Right-Sizing Your Office Space

Last March 2020 our country entered lockdown – many companies closed their offices and adopted a Work From Home (WFH) model.   This was necessary during the onset of the pandemic; however, now as we enter Spring 2021 we see can see a brighter horizon. Schools, restaurants, and retail business are starting to open up again, COVID rates are at a decline and vaccinations are increasing.   So does that mean employees will return to the workplace exactly the same way?

Not exactly. Companies are now trying to figure out how to open up in a safe, productive, and cost effective manner.  Many have realized that employees can be effective in a remote setting, yet employees and management both yearn for at least some in person collaboration.

The reality is that the future of work for many will include some hybrid of in-person and remote work. Employees will still want to have the flexibility of working remotely a few days a week – it may even be a necessity for many. But going into an office will also be critical for collaboration, productivity, coaching, training, and the list goes on.  What does this mean for the future office space?

 

Shift to Flexible Workspace

Office space is typically one of the largest expenses for a company – but now office space could be one of the biggest sources of savings.  With a future mix of in person and remote work, companies have realized they don’t need the same size office space they had before.  

Many have turned to shared office space facilities like Office Evolution Somerville for flexible workspace options. These facilities offer dedicated private offices while taking advantages of shared amenities like a kitchen, conference rooms and reception. The private offices also come equipped with furniture, phone, internet, cleaning services, and utilities, so there is not much else the company needs to think about when shifting to a share workspace facility.   This option also provides flexibility to increase or decrease the amount of space that is needed.  

This type of shared workspace can be a great option for any company that may only have a few employees coming in to work on any given day.  And the savings can really start to add up.

For example let’s take a company of 10-15 employees with 3000 sq ft. The office space alone could easily cost $6k per month – plus all the utilities, cleaning and supplies. With only 3-4 employees coming in per day, the company could rent 2 large private offices for 1/3 of the cost. The team would still have all the amenities of a large office space and have the flexibility to scale up or down. Larger team meetings can still use conference rooms that are available to reserve by the hour or by the day.

Traditional commercial office space typically requires long-term commitments of at least 3-5 years, but shared workspaces have a lot more flexibility with annual or monthly agreements.

Several companies have already started to do this at Office Evolution in downtown Somerville, NJ.   Employees of member companies enjoy being in a vibrant downtown environment while having access to the free parking.   Somerville is also centrally located and accessible from several major highways. For more information about availability in Somerville, contact Ulka at somerville.nj@officeevolution.com or at 908-628-0942.