Hybrid working has made businesses of all shapes and sizes review their office spaces and requirements. This is never truer than for people running SMEs and start-ups who might not need a long-term, multi-year office lease. Instead, a more adaptable and flexible office may have many more benefits.
What are the top five things SME owners want from an office? Keep on reading to find out…
1.) Scale up and down with your business
Small businesses and start-ups change incredibly quickly and it can be hard to predict how big they will be in a year’s time, or even in a month. Guessing ahead and planning for a potential headcount in the future may even be limiting, but it is also the only way to go about finding an office space – at least, if you are looking at a traditional, long-term office contract.
If you choose a flexible office instead, you can rent only the number of desks you need at any one time and then scale that number up or down depending on how your business changes. Want to suddenly add another dozen staff? Or do you need fewer desks because more people have shifted to working at home?
With a flexible office, this is no problem for an SME. Contracts can be offered on a month-by-month basis and your total desk space can be grown or shrunk as you need it. This means that you will spend only what you need to and keep more money in your pocket, rather than paying out for a bigger office than you need and having lots of empty space – potentially a big win for any SME.
2.) Accessibility
One of the big reasons that hybrid working is becoming more popular is that fewer people than ever before are prepared to spend hours every day commuting to an office to do work that they could feasibly do at home.
If you have decided that your SME needs to have an office premises, this is a factor that you need to take into account. Many long-standing office buildings are located in city and town centres which leads to long journeys to work in many cases.
In contrast, flexible offices tend to be located in places on the outskirts of city and town centres close to major train and road links – making them much more convenient for many. This includes many of the FIREM flexible offices available to rent which are chosen with accessibility in mind.
3.) Work-life balance
The desire for an improved work-life balance doesn’t just apply to the commute. It is also relevant to peoples’ experience in the office itself from day-to-day.
People want to work for companies who take their health and wellbeing seriously, and that starts with the choice of office. Spaces which include facilities for relaxing and socialising will be preferred, as will offices which offer natural networking opportunities.
Flexible office spaces are far superior in this regard. FIREM’s spaces include facilities like breakout rooms and relaxation areas, kitchens, landscaped gardens, gymnasiums and more to make sure employees have a great work-life balance when in the office, and that is to the benefit of your SME.
4.) Networking with other businesses
Networking is great on a personal and professional level, although historically the office is a limited space in this regard. Traditional offices generally see companies siloed off on separate floors with their own facilities and no opportunity to mix with other companies.
On the other hand, a flexible office will give you shared facilities like those mentioned above and mixed corridors where you can bump into people from other walks of life regularly and be inspired by people from outside your business.
What’s more, with a flexible office space you only pay for your rented desks and nothing else, meaning that all these communal spaces which offer such fantastic networking opportunities are available totally free of charge. This is great for SMEs looking for creativity and inspiration, and all at a low cost.
5.) Collaborative design
The final important thing that SMEs can get from a flexible office space is the fact they are designed for work of all kinds and the spaces themselves are easily adaptable.
The spaces on offer in FIREM flexible offices can be arranged for collaboration and team projects when required, and you can also have private spaces which are ideal for work that requires greater concentration when you need too.
This flexibility and ability to ‘hot desk’ is one of the best features of any flexible office – but that’s not all. The collaborative design of our flexible offices also come equipped with everything you need to collaborate and work on projects with staff who are working from home.
Conference phones throughout and high-capacity fibre broadband complete the picture of a flexible office that is a truly fantastic work environment on top of all the other benefits it brings.
Looking to rent flexible office space for your SME or start-up? FigFlex offer a variety of flexible office services across the country, click here to visit their website.
