Serviced Office Versus Traditional Office

Are you looking for ways to improve your business productivity and profile by having your own office?  Or have an office which simply isn’t working for you?

There are two main options to consider. Utilising a Serviced Office solution or establishing a Traditional Office space. Let’s consider the features of both and find out the best option for you!

Furnishings & Renovation

Serviced Office spaces are ready for you to move in. The spaces are pre-furnished and decorated, so you don’t need to worry about organising or designing the space. This solution offers a stress-free process and allows your business to start accepting clients soon after you’ve moved in. You are obviously free to add your own touches to personalise the space.

The Traditional Office solution will require you to acquire furnishings, and potentially utilize the services of a decorator, to get the space ready to accept clients. This process can be time-consuming and expensive.

Contract & Spaces

The Serviced Office solution offers a flexible contract and different sizes of spaces. This is a good choice for those start-up businesses, to start running their business with an affordable cost or for those temporarily relocated companies to settle down quickly. There is availability to increase or to decrease the size of the office with changing business needs, without having to change your address.

The Traditional Office spaces usually offer long-term contracts and less flexibility on the lease term. If a business doesn’t go well you will still be paying out the rent even if it’s unaffordable.

Utilities & Other Expenses

In a Serviced Office, all of the utilities like electricity, water, gas, cleaning, building insurance and maintenance are included in the rental cost. You can also opt for IT and Telco packages in your service agreement. All of these expenses are included and within your budget, and as Serviced Offices are pay-as-you-use, so you never have to rent it for more than you need it.

The Traditional Office requires you to set up and handle all utility costs yourself, which can add up financial, hence increasing the overall cost, and take time to administer.

Prestigious Business Address

Using a Serviced Office space is a great option if you want to work in a prestigious location with a budget rental cost. A good company location can help to increase the image of your business.

The Traditional Office spaces, located in the CBD area, are more suitable for large and established companies, as office spaces are seldom available for short periods of time, and if so at a considerable premium.

Dedicated Support Team

The Serviced Office solution is fully staffed by receptionists, servicing all the businesses that share the space. It allows your business to project a professional image to your clients, without the cost involved in acquiring a dedicated receptionist. Their receptionist handles your incoming clients at no extra cost, efficiently and professionally.

A Traditional Office space will require that you employ a permanent staff member just for the receptionist role if you seek the right image. In addition other staff need to perform additional duties such as cleaning, utility and IT checks, adding non productive wage expenses.

In conclusion, while the Traditional Office solution may be appropriate in some instances, the Serviced Office solution is by far the best option for a new and small business, hoping to project a professional image without many of the costs involved. Serviced Office solution costs are predictable and safer for a start-up regulating cash flow and maximising the benefit gained for the money spent.

If you are interested to find out more, contact Jacquii at Wilkin Group today on (08) 7071 7071 or info@wilkingroup.com.au.  Whilst based in Adelaide Wilkin Group have affiliates in other Australian cities.

Is Your Office A Jail Cell?

For most people, the place where they feel most comfortable is their home. Whether it is big or small, old or new, full or empty, people’s homes contain many of the things (& people) which are most important to them and make them feel good. However, professionals spend the majority of their waking hours away from their homes at their workplace in offices which don’t engender these same feelings. Many of the features which make home so welcoming and accommodating are sadly missing from most offices leaving them dull, lifeless and generic. Imagine if your office could make you feel the same way you do when you’re sitting in your favourite room at home. It doesn’t take much to tweak your office space make it feel more homey and less like you’re doing 25 to life.

Add Some Personality

Too many offices look more like jail cells than somewhere you would like to spend 8 hours a day for most of the week trying to be as productive as possible. Your house and the things it contains are a good reflection of your personality and for your office to feel truly comfortable it should be the same. To add some personality to your office you can pepper it with photographs, momentos and other things which remind you of ‘life on the outside’. Doing this will not only make the space more enjoyable for you to work from, but it will also give co-workers an insight into your personal side and may assist you in connecting with them on a different level.

Think About Function

When you think about it, each room in your house has a clear purpose. Bedrooms are for sleeping, kitchens are for cooking and dining rooms are for eating and entertaining – each room is set up for its function. Many people do not fully consider how the different elements of their office space come together to ensure it is best setup for its function. Have you ever cooked a meal in a kitchen where all of the utensils and ingredients are at your fingertips, it makes things pretty easy doesn’t it? Your office should be set up the same way – with everything you need to complete your daily tasks within easy reach and in a place where you always know where it is.

Make It Clean & Clutter Free

Clutter and dirt creates distractions which take your mind off the task at hand and put a dent in your productivity. Too many offices look like a paper tornado has ripped through leaving a trail of devastation. Most people set aside time to clean their house on a regular basis to ensure it remains a comfortable place for them to live in day to day. However few set aside time in their work day to clean their desk and office. The simple act of clearing your office of extraneous items and giving it a regular clean can completely change the feel of the space, making it a much more appealing place to spend time.

Take The Lead From Nature

Many people feel their best when they are outside with the sun on their back and the wind in their hair. Unfortunately, too many offices don’t replicate these natural conditions which has an adverse effect on people’s mental and physical wellbeing. Many studies have shown that bringing elements of nature – such as natural light & living plants – into your office can have a huge impact on productivity and general wellbeing. Research has shown that office staff who are stuck in windowless offices – or with little exposure to natural light – get on average 46 fewer minutes of sleep a night. Those who sit near a window were found to have less broken sleep and a better quality of life than employees deprived of daylight.

A few small tweaks to the way you design and interact with your office space can make it a place that you really enjoy spending time. Hopefully these tips help you to get more out of your workday, or at least ensure it doesn’t feel like a life sentence.

What do you do to make your office space feel a little bit more like home?

How Your Office Helps You Work Together?

For a few years now, collaboration has been one of the most used buzz words in organisations around the world. Collaboration means different things to different organisations, however most businesses have one thing in common – they would like to collaborate more. A recent Deloitte study identified that approximately 30% of respondents said that they would like more collaboration in their organisation. Although everyone is chasing more of it, the collaboration which is already taking place is having a huge impact on the Australian economy adding more than $46bn of value each year.

An organisation’s workspace design can dictate how and how much its employees are able to collaborate. A well-designed workspace can help facilitate collaboration through lowering the barriers to employee interactions and providing readily available spaces which support collaboration.

So how do different elements of a workspace assist in fostering collaboration?

Break-out Space/Kitchen

Break-out spaces (space where people can get away from their workstation and either enjoy some downtime or work more casually) are part of many workspaces these days. These spaces are often a hot bed of collaboration as the change in environment when people step away from their workstation allows them to think differently and act accordingly. The conversations which are generally held in break-out spaces (also known as “water-cooler” conversations) are ad-hoc and unplanned, but they can certainly address work issues and as a result often alleviate the need for meetings.

Meeting Rooms

It should seem pretty obvious that meeting rooms play a major part in how an organisation collaborates as they are a key place where people come together. In addition to just providing a location for people to meet, when people step into a meeting room their mentality shifts from one of just getting things done at their workstation to being ready to share and collaborate. However, in order to maximise collaboration in the 21st century meetings rooms must be equipped with the right technology and tools such as WiFi, smart whiteboard, video-conferencing facilities etc.

Open Plan Offices

Most organisations have at least some of their office space designed in an open plan configuration and there are pros and cons to this use of space. One of the biggest benefits offered by open plan offices is the fact they support collaboration primarily by lowering the physical and perceived barriers to the activities which foster collaboration, most notably face to face communication. Team members have instant access to the rest of their team which allows them to collaborate on their terms without having to plan how it will take place. With all staff being able to collaborate as they please, a collaborative culture can quickly be generated with less structure than may otherwise be required.

Small Offices

On the face of it small or private offices may not seem to actively support collaboration, however these offices certainly have a part to play in developing a collaborative culture. In cases where a small team is able to share a private office, away from other staff, it allows this team to establish a sub-culture where they can collaborate on their own terms and not be bound by some of the rules of the wider team. Even in instances where staff work from private offices by themselves and are ‘cutoff’ from the team, a small office can actually encourage collaboration as the people who work from them are likely to be more engaged with the team when they step into meetings or other settings where the ability to collaborate is required, as they know they have a haven to return to when ‘the work needs to be done’.

Hallways, Reception, Foyer etc

Spaces such as hallways, reception and foyers are often underrated in office space design, however they can also support collaboration as they are places where people meet in passing and can have casual conversations relating to projects and other tasks they may be working together on.

Workspace design can have an effect on the way an organisation collaborates and the ideal design will differ greatly from business to business. However one takeaway from the Deloitte survey is the fact that collaboration is one of the most important elements of the way a successful organisation operates. When employees collaborate:

– They work 15% faster, on average;

– 73% do better work;

– 60% are more innovative;

– 56% are more satisfied.

 

Source: Deloitte Access Economics, The Collaborative Economy, Summary Findings 2014

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