How To Reinvigorate Corporate Workplace Strategies With Flex
Introduction
The world of work has seen a meteoric shift in favour of flexible working practices and the adoption of hybrid workplace management models since the unprecedented global pandemic and subsequent mandated work-from-home trial. From a workforce's and talent-retention perspective, calls for compressed work and flexitime schedules have been rising as a suggested way to improve work-life balance, improve productivity and maintain motivation. Meanwhile, employers and decision-makers have been looking into the CAPEX and OPEX cost savings that can be made by adopting more short-term, negotiable corporate real estate options such as Coworking Spaces, Virtual Offices, Private Offices and bulk Meeting Room packages in lieu of traditional long-term fixed leases.
Having evolved dramatically over the last two decades, Flexible Workspaces and its service providers have blossomed and diversified to meet the needs and demands of nearly every type of business and industry at every stage of their growth. At The Executive Centre, we pride ourselves on being the leading provider of premium flexible workspaces in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East, meaning that we establish our coworking spaces and serviced offices within prime sustainable developments at the heart of key central business districts to impart our Members a flexible pathway to accessing the prestige and convenience of such locations that would otherwise be unobtainable without long-term commitments, financial proof and other time-consuming processes.
So, with the strength of our flexible workspaces now established, what are some of the strategies businesses can use to integrate products such as Coworking Passes, Private Offices and Meeting Room packages into their corporate real estate portfolio and workforce management practices?
Support Your Team With Choice
The beauty of flexible solutions is that they can be picked and mixed into a bespoke package that enhances your existing real estate portfolio. Quite literally, one can rent and use a hot desk, day office or book a 2-hour meeting room at the click of a few buttons via our online booking system. These in turn, provide businesses with rapid turn-key solutions and the agility to do focused work and meet clients and partners where and whenever needed. For companies that have existing offices, or ones that are employing a mix of work-from-home and fixed office models, leveraging TEC's coworking passes and meeting room packages can provide peace of mind for individuals and business leaders knowing that their workforce will always have a third space that's secure, accessible and presentable to use.
Learn more about our Coworking Products and Meeting Room Packages .
Easily Scale Your Business
No matter if you are a start-up or an established enterprise of small, medium or large size, the ultimate goal of all businesses is to grow profitably and sustainably – in short to medium term, this means companies must be able to scale according to their growth. Consider a firm that decides to add more talent to its workforce or set up another team abroad; it will likely need to provide office space for these new teammates. To save on CAPEX and OPEX, they may decide to request their new teams to work from home, or as more often the case, corporations may turn to Serviced Offices and Dedicated Desks to provide a private workspace. At TEC, growing the space you need is a simple affair as our offices come in various sizes and setups ranging from singular work units to full scale independent office solutions (and everything in between). Over the course of our 28+ years, we've seen numerous Members grow from a 4-person hot desk to 8-person office spaces to multi-city and multi-country enterprises. Businesses that need even more specific solutions can enlist our bespoke team of workspace consultants to create a customised managed solution that integrates the very best of our flexible workspace services.
Enable New Ways of Work
One common way corporations empower their existing real estate portfolios with flexible workspace solutions is by employing a hub and spoke model, which is comprised of a primary hub (usually the headquarters or a key regional office), often located in a core business district, and multiple secondary or tertiary offices (spokes) that are away from the main hubs. In this way, even businesses in sectors not primarily associated with the office space can utilise premium amenities and professional workspaces for the occasional group meeting, paperwork, or confidential client discussion. For example, businesses that work in manufacturing and production of goods or agriculture will often already have a real estate portfolio of factories, land and offices in rural regions where low-density open space is abundant but lacks modern infrastructure, which are vital to today's future of work. Businesses looking to expand their business network may often send a team of representatives into city centres to create new partnerships, secure deals, grow their business network or even learn about new innovative technologies. On these occasions, having access to a flexible workspace through coworking packages, meeting room packages or even private offices can provide a hub for these teams. Naturally, this scenario can easily apply for businesses in the service or research technology too where they may decentralise their organisational structure into different sections or functions to set up multiple hubs across advantageous locations strategically – to be closer to clients, suppliers or even to residential districts to provide professional work-ready spaces as alternatives to sub-optimal work-from-home conditions.
Get help evaluating your existing real estate portfolio with our solution experts.
Bolster Your Talent Retention
By allowing employees to work closer to home, rather than at home, coworking spaces can reduce the adverse long-term effects induced by long-term remote working, including feelings of isolation, claustrophobia and the blurring boundaries between home and work duties. From an employee's perspective, high-speed internet connectivity, dedicated desks, a premium work environment and a reason to commute outside of the main office may be a welcome relief and change of tempo, which can, in turn, confer improved talent retention rates, motivation, and productivity.
Maintain A Professional Impression
Numerous job roles require routine commuting – either nationally or internationally. Whether to meet partners and clients or potential recruits, business professionals are always on the move and require multiple touch-down locations. Rather than operating out of a bustling café or hotel room, businesses can have peace of mind by having any of our coworking products that come in the form of Global Passes, City Passes, Dedicated Desks and Day Offices which unlock over 170+ locations across the Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For businesses that are frequently on the go or those that need a corporate business address to set up their licenses, a Virtual Office can provide the support one needs as our centre operatives are on hand to take in your mail, calls and guests on your behalf no matter where you physically are.
Combining Virtual Offices, Coworking Packages, and Private Offices are common ways businesses bolster and maintain their reputation to ensure their clients, partners, and potential prospects are impressed. In many ways, keeping a professional front with flexible workspace products can help businesses scale up or down and readjust their existing real estate leases to meet rapid fluctuations or turns in the global economy. More than maintaining a front, companies seeking to grow need to instil an air of confidence and resiliency and premium flexible workspaces such as ours are perfectly equipped to provide this strength.
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Conclusion
The conventional working format of a brick-and-mortar office with dedicated desks and symmetrical cubicles will always exist in some shape or form; however, corporations and businesses that fall within that category now must rethink and adapt to ensure a plethora of variables remain optimal for the future ahead. Employee productivity, motivation, well-being, turnover rates, and cost mitigation are now imperative drivers of long-term corporate workspace strategy. The office will always be a hub for employees to come together, connect, grow, collaborate, and grow professionally but working flexibly is now a viable option for many businesses in today's world of work. Before finding successful integrations and adoptions of new work models, companies will need to look inwards to see what form and degree of hybrid work will suit their employee needs and operational requirements.
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