Flexible co-working spaces and serviced office rentals are becoming increasingly popular across the globe. Freelancers, small businesses, startups, entrepreneurs, and even big companies are choosing to work under a flexible workspace for their day-to-day activities. More so, this set of people now prefers and appreciates the opportunity to connect with like-minded professionals and enterprises. To this extent, the idea of flexible workspace has grown into a phenomenon that cannot be ignored.
A flexible workspace, such as a co-working space is a type of shared working environment where individuals or team of individuals from different origins and different work-type work in an open office environment. Such an environment is usually owned and run by an independent agency. Flexible working spaces are often rented out to interested persons by hour, day, week, month, or any other negotiated time frame. Private offices or team rooms can also be found in many co-working and serviced office providers. This type of office space will be more suitable for teams that require some form of privacy from the rest of the shared facility.
Co-working spaces are vital to individuals and businesses that operate digitally or for those that need an office annex. It is a great way to save costs that will be spent on procuring and equipping an office space. Large enterprises can also save tons of costs by using flexible working spaces. For instance, if your company receives work from a certain location on a regular basis but not enough to start a new branch office to handle that, your organization may opt for a flexible workspace to hold meetings and undertake some project works that’s close to the client’s location or location of the concerned project.
Flexible working spaces can also serve as a source of motivation for startup entrepreneurs who seek to push their business to the next level. Most of the spaces are flooded with technology savvy and business startup individuals and businesses and such communities are seen as vital for business growth. Flexible working spaces are available in several cities across many countries in the world.
How can a flexible workspace save your organization money?
- You pay a fixed/flat rate
One significant financial benefit of using a co-working space or serviced office is that you pay as what was per agreed in the timeframe that was signed. You don’t have to bother yourself about bills, fees, and taxes. Flexible workspaces exclude you from business property taxes and bills that you normally should be responsible for if you rent a leased property.
2. Space is already furnished
When you pay for a co-working space or serviced office rental, you are not just paying for an empty space. Instead, the office you are paying for is already furnished with the essential items you need. Items like desks, chairs, light fixtures, office equipment, and cabinets are already provided. Whereas, if you are to rent a traditional office; your organization will be responsible for the furnishing and outfitting work.
3. Enjoy free facilities
When you pay for a flexible workspace, you only pay for the office space(or desk space) that you are using. You need not pay for other facilities and rental of common areas like toilet, kitchen, meeting rooms and office equipment like the printer, scanner, and photocopy machines. The workspace providers take care of these and you can enjoy the facilities while you only pay for the desk space. Of course, this is a great way to save costs for your organization. Another way to save more costs, you can outsource your printing jobs to solutions like Gogoprint which provide easy fuss print, and cost effective printing solutions.
4. Outsource your ancillary staff by using the facility’s staff
Flexible workspaces usually have their own support staff like secretaries, cleaners, receptionists, and so on. This means that you don’t have to hire/pay any ad-hoc staff while you run your business. Although you may be required to pay an extra fee for using certain administrative features, the cost is still moderate compared to when you employ these workers on your own.
5. You don’t have to pay an upfront/dilapidation fee
If you lease a property, you will normally be required to pay an upfront damages fee or renovation deposit should in case you damage any of the structural components of the building. In some case, either, you will be required to pay a dilapidation fee at the end of a leased office rental term to return the structure to the way it was before you moved in. This cost can be much depending on the modifications you made to the building and some landlords usually exploit this opportunity. Interestingly, you don’t have to pay such cost if you use a co-working or serviced office. Flexible workspaces rarely charge such hidden cost unless you made a significant damage to the structures in the office.
6. You are not responsible for the maintenance/running of the office
If you are using a shared office space, you don’t have to carry the burden of the maintenance of the office. Be it the air conditioners in or the electrical wirings or switches develop a fault, it won’t be your responsibility to fix or repair. All maintenance/running fees are paid by the workspace provider, meaning plenty of costs savings.
7. You don’t have to pay any agent fee
If you want to rent a conventional office space, you will have to hire an agent to represent you or pay an agent fee for the landlord’s agent. Agents generally are those who represent you in searching for suitable office locations based on your requirements and carry out negotiations on your behalf. The agent fee is usually a percentage of the total rent. This is an additional cost that you and your company will want to avoid. Co-working spaces and serviced office rentals are way less complicated. There are thousands of flexible workspaces on the internet and these spaces are mostly aggregated in user-friendly workspace directories like ours, do not charge an agent or finder’s fee. Hence, a flexible workspace is easy to find and rent, just like a hotel room.
8. You make business calls at a much cheaper rate
Most flexible workspaces provide phone call services at cheaper rates, due to their often larger purchasing power. Each table is equipped with landlines or VOIP phones that you can use to make and receive calls. This service usually attracts a very low cost that is paid either separately or together with the rental agreement.
9. You can resize your office at any time
Renting a traditional office space usually, leave you with the problem of size issues. If you are a small startup, you will think of the future possibilities of growth if your business with respect to the size of the property you want to rent. What if your business outgrows the current facility? Renting a flexible workspace tends to eliminate this fear. You can choose a small space for a start and move to a larger one as your business scale and expand. You don’t have to change offices every time your business outgrows the current facility and get tied down to a long lease which most traditional office landlords demand.
10. You develop a network easily for your brand/ organization
Flexible working spaces offer you an opportunity to form a broad network. Since the facility accommodates people with different skills and background, you will be amazed at how extensive you are able to develop a network for your business. For instance, if you are a website designer, you can meet a professional graphics designer whom you can work with. Likewise, small and medium-sized businesses can meet freelancers who can take their business to the next level at a much cheaper price than hiring from an unknown and untrusted source.
Conclusion
Both small and big businesses are starting to realize the importance of using flexible workspaces in their business, due to the many benefits they can take advantage of . Apart from the comfort, it comes with it, co-working spaces and serviced office rentals have a great number of money-saving benefits you can never imagine and not limited to the above.
Have you taken the advantage of a flexible workspace before? What is your view of a flexible workspace? Will you be keen to look at getting one for your business or team soon?
Talk to us today and see what kind of space and which city will you be keen in!
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