“Whilst working from home may have some perks, many things simply cannot be brought into a home office. Working from home has challenges such as distractions (day time TV, children & regular fridge investigations).

“It can be difficult to ‘switch off’ from work when there is no clear distinction between one’s work / personal space.

“Many people are also accustomed to having worked their entire career from an office, so leaving this environment can mean that they are left without the structure & routines they have been used to for so long.”

Claire Duncan, Victory Offices Perth

While many people would assume flexible workspaces appeal most to early-stage
startups or creative businesses, many other industries – including mining – are interested
in flexible space.

“The reason flexible workspace is now so appealing is because of the flexibility it offers to businesses who may be in a stage of transition such as downsizing or upscaling.

“When comparing costs, flexible workspace is far more cost effective, offering businesses a [way] to include all outgoings, without the commitments of a long term commercial lease.”

About Victory Offices

Set to open in July, 2021 this highly anticipated serviced office will offer local corporates a professional office space outside of the CBD. With 24 locations across Australia, each Victory centre provides unique spaces, lounges, and opportunities for their members to future-proof their business. Unique to Victory is the size and spacious nature of their offices, each being designed to offer comfortable surrounds for members.

Richmond is fast becoming a popular hub for coworking spaces, with plenty of public transport options, close proximity to the CBD, and a vibrant hospitality, retail, and entertainment district, this bustling suburb offers a great balance between work and play.

600 church st, richmond

This carefully designed space by Wood Marsh Architecture took inspiration from the area’s industrial heritage and combined it with the characteristics of a cut diamond. The impressive building has some incredible features such as the calming zen room and luxurious rooftop terrace. Enjoy your lunch outside in the sun or host a casual meeting all whilst basking in the 360 views of Richmond. Most importantly, this building will offer a range of flexible office solutions all with cutting-edge amenities to ensure every business no matter the size is well-supported.

Business Dynamics

The fast pace of change on many industries in today’s marketplace change very quickly means businesses have to follow suit to keep pace with a dynamic customer base and field of competition. Product launches and impromptu sales or project teams produce the need for speed and agility to address new market trends efficiently and effectively. Given the complexities of a traditional office space agreement that requires time, effort, and resources, a flexible space option is often a better choice when flexibility and time are at a premium.

Organisation Footprint

Many large corporations have massive footprints extending over several regions, countries, or even continents. If an enterprise has its headquarters in one region Asia but a growing customer base in another, it can quickly open a new office using flex space to meet the demands of those new customers. With customer service being so vital in the modern marketplace, an enterprise can pivot quickly to an ever- changing customer base to meet expectations effectively, all while enjoying up to 40% lower costs than traditional space.

Accounting & Valuation Benefits

Due to the significant changes to lease accounting in recent years, large public – and now private –  corporations must now list leases of one year in duration or longer on their balance sheets as a liability. However, they can still use flexible office space with short-term agreements – less than a year – without negatively impacting the balance sheet, and, thus, making their valuations potentially more appealing to investors

Commercial Real Estate Market

Large corporations tend to be particularly savvy at reading fluctuations in trends in the commercial real estate markets. If a local market is either nearing or at a peak, forward-looking enterprises will recognize that signing a traditional, longer-term agreement at the height of the market isn’t their financial best interests. Instead, a flexible office lease allows them to either enter or remain in that market and wait for price points to move away from their peaks.

Talent Acquisition & Retention

Large corporations use flexible office space when they want to find and maintain specialized talent, often for development, sales, creative, or any number of roles. Coworking environments provide enterprises with the flexibility needed to cater to the individual needs of critical talent rather than expecting people to uproot their lives and relocate for a new job.

Schedule a free consultation with Victory Offices to assist you in finding the ideal flexible office space to meet your goals and find flexibility in your business today.

Return to the office beneficiaries on the ASX

One is serviced office provider Victory Offices (ASX:VOL) which listed at $2 per share in 2019 but is now just 25 cents.

The company has claimed for many months the impact would be temporary but was nonetheless heavily hit having to cut its casual workforce by 40 per cent and raise $15 million.

Fellow serviced office stock ServCorp (ASX:SRV) has also been hit, albeit to a lesser degree, and has also said it can be part of the new norm.

Last month when it released its financial results it said when the pandemic ends “flexible workspaces will be more important than ever”.

Two larger office providers are Dexus (ASX:DXS) and Mirvac (ASX:MGR) which both have market capitalisations above $9 billion.

The latter of these stocks noted in its recent financial results office demand was below pre-COVID highs and these may never return. But it claimed modern high-quality assets would outperform their peers going forward.

Then there are a a handful of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) that have particularly high exposure to commercial offices.

The two with the most optimistic investors are Centuria Office REIT (ASX:COF) which has gained 21 per cent in the last 12 months and Elanor (ASX:ECF) which is up 11 per cent.

A Flexible Environment

Coworking provides the perfect balance – a thoughtful, well-designed space for like-minded professionals to work independently or collaborate at hot desks, permanent desks, or private offices. Once you get rid of the harsh lighting, tight cubicles, and constant scrutiny of traditional layouts, people feel more comfortable and motivated.

Everybody has their own personal style of working, so placing workers into one strict office environment is counterproductive. Coworking spaces give people the freedom to determine their own working styles, boosting a sense of identity and productivity. Especially because this freedom relates to work-life balance, workers seem to feel happier and even more creative at work.

Lack of stressors in the space

Another aspect of coworking spaces that induces productive work is the fact that these offices accommodate all types of professionals – from freelancers, solopreneurs, small to medium businesses and now even moreso, corporate and enterprise organisations.

Coworking spaces conveniently consider all the needs of a modern professional, from high-speed internet and comfortable ergonomic chairs, to separate conference rooms, private nooks, kitchens, and amenities. This gives people the constant choice to work independently and collaborate at will. The lack of forced interaction promotes more genuine conversations and meaningful collaboration.

Sense of Community

Coworking spaces also naturally promote networking and offer a sense of community. You can find tons of different professions working from one coworking office: potential clients, a talented freelancer, business partners. You would think that these differences cause isolation and distance coworker from coworker. However, due to this variety of areas of expertise, not only do you feel more pride in your work identity, but you can even offer your unique skills to another community member.

Because so many different, non-competitive professionals share the space, this results in a more relaxed environment where people share ideas and support one another that leads to collective productivity and a close network of supportive individuals. Coworking makes networking, collaborating, and community identity building (both as an individual and a community) easier.

Simply put, people thrive in coworking spaces because of the flexibility, stress-free environment, and sense of community. And at Victory Offices, there’s no need to have to travel into the CBD, with multiple locations also spread across Melbourne suburbs such as Box Hill, Chadstone, Dandenong, St Kilda and Sunshine.

There’s no better way to believe it, than to experience it for yourself. Book a tour or chat to the Victory Offices team on to discuss how you can come visit your closest coworking space at Victory Offices.

Infection fears may slow return to the Office

In an October survey of its Melbourne tenants, Dexus — one of the country’s largest corporate landlords — found two of the biggest concerns for businesses returning to work once restrictions were lifted were the risk of infection, and staff willingness to use public transport to and from work.

Businesses told Dexus they expected public transport usage by their workers to drop from 70 per cent down to 40 per cent for the first three months after returning to work.

For Digital First’s Mr McWhirter, the daily commute to work was a major factor when deciding to give up the firm’s CBD lease, but he’s also reluctant to do away with face-to-face interaction entirely.

“The team are quite happy working from home at the moment, but we are aware that that won’t last forever,” Mr McWhirter says.

“We’re considering options such as coworking spaces where we can have more flexibility, rather than the commitment of an office five days a week.”

Flexible spaces for uncertain time

In the weeks following the end of Melbourne’s lockdown, flexible office space provider Victory Offices received a significant increase in enquiries – particularly at their suburban locations.

“The pandemic has shown a lot of businesses that they don’t need to lock themselves into a commercial lease,” Misha Baxter, Victory Offices Global General Manager said. “Working from home has allowed organisations to learn they don’t need a big home base or HQ, so they can spread themselves out with lots of different hubs for their employees.

Many businesses are now setting up “hubs” in the suburbs to reduce the need for their employees to commute to the CBD and stagger the number of people and days needed per week. This also allows them to ensure the same standards of furniture, technology, and security are met, with meeting rooms and collaborative spaces available as well to help maintain teamwork and communications.

“Then people can still work from home but also have an alternative place to work too. Then they might only need to come into the city for occasional meetings.” Misha remarked.

Many well-established companies are now rethinking workspace requirements including using flexible office space as they realise the benefits of having the flexibility to rent real estate on a shorter-term basis and the exact size of office they need, at the exact time they need it, with the ability to scale up or down and customise and tailor-fit their office space according to their business needs.

They are looking to conserve cash and increase flexibility rather than take the risk of locking themselves in to a long-term office lease and having the furniture and utility overheads on top of that.

It’s now been nine months since Victorian workers have been in the office, and the flow-on effect of their absence is being keenly felt in Melbourne’s CBD. But many businesses are seeing positive changes in the way they work and how this will transform their business office space needs in the future.