Co-working setups or flexible offices remain an alternative office space strategy and continue to bring benefits to companies, landlords, and even workers.
Sheila Lobien, chief executive officer of Lobien Realty Group , in an interview said the advent of technology and the clamor for work-from-home and hybrid arrangements have made co-working spaces all the more an attractive option.
For corporates, co-working spaces provide the flexibility for those who are not ready to invest in leasing traditional office spaces.
“You pay for the flexibility of a short-term, per-seat leasing basis that can be increased or decreased more flexibly than a traditional office,” Lobien said.
Landlords can lease their empty or idle spaces to flexible office space providers and be able to generate income.
In the business process outsourcing industry, Lobien said the plug-and-play model provided by co-working spaces allows companies to immediately expand if they rent on a per-seat basis.
Workers in this sector and other tech-enabled sectors are also drawn to co-working spaces as they adopt hybrid working arrangements.
“Co-working spaces are ideal for those who cannot commit long-term to a lease contract of a minimum of three years, which is the norm for traditional spaces. Plus, they just have to set aside an operating expense rather than a huge capital expense since long-term leases require six months in deposit. They can use the money to operate the business,” Lobien said.
She said startups which have little capital can expand and shrink their operations in co-working spaces based on their requirements. Big companies expanding to other locations can use co-working spaces as satellite offices before building a full-blown branch office.
According to Lobien, rents in a co-working space can be as low as P5,000 to as high as P15,000 per seat or per desk, depending on location.
Co-working setups are ideal for firms that need physical office space not exceeding 100 square meters and where the number of employees is 10 or less.
Lobien said a lot of building owners have converted their unutilized office spaces into co-working spaces for optimization.
“This brings value and prestige to the building, especially if it attracts international companies. Eventually, clients inside the co-working space will grow and take permanent offices in that building,” she added.
However, Lobien believes co-working spaces are best for businesses in the “inception stage.”
“It’s a good way to start and test the market, but once they eventually grow, companies should have a permanent office.
LRG estimates that there are around 210 co-working spaces within Metro Manila occupying around 300,000 sq.m. of office space.
