The pandemic is entering its third year, and the majority of businesses in Asia-Pacific are moving towards adopting office space plans that acknowledge the current condition. We have witnessed businesses being compelled to restructure their operations, adapt their staff to flexible working arrangements, and develop greater agility to react more rapidly to changes in the market and consumer demand.

The need for flexible offices is predicted to increase sharply. Businesses have to think very carefully; between ensuring the productivity of the employees and having a physical office to cater to the business needs and growth.

The need for businesses to be agile has been highlighted by the global pandemic, therefore the demand for flexible office space, such as coworking spaces, will increase in the upcoming years, according to the CBRE Spring 2022 Asia Pacific Occupier Survey (2022).

By 2024, survey participants predict that flexible space will make up roughly 17% of all real estate portfolios, up from the present level of 7%. The statistics show that by the next two years, around 50% of companies will be benefiting from flexible offices, while only 18% of companies will not be using them.

Flexible office space providers have to continuously meet the needs of their client’s requirements, by making broader choices of flexible office space available, ranging from on-demand event space to customisable private offices.

According to CBRE, tech companies would still be the primary user of flexible offices, with business services, banking, retail, and life sciences sectors all expected to use flexible offices in a far higher amount than in the past.

Flex space is now commonly used by businesses to offer temporary solutions to a scattered workforce, providing on-demand meeting and collaboration space for staff, and overall increasing staff location alternatives.

Although capital expenditure (CapEx) reductions continue to be a major factor driving demand for flexible space, the remote working arrangement is the main motivator.

Surveying 150 companies, CBRE (2022) found that 60% of respondents chose hybrid working, which entails staff members dividing their time between working from the office and working from home. However, about half of employers who impose hybrid working prefer that their employees spend the majority of their time at work, with the remaining employers expecting an equal balance.

Aligning with the findings, WORQ Coworking Space, which currently has more than 10,000 community members, found that 76% of these members prefer a hybrid working arrangement, while 51% of companies impose a hybrid working policy.

In total, 1,183 out of 1,563 people come to WORQ for the hybrid work model, whereas 240 companies from a total of 469 have their employees in such an arrangement.

The data is gathered from OfficeRnD to see the total days 1,563 members and 469 companies come to WORQ in 2 weeks from January to September 2022. Then, the data is filtered to the frequency of coming to the office equals 4 days or less, and this population is labeled as a hybrid worker.

With workers demanding hybrid working arrangements, things will change when more companies return to work in the office. Businesses will have to embrace flexible working as the new normal by improving workplace flexibility.

CBRE data (2022) shows that many businesses have started making the transition to hot-desking and other flexible seating arrangements and this process has sped up since 2020. Just 28% of businesses still use fixed seating arrangements as of 2022, far less than the 58% of businesses that did so before the pandemic. This number will decrease sharply to 12% in the next two years.

Companies are expressing a positive take on investing in long-term office as the return to the workplace continues. Over the next three years, almost 47% of respondents in the CBRE survey want to expand the size of their real estate portfolios.

Only 23% of respondents said they planned to reduce the size of their long-term real estate assets, down significantly from 46% in 2020 as a result of the adoption of hybrid working in many organisations. While these businesses reduce the size of their offices, many other businesses take advantage of the opportunity to upgrade to better locations and higher-quality buildings.

Utilising coworking space, with all the flexibility it can offer, is the most effective strategy for businesses to tackle future workplace challenges. Through Enterprise Solutions, WORQ can build a flexible office for businesses to scale up in the future and to design and customise the workspace the way they want it to be.

WORQ is also opening its 5th outlet in KL Sentral. The office is certified with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) & Green Building Index (GBI), catering to the demand for green buildings without paying the green premium.

In the end, coworking space is the solution to ease the transition to hybrid working and support the return to work. The future of work is here; it is hybrid and uses flexible offices.