What Is Flex Office Space? A Smart Guide for Modern Teams

Designed for hybrid teams, start-up companies, and remote or traveling workers, flex office space solutions are the hot new thing in office space. These on-demand workspaces are ideal for slashing overhead budgets and right-sizing office space to your team’s actual needs. 

Discover what is flex office space, how to use it, and which teams it makes the most sense for.

What Is Flex Office?

The flex office space definition involves short-term, modular work spaces that are available when you need it, and used by others when you don’t. They’re often hosted by a partner organization that manages the physical space and offers memberships or bookings of available rooms. 

Flex office spaces may come with private offices, meeting rooms, and ready-to-use amenities. You pay for these based on your usage (often hourly, daily, or monthly), and you’re not responsible for any of the maintenance or upkeep. 

For many teams, flex offices are an appealing alternative to traditional office models, which come with higher costs and potentially unused space. Flex offices may look a little different, too. Many use hot desking — unassigned seating based on who is in the office — or zoned seating based on activity and noise levels.

6 Core Components of Flex Office Space

Flex office spaces include core components that can work for hybrid or traveling teams. They add variety to seating, meetings, and serving both workers and clients. The ethos behind flex office spaces is to use what you need when you need it.

1. Hot Desks

If you have a hybrid work team, why spend time outfitting individual desk spaces that only get used part of the time? Instead, flexible office spaces offer hot desks, usually built out with a connection and charging hub and maybe an extra monitor, so team members can come in, plug in, and get to work when it’s best for them.

2. Private Offices

There are plenty of meetings and conversations that require more privacy than hot desks and community seating can offer. Flexible office spaces often include private office rooms for when you need to discuss proprietary or personal topics.

3. Suites

Flex spaces also offer suites for teams that may need a more permanent designated space that comes with other flexible features like hands-off management. These may include a group of offices together behind a single entrance, where teams can welcome clients and hold meetings on a flexible or temporary basis.

4. Meeting Rooms

For mainly remote teams who have occasional face-to-face meetings with each other or clients, having the option to book a stocked and ready meeting room is important. At locations like Industrious, these bookings include access to a meeting room with tools like white boards and presentation hardware, as well as a wide range of amenities.

5. Add-On Services (IT support, mail, concierge, etc.)

You can outsource the management of your space by finding a partner that offers add-on services. Working with Industrious can help your team get access to things like IT support, mail and package acceptance, a welcoming concierge service, and visitor management systems. 

6. Multi-Location Access

Flex office space may not center on a single location. For global or traveling teams, multi-location access is an essential feature to a flex office membership. With a provider like Industrious, teams can meet and work at over 200 locations in over 65 cities. Working with a scaled partner like this ensures consistency in both costs and hospitality standards, wherever your team pulls up to a desk.

Key Benefits of Flex Office Space

There are some big benefits to switching to a flex space model, for both the company and the employees. These include:

• Cost efficiency: You can reduce your overhead by using a pay-for-what-you-use pricing model. In a traditional office, 10 hybrid workers need space for 10 permanent desks. In a flexible office space, 10 hybrid workers can be accommodated in rotation on three desks depending on the days they are in-office.
   

• Scalability: There’s no sense in paying for unused office space when your team shrinks, or having to undergo expensive and disruptive moves when it grows. Scalable, flexible office space allows you to have the seats and spaces needed at any given time.
   

• Productivity: Increase productivity with purpose-built amenities. When a partner like Industrious operates and services tech such as AV-ready rooms, your employees get time back in their day. They can use that time in spaces like wellness rooms that allow them to quietly reset.
   

• Networking: Yours won’t be the only team at a flexible office space, which means you can network in a professional community where everyone is focused on their work.

Common Flex Office Challenges (and How to Solve Them)

When evaluating workspace providers, be aware of some common flex space challenges, including:

• Noise: In a flexible office, you are often sharing the space with other workers and multiple teams, which may lead to an uptick in noise. Here are some potential solutions:

  • Try sound masking technology and zone layouts. 

  • Provide noise-canceling headphones and microphones for workers who request them. 

  • Design seating zones — simple to do with the combination of offerings at an Industrious location — to have both quiet and collaborative spaces so that each employee can move fluidly throughout the office as needed. 

  • Check out quiet pods, sound-proofed modern phone booths, that offer room for private calls or ultra-focus office space.

• Privacy: In flex offices, it can be challenging to find privacy for quiet calls or meetings that are discussing proprietary information or legal matters. Companies like Industrious have the solution, with office space that includes private breakout rooms that can be booked when needed.

• Booking conflicts: When you’re relying on an outside company to manage your flexible office space, you may run into booking conflicts. You can avoid this potential problem by working with a workspace partner like Industrious that employs smart booking tools. These include booking calendars with live updates about available space, the ability to schedule in advance or on repeat, and auto-release settings that make a reserved space automatically available if the booker does not arrive.

Is Flex Office Space Right for You?

Flex office space can be a great option for small to medium-sized teams to reduce operating expenses. However, if you have a large team with high privacy needs, it may be difficult to find flexible solutions that meet all your requirements. Consider the following: 

Flexible workspaces and new arrangements can be a great investment if it helps to streamline both your expenses and your team’s face-to-face interactions.

Cut Costs With Pay-for-What-You-Use Pricing

When you’re a flexible team, standard office overhead and operating expenses don’t make sense. You can balance your office space needs with a streamlined budget when you swap to a pay-for-what-you-use solution. There’s a shift happening in the real estate industry, and flexible workspaces reflect the way commercial office holdings are changing — for the better.

Right-sizing your expenses with flex space bookings or co-working memberships can dramatically cut your costs. This means you can flexibly adjust your bookings or memberships as your team shrinks or grows. You may be able to pay monthly based on short-term location needs or save by locking in an annual rate.

Flexible office space isn’t just about how the space is used — it’s about how it flexes with your budget as well.

Put Flex to Work: Starter Playbooks by Team Type

Which teams should use which type of flexible office space? If your team is one of the following, check out these types of flex spaces:

• Start-ups: Remote and hybrid teams can pop into hot desks or use ad-hoc rooms. When you scale, head over to a private office.

• Hybrid teams: Schedule anchor days for some face-to-face time. Check out focus pods and shared lockers to make the location yours.

• Project squads: For temporary or traveling teams, set up in a short-term suite. Add in extra meeting room credits and 24/7 access for an office home away from home.

• Satellite offices: Teams expanding into a new or distant region can benefit from a small, private office and meeting room access managed by a partner like Industrious. Add in mail and package services, as well as visitor management, for a traditional office service without the overhead or management costs.

Discover Flex Office Solutions with Industrious

The flex office partner that adjusts with you, Industrious is already established in over 200 locations around the world. Offering a consistent, high-quality experience across locations, you can find the flexible office solution to meet your needs. 

Experience the hospitality-driven support at Industrious coworking spaces and hybrid-ready meeting rooms when you visit a location today.