Travelling the world with work can be a fantastic part of your job. But often, finding workspaces in locations where your company is less established can result in client calls held in noisy coffee shops and reports finished in airport lounges.
But the world of work is reacting to its growing global workforce and their need for flexibility. Consequently, the flexible office market is booming, with a recent report from Colliers predicting that it could grow by 50% across the EMEA by 2022.
So, as a travelling professional visiting London on business, how can you use these spaces to maximise your time in the city, and are you aware of the many wellness and productivity benefits they can bring?
“Everyone should be proud of their workplace, even if they only fly in once a month.”
Workspace to support you
When jetting into a city for a whistle-stop tour of business, having a place to work that you can trust to be convenient and productive is crucial. A keyway to ensure this is by using a business membership, which offers you access to corporate lounges and hot-desking solutions across a city. Naturally, this reduces costs compared to maintaining a whole office in a city where a full entourage of employees are not always present. What’s more, avoid wasting unnecessary hours travelling from meeting to meeting by having a business lounge or flexible workspace as your base, and host your clients in a quality space that your company is proud of.
This approach also goes beyond cost-efficiency to actually support the daily wellness of each user. For example, you can reclaim these hours at the end of your day to see the city’s sites, visit an old friend, or just get outdoors and exercise. Many employers may think that, if an employee is on the road, their wellness is not their priority. But, with recent research finding that 77% of employees think that wellness programs positively affect company culture, it is something that even mobile businesses with remote workers should be considering. Not only will it help to create some form of company culture, which is important with people scattered across continents, but also increase productivity. The links between wellness and productivity are undisputed, and this should not be forgotten just because you are not in your usual office.
Image is everything
Everyone knows that first impressions count. From the outset, it is crucial that your workspace projects the right image to clients, employees and competitors alike, and this is still important when meeting in a hired conference room or co-working space. Beyond the four walls of the meeting room, consider the area and the atmosphere of the building itself. Do you want clients to associate you with a busy, noisy co-working space, or a calm and premium business lounge? In London, for example, Mayfair and The City have different images and clientele – do you need to be close to the big banks and law firms, or would a traditional building in Pall Mall or St James’s suit better?
No two days are the same
Internationally-mobile businesses by nature are unpredictable, with employees on the move all over the world. By offering them multi-site access with an office provider, the business will automatically have a plethora of services at its fingertips. With a range of on-site amenities like cafes, showers, break-out areas for independent work, phone booths, quality meeting rooms and roof terraces, your ‘office’ will be ready for whatever the business throws at you; even if you have just flown in for the day!
Rapid advances in technology and the wonderful ability to just jump on a plane means that the world of work is constantly expanding and international prospects have never been more achievable, even for the smallest of businesses. For such enterprises, the booming flexible workspace market will be their right-hand man. When you are next travelling with business, seriously consider the place you are about to work in. Gone are the days of coffee shops and airport lounges as make-do offices. Identify a quality business lounge membership and be sure to feel more productive, less stressed and more impressive on your next trip. After all, everyone should be proud of their workplace, even if they only fly in once a month.