The old model of a business renting their own space, being locked into a long term lease, and being responsible for fit-out efforts, bill paying and maintenance may not be dead, but it’s a shrinking way of life for Australian businesses.
Whether you refer to it as coworking, shared office spaces, or flexible workspaces, you’ve probably heard of the new phenomenon in the way Australian businesses are operating.
Workspaces such as Hub Australia entered the market over 8 years ago, and have grown substantially since – Hub Australia has grown to 6 locations across 4 states, with over 2500 members.
“The word coworking won’t be a word in the future, it will probably just be the way we work.” -Rahul Prakash
The demand for flexible workspaces has also shifted – initially, the majority of coworking members were entrepreneurs or small businesses looking to be part of a community. As real estate and operational expenses grew in cities and major business hubs, larger businesses have started acknowledging the merits of shared office spaces.
Read more: 5 Reasons Coworking Spaces Are Great For Growing Your Business
Community
Many coworking and shared office spaces know the balance between community and productivity is essential, and design their spaces to foster interactions between members. They also employ dedicated account managers and community leads to help members meet and collaborate.
Hub Australia offers a curated member program, providing networking and business development opportunities to their members alongside recreational outings.
Read more: 7 Ways a Small Business Community Can Help You Grow
Employee happiness and retention
Employees working for businesses of any size normally have the same needs – they prioritise amenities as well as natural light and space.
Businesses who outsource to a coworking space are able to guarantee their staff a higher standard of quality and maintenance than they may be able to otherwise – spaces such as Hub Southern Cross and Hub Anzac Square offer full end-of-trip facilities, breakout spaces, member cafés and more, all for use by their members.
Read more: How to Retain Employees by Living Something Bigger
Design
As the workforce changes, so do standards of design and architecture. It’s rare nowadays to see the ‘bull-pen’ plan office that was in vogue twenty years ago, as Australian businesses learn more about designing for teams and productivity.
Flexible workspaces allow businesses to benefit from the insight and expertise of the space and their designers.
Coworking spaces allow for many different work styles, from solo workers to communal café people, as well as more traditional private offices and flexible desks.
Cost & Flexibility
When Australian businesses are renting their own workspace, it may look a little something like this:
They find a space, and may spend a large amount of time and money fitting it out with the right furniture, facilities, and interior design, as well as connecting all utilities and paying for their maintenance.
If their business experiences amazing growth, they aren’t able to simply upgrade – they have to relocate to a new workspace and do the whole thing again, and it’s the same story if they need to downgrade!
Coworking and shared office spaces not only handle fit-out, maintenance, and utilities (all in one much easier transaction), but also offer the ability to upgrade or downgrade your business’s space as needed.
This means if your business triples in size you don’t need to say goodbye to all the things you love about your space.
Australian businesses have moved into 2019 and embraced the fluidity, ease, and higher standard that comes with flexible workspaces.
Whether it’s a team of 2 or 20, every business enters their new space eager to connect and grow.
If you want to learn more about the benefits coworking could have for your business, get in touch with Hub Australia’s amazing team.
