Starting a flexi-office business – why is it a good idea?
As businesses look for ways to become more savvy with their spending and answer to changing attitudes in the way employees want to work, a study by Ernst & Young reveals that flexible co-working spaces will make up 30% of the office space market by 2021.
The foundations of the flexi-office concept were dug several years ago, thanks by and large to the co-working movement. The idea that several businesses could work under one roof and share facilities has become so popular that the number of shared working spaces in London is expanding at an annual rate of 20%.
As part of the movement, popular co-working companies including LABS and WeWork began to offer businesses the option to use their spaces on a flexible basis.
Businesses can hire out office space and meetings rooms, and use the facilities with a temporary pass. However, when it costs one person almost £200/month to use the space without the benefit of a private office, we can imagine it isn’t particularly cost-effective. This means there’s plenty of room for fairly priced, flexible office space.
And, as we mentioned in the introduction, this doesn't just apply to city centres. In fact, as more people look to cut down on their commute times, the same study by Ernst & Young predicts a 67% increase in the number of satellite offices popping up on city outskirts.
Costs aside, the flexi-office movement has come at a good time, as there’s no doubt that the pandemic has catalysed a remote working movement.
According to research site Finder, 60% of the nation worked from home during the height of the pandemic. Out of that 60% of people, 26% still want to work from home to some extent once the country resumes some semblance of normality.
With over a quarter of people who worked from home looking to continue to do so in some capacity, it makes little sense for some businesses to tie themselves into lengthy contracts. Instead, hiring office space purely for projects and collaboration may be more sensible.
Such is the confidence that this is the new way to work, the hospitality industry has made a huge leap forward, recognising that it can facilitate flexible working by offering businesses a place to work, in addition to all the services that may come with a hotel or hospitality venue.
Accor Hotel Group – one of the industry’s biggest names – is turning rooms in 250 of its hotels into flexi-office spaces.
Similarly, big retail names are answering the demand for office space, with John Lewis making 45% of its Oxford Street flagship store available to businesses. As high streets continue to suffer from reduced footfall and competition from online retailers, will there be a demand for people to convert disused high street units into flexible office spaces?
via https://www.AiUpNow.com/ by Aimee Bradshaw, Khareem Sudlow
