Businesses are increasingly realising that to attract and retain the brightest and best talent they need to provide environments which support and inspire their employees. They are also focused on enabling workplace collaboration, offering flexibility and increasing productivity, while containing costs.
Over the course of the last decade, more and more companies globally have moved away from the conventional office lease approach, and the capital expenditure it entails, in favour of more sophisticated fully serviced workspaces in desirable locations.
This has meant that flexible working has been on the rise with many new entrepreneurs, small companies and established businesses having access to reasonably priced office options.
“The idea of getting out and going to an office is very much ingrained in people,” explains Mel Schembri, sales and operations director at Halkin. “People still want to come into work, even if they have the option of working from home or from anywhere. People want to connect on a human level.
“As an office provider we have to recognise that and enable it. At the heart of our business we are always asking ‘How can we help your business to be as productive and efficient as possible?’ The answer often lies with how happy staff are.”
As businesses increasingly recognise the value of providing their employees with a workspace that fosters more of a work-life balance, the serviced office industry has responded with increased creativity.
“Whereas ten years ago there were really only a handful of major business centre providers in London with a narrow product range, the client is now spoilt for choice,” Ms Schembri says. “There are now a lot of independent and creative providers, and businesses can afford to be selective. This has led to a reinvention of the typical office space and reinvigorated the industry, which is a great thing.”
Affordability and scalability remain vitally important to companies, but so too are comfort features, such as ergonomics, lighting, break-out spaces, cafés, shower facilities, bicycle racks, health and wellness programmes, and integration with apps and online services.
“Simply put, people want to be based in buildings that they feel really good about going to work in,” Ms Schembri says. The point is not lost on employers in London, who may soon find themselves having to fight harder than ever to retain their very best people in post-Brexit Britain.
Ms Schembri explains that Halkin’s clients increasingly look to them for a personalised and tailor-made solution. They need their office spaces to be flexible, bright, spacious and well designed, while being adaptable to their needs and well equipped with the latest technology.
Halkin itself currently has four such centres in London, including a luxurious Georgian Mayfair town house and a vibrant, modern, Art Deco-style warehouse building in Southwark.
For Halkin, a key notion is that no two businesses are alike. Today, Halkin’s aim is to put control back in the hands of the clients by providing a completely flexible solution using the latest technology and design, while retaining value for money.
So much has changed about the ways in which professionals communicate and provide services to one another, but it is clear there remains, and there will perhaps always be, strong value in face-to-face interactions and creative, communal workspaces.
For business centre providers such as Halkin, the focus is firmly on delivering design-led solutions that keep pace with the shifting demands of modern professional life and the needs of employers, for whom there is always a clear imperative to recruit and retain the very best people.
To find out more about how smart workspace creators Halkin can help your business to thrive please visit their new website at www.halkin.com
