Over the last 10 years, work environments have changed – and technological advancements had made flexible working possible, even before the pandemic.
Pre-COVID, many businesses still stuck to the traditional 9-5 way of working; cramming as many desks as possible into an office space, with no thought given to efficient working, team collaboration or culture. Now, they realise they don’t need to have a desk for every employee to sit at every day. If their team are going to work from home some of the time, either a few days per week or on a rotational basis, it’s not cost-effective or necessary to pay for a full-time traditional lease, where they have to pay to fit out the space, for Wifi, furniture, and so on. Plus, employees are proven to be happier and more productive when they work flexibly and they are not chained to one desk for set hours every day. This new attitude opens up a lot of opportunities and possibilities for workspace.
In future, people will want to keep this flexibility and the ability to work remotely, but they will also want face-to-face interaction with co-workers, team meetings to bounce ideas off one another, social events, and catch-ups by the coffee machines. These are all important parts of work and it goes without saying that the “office space”, however that will look, isn’t something of the past.
The guide includes an overview of what flexible workspace is, and how businesses can make the most of flexible working. It f Work.Life’s flexible workspace solutions, but if you’re looking for more direction, that’s where we can help.
You can now book a free workspace strategy consultation with one of our team – we’ll find out more about your business, ways of working, what you need from a workspace and how often you plan to use a physical workspace.
Based on your workspace requirements, we’ll be able to recommend the best solution or solutions for your needs.
Flexible working environments allow individuals and teams to practice a more agile way of working. Covid has shown many people that they don’t require a desk for each team member, every single day of the week – in fact, they can use workspace in a different way, that can even help boost productivity and engagement.
Work.Life workspaces help freelancers, small businesses and larger SMEs embrace flexible working, providing smart, agile workspaces that adapt around your needs.
Here are some flexible working case studies from Work.Life members:
Like many people, I was working from home all through COVID, meeting my team and holding tonnes of daily meetings virtually. To be honest, that wore me down and I was really missing being around other people, in an entrepreneurial environment. I wanted to get back into town and knew that I wouldn’t be the only one – many people were feeling like I was!
Work.Life stood out to me because of the range of locations (I wanted to be back in Soho), and the simplicity with which I could jump back into a shared work environment. My list of priorities were: location, vibe, price, flexibility, fun stuff and extra bits.
A few different workspace options were presented to me, including a pay-monthly Local membership for a coworking space, or a part-time private office space my team could dip in and out of. To be honest, each of the options appealed to me. However, because we’re still a little bit unsure about social restrictions going forward, I chose to be a Flex coworking member for now. That means I can come and go as I wish, at any location, and I’m only charged for the hours I’m there.
The unlimited coworking space membership is only slightly more, and I’ll be upgrading to that once things settle a bit more. In fact, once things get back to normal, I’ll be looking to bring my whole team into Work.Life and hire a dedicated office, at a really good price.
I’ve also been using the meeting rooms. My team is scattered all over and I’m keen to bring everyone together fortnightly for a working day. Work.Life has a wide range of meeting rooms that are super central, and bring us all back to creative Soho where we used to work and play. The facilities are good, the Work.Life team is fab, and the rooms are equipped with everything we need to be creative (white board and big screen). Booking is simple and straightforward, and we get all the supplies and caffeine we could need throughout the day. The tech is great too, and super simple to use.
Work.Life was the only team that could offer me what I needed from a hot-desking and co-working space. I was suggested Flex membership by the Hammersmith team and have never looked back since. The Flex membership truly meets my requirements of irregular working hours that could be any day of the week or weekend, at potentially varying locations, and is good value too.
Keeping check of my usage and billing is straight forwards through the user-friendly online member’s portal. If I ever ran into problems out-of-hours (or in hours!) the team have always dealt with these exceptionally professionally and efficiently.
Even though I have the Flex membership, I still feel welcome and part of the Work.Life community at my ‘base’ office. The membership has definitely made me more productive. And the office space is beautifully designed too!
Read more about our flexible workspace options here.
