, and the costs for repairing a failed system either at an inspection event or immediately after the occurrence of a malfunction. The policies examined include the scheduling of inspections and preventive repairs so that the total expected cost per time unit is minimized.

Frantz Fanon: Evolution of a Revolutionary: A Biographical Sketch; Revolutionary Theories

Although an important part of his time was spent within the Algerian Revolution, Frantz Fanon ended his life dedicated to a larger African Revolution. As a psychiatrist and a Marxist, Fanon was able to calculate the traumatic and material cost of Africa's recent occupation. He died at thirty-seven of leukemia while attempting to prescribe a cure for the "benefits" the West had brought there.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

The Cost of Renting versus Owning a Home

have an average equity of $7,300.1 For homeowning families the home is typically their largest single investment. Though occupancy costs are a large item in family budgets, and homeownership is one of the most important investments American families make, there is a paucity of rigorous, analytical comparisons showing whether homeownership is more economical or expensive than renting as a way to procure the services of housing.

Economics of Thermal Environmental Control

This study considers only first and operating costs of office buildings and occupancy, because no brief study can cover all combinations of structure size and usage, climatic conditions, and available equipment.