6 Benefits of Utilizing a Flexible Workspace This Year

Maybe you’ve heard how popular utilizing a flexible workspace is getting. That said, this could be a solution or an enhancement for your business this new year! Read below.

 

While the pandemic is entering its final stages, its impact is sure to be felt for years. This includes the changes it has forced in the workplace. More workers than ever are looking to continue working from home. But others would like to blend the benefits of remote work with the productive and social environments of the office.

 

Meanwhile, diversification and a growing commercial real estate market, as well as a looming recession, mean cheaper and more flexible office spaces. In addition, a generation of businesses that aren’t keen on long-term leases and crowded headquarters.

 

Regardless of whether you’re a freelancer, a solopreneur, or the team manager for a larger corporation, there are multiple reasons to invest in flexible workspaces this year and consider a coworking space over the more traditional satellite office or office space.

 

Let’s cover some of the more significant benefits of flexible workspaces this year.

 

1. More Availability and Diversity Than Ever

 

Despite a rough year for everyone involved, 2020 still provided plenty of opportunities for the flexible workspace, coworking, and commercial real estate market. Companies looked for ways to keep their remote employees in productive spaces without violating social distancing rules and putting their employees at risk.

 

For businesses employing multiple employees with a long commute, flexible workspaces provided a safe alternative to working from home.

 

Others opted to implement a “work from anywhere” strategy, either making flexible workspaces a key part of a larger hub-and-scope system or giving employees the freedom to choose where they wanted to work from whenever the main office had reached maximum allowed capacity.

 

When supply outstrips demand, prices drop. And with greater availability comes a more diversified selection of flexible workspaces. In addition, a lower share of workspaces owned by larger, more dominating companies (meaning greater competition).

 

These are all good things for companies looking for workspaces that provide greater benefits or cater more specifically to their needs, or individuals seeking a particular workspace to suit their preferences and help keep them productive in the new year.

 

2. A Premium on Niche and Flexible Usage

 

Flexible workspaces can cater to businesses looking for specific benefits, including industry-specific offerings (catering to law firms, or businesses in the healthcare branch, or cannabis startups, or new music producers, etc.) or location-specific benefits – such as access to a large outdoor space for thinking and collaborating in the fresh air.

 

By leaning heavily into niches this year, individual flexible workspaces can set themselves apart from one another. In turn, entrepreneurs and businesses won’t need to struggle to find a space that caters to them.

 

3. The Role of Flexible Workspaces for Remote Employees

 

Working from home isn’t a viable solution for everyone. Some employees struggle to concentrate on work due to at-home distractions, while others struggle with the isolation that comes from working alone at home.

 

Some report feeling distanced from the company culture, as a lot of the day-to-day between workers is lost in the transition towards a remote workstyle.

 

Then there are the other issues that come from working from home, from the potentially unreliable internet access to the lack of usable workspace, or the inevitable blending of family and work lives. This leading to an increased risk of burnout as the necessary separation between the private and the professional slowly ceases to exist.

 

Flexible workspaces offer an alternative for these workers to continue to be productive and work in an environment with others, without causing the main office to exceed its capacity. Especially if these shared, flexible workspaces are relatively close to home.

 

4. Flexible Workspaces Prioritize Safety and Hygiene

 

With the onset of the pandemic, businesses were urged to massively reduce customer-facing contact and maintain a safe distance between employee workstations, as well as employ more rigorous hygiene protocols to minimize the risk of transmitting the virus at work, from mask-wearing to roving cleaning crews and more.

 

Flexible workspaces can further serve as safe working environments by offering isolated spaces and private offices rather than an open floor plan, enabling remote collaboration within the office itself, while keeping individuals or small groups safe from one another.

 

5. Flexible Workspaces Facilitate Face-to-Face Onboarding

 

A sense of community is critical for recovery – whether for an individual, a company, or a country. While we can come together remotely, it’s especially important for a business to show a more human side when welcoming a new person into its ranks.

 

To this extent, flexible workspaces provide the perfect opportunity to onboard new hires, by providing a short-term space to integrate a new hire into the company and ease them into the remote working process, without necessarily expanding office space.

 

This way, brand new hires feel a greater connection to the company and experience the sense of being wholeheartedly welcomed, and can continue to work from home (or from the same flexible workspace) after the onboarding process is complete.

 

6. Flexible Workspaces Provide a Risk-Averse Office Space for Larger Companies

 

Flexible workspaces remain a great option for businesses who need a low-commitment option they can lease for the foreseeable future. They won’t need to worry about the considerable financial obligation a traditional office space would bring.

 

As a recession looms before us, many companies are looking at tightening the belt and figuring out how they might be able to cut costs and continue operating at full capacity.

 

Opting for more flexible leases would give them the ability to lean out when necessary and seek out more space for a growing company workforce when the opportunity presents itself.

 

Businesses who are doing well can look at flexible workspaces as a better option for safe and simple expansion when their main offices aren’t enough. They can be especially useful for companies looking to expand into other cities or regions.

 

Instead of retrofitting older office space to adhere to COVID-19 measures, companies can leverage safe and secure flexible workspaces to act as satellite offices for their new operations away from headquarters, at little to no risk.