Are alternatives to old-fashioned offices better?

A bowl of orange ping pong balls, a table for making Lego designs, a meeting room whose walls are blackboards, and a refrigerator where Heady Topper or Sip of Sunshine might appear.

These are among the office attributes at the Fairpoint Innovation Hub, a co-working space on Main Street in Burlington. The space is one of three locations of the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies, and one of several co-working spaces in the area. At this downtown office, each tenant pays $100 month for as much use as he or she chooses.

Concert posters, from Grace Potter to the Clash, decorate the wall. The most expensive piece of equipment at the space is the espresso machine. People strike up conversations tossing ping pong balls, often discussions between tenants of varying interests and expertise, VCET president Dave Bradbury said.

"Being an entrepreneur can be pretty lonely," Bradbury said. "I think we're developing a shared sense of taking on the world together — and having fun while we do it."

Last week in Winooski, at a "Lunch and Learn" event organized by Vermont Technology Alliance, conversation centered on workplace environment.

The discussion focused on remote and on-site office environments, and how to create a workplace atmosphere that is productive and inviting. Participants also discussed co-working spaces, and how this growing alternative fits into the employment landscape.

Fairpoint Innovation Hub opened in October, with a 10-year lease from Fairpoint at $12 a year, Bradbury said. The mix of tenants includes remote employees of Google and Twitter, marketers, designers and a chip security start-up, he said.

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A priority is to build a working environment with a diverse and rich set of members with a range of connections in and to the business world, and a collection of people that can offer things to the community, from video equipment to a class on mindfulness, he said.

"We all want to see the next billion dollar company from Vermont get started out of one of these space," Bradbury said. "What's the next Dealer.com or Green Mountain Coffee Roaster? They all started somewhere small."

Naila Jahan, a 2015 graduate of Middlebury College, majored in environmental economics. She worked as a VCET intern the summer after her sophomore year, which led to a part-time job there. Her work there has focused on the entrepreneurial landscape of Vermont, Jahan said.

Friday was her last day at VTEC. She is leaving for a job at Middlebury College, where she will be a presidential fellow in innovation.

The "collaborative possibilities" of co-working spaces, and the creative energy that arises from people working in the same place on different projects, are a defining feature — and an advantage — of co-working spaces, Jahan said.

"The variety of perspectives is crucial, especially for companies that are so young, and need that feedback and iteration," she said.

Just this month a co-working space called Excelerate Essex (E²) opened in Essex Junction, and one in Bennington, The Lightning Jar.

Economic development is moving away from "build it here or there," Bradbury noted.

"With today's work force and today's world, it's about building it here and there," he said.

A co-working space facilitates that kind of connectivity and fluidity, Bradbury said.

Even a day at the office can be fluid, with a person starting the day looking east, then following the sun to a west-facing window in the evening.

Football fields of employees

Stephen Frey is a Montpelier-based architect whose firm, Arocordis Design, specializes in workplace design, in particular interior spaces.

He has designed office space at National life in Montpelier, and with his former employer, Maclay Architects, served on the design team that worked on projects at NRG Systems and Seventh Generation, he said.

Design of an office setting, whether 10 employees or 500, takes into consideration several factors: ergonomics, aesthetics, sustainability (fresh air, views), wellness, shared open space versus private places.

"It's important to have a wide range of scales of these types of meeting places, designed for different types of activities," Frey said. "So that you have some spaces that are informal — a living room or backyard type space — and a place for people to take a legal document and do heads-down work, away from the crazy din of the work area."

A design imperative is to make places that allow people to move around during the day, which is both healthful and energizing , and useful for focus, Frey said.

At the National Life building, Frey worked on a redesign of three floors — "football field-sized work areas" — each of which has roughly 200 employees.

This included renovating bathrooms "from the 1950s subway look" to making little putting greens where people can practice their golf swings when they talk on the telephone.

Fidget props are important in work places, Frey said.

"It's a great way to occupy yourself and stay focused," he said, adding that activity in the workplace can boost engagement and creativity.

Not long ago, Frey got a standing work station at his own office. Because he touts sit-stand options as one of the most important things employers can provide, Frey felt he should "walk the talk."

"I'm not going to look back," he said. "Standing and talking on the phone is a lot more energizing."

More information: http://bit.ly/ArocordisWorkplace

Billable hours and blue jeans

Agilion is a Web design and development company whose employees live in Vermont and work from home.

They see each other every morning online for a brief meeting, and get together in person every week or two.

But the bulk of their work life is spent at home, where they are asked by their boss, CEO Adam Bouchard, to provide 30 billable hours a week.

The remaining time, four to 10 hours a week, is reserved for "self-investment," Bouchard said at last week's lunch meeting.

He began his presentation with information about worker satisfaction and attitude, citing information from a Gallup poll that indicates 30 percent of the workforce is "engaged" while 70 percent is not engaged or "actively disengaged."

Several factors promote employee engagement, Bouchard continued, including "freedom of choice."

This can mean freedom to work where a person will be most successful, he said.

At Agilion, the eight employees work from home — an arrangement that is effective because people are "distributed by design," he said. A key to a successful remote work is "self awareness." Bouchard said.

"I'm in Vermont," he said. "That's where I want to be. I don't need to create something that looks like San Francisco or New York City."

Bouchard lives in Monkton. His colleagues are in Montpelier, South Burlington and Burlington.

The company makes use of digital applications that aid virtual workplaces, including time management and conversation-thread apps.

A goal is to create an atmosphere in which people "pull" information in, rather than "push for it."

As a team, there is no email. "That's a push," Bouchard said.

"Stop expecting immediate feedback," he said. If a situation is urgent, use a telephone.

When people working on creative endeavors are given the space and time they need, to use at their own discretion, they come to focus on fewer projects of greater value, he said.

Agilion rents two spaces a month at the Fairpoint Innovation Hub, for $200, to give remote employees another workplace option.

But people don't use it much, CEO Bouchard said by email, so the practice may not last much longer.

"If you trust your employees, let them work wherever they want to work to match their flow," Bouchard said.

More information: http://bit.ly/DistributedDesign2

Contact Sally Pollak at spollak@burlingtonfreepress.com or 660-1859; www.twitter.com/vtpollak