"We've been in business globally for two years and we're still looking at several issues, [including] where to put our team and our changing portfolio," Deidre Buzzetto, director of global real estate at Lenovo, said. She added that because the company, which has its executive headquarters in Morrisville, NC, is "extremely mobile," in the future it will probably need less space than it has now. Buzzetto's comments came at CoreNet Global NYC discussion panel on the new work force and the changing realities of the workplace.

"We look at our portfolio and still see too much space. Most of our workers are going from 6 a.m. to midnight and they can do that anywhere," she explained. "Our largest space is 600,000 sf in Raleigh. The rest of our space in the US is small centers. We are starting to take a look at one-year leases so we an assess where to put people. People don't even use their office phones anymore."

As Lenovo acknowledges it will need less space down the road, some companies are trying to break old habits and come to grips with that reality. Lawrence Bates, director of global strategy and planning for American Express, explained that his firm's "biggest immediate problem" is business units forecasting a need for more space as American Express is trying to expand its mobility/virtual program. And American Express, as well as every other company, may have no choice but to expand its mobility as more and more employees telecommute. "One of our recent surveys found that on a weekly average our offices are less than 35% occupied," said Peter Miscovich, partner, workplace transformation at Deloitte Consulting LLP.