A song by rock band Stereophonics could not be more appropriate as a musical backdrop to remote working caused by Covid-19 – the lyrics focus on how change changes things for you.
Public health restrictions in March 2020, with the historic implementation of the first national lockdown, and the third one we are currently in, meant the temporary closure of offices on an industrial scale.
Ocean Village Innovation Centre (OVIC), with 67 offices and four meeting rooms for hire, adapted quickly to the new reality, including providing complimentary in-house business support to our customers through video calls.
And, whilst many office workers are happy to move to full-time remote working, based on various published surveys, the sense is that a hybrid solution could well offer the best fit once the pandemic is over.
We have already seen a surge in customer enquiries since January, coinciding with the largest and most rapid vaccine roll-out in British history.
Significantly, rather than asking for a hot desk, which is allocated on a booking basis, the OVIC enquiry trend appears to be for permanently assigned desks – in essence, a drop-in business hub for users to call their own.
One local businessman came to us because he is reluctant to commute to London again to his employer’s office.
Instead, he has signed up to OVIC, allowing the flexibility of home working or enjoying his own workspace here, with other business professionals around him to avoid so-called cabin fever.
We are also receiving enquiries because the pandemic has forced some companies and organisations to rethink their costly real estate amid employee demand for hybrid working.
Why pay for all those hefty HQ or regional HQ costs, such as heating, power and upkeep, when only half of the space, or less, is likely to be utilised in the next few years or so?
The one-size-fits-all solution of old is just that – old.
Here at OVIC, you can agilely expand, or downsize, on site, depending on your workspace requirement related to market conditions, with formal meeting rooms available for up to 40 people.
What was so long the norm will be a welcome change – people in a physical room, not a virtual one. That time will come soon enough.
Meanwhile, there is another reason why we are receiving enquiries – the UK’s gig economy trend saw nearly five million self-employed people reach a record high pre-pandemic (out of nearly 33 million workers).
Not all of them will want to continue with wfh once public health restrictions are lifted – many will crave the real-world company of fellow entrepreneurs in a supportive business environment such as OVIC.
Whatever your workspace hopes are for the future, I am available for a no-obligation chat. Feel free to contact me at info@oceanvillage-ic.co.uk or by phone 023 8038 1920. Web: www.oxin.co.uk/ovic
