Serviced office companies are seeing an uptick in demand as people struggle to work from home while juggling children being out of school and other distractions.
“A lot of clients are finding it too difficult to work from home,” said Jenny Folley, founder and managing director of @WORKSPACES. “Some of them have children at home, or connectivity with the internet or mobiles isn’t too good, or they might be living in a shared home and finding the conditions too hard to work in. People are now asking for all sorts of deals, from someone who wants to work in a serviced office 10 days in the month, to a group of bankers wanting to pay out of their own pockets for offices to work out of.”
According to Servcorp global chief executive Alf Moufarrige, there is also growing demand for virtual office services that allow workers to have a business address, mail handling and receptionist services.
Victory Offices said it has introduced more arrangements for their facilities and pricing structure. For instance, while bookings for space are typically done annually or monthly, workers are able to book weekly, daily or even hourly.
On the other hand, demand for actual coworking spaces has fallen due to social distancing guidelines and people avoiding dense areas. To adjust to this, Folley said @WORKSPACES is converting many of their open spaces into private offices.