Opportunity on your doorstep: why investing in your local community could pay dividends

Lockdowns during the pandemic were a wake-up call to businesses and employers that remote and flexible working were not the productivity drain we’d been previously led to believe.

The majority of workers now say they would prefer to work from home either full time or at least some of the time. More and more employers are responding by embracing a hybrid model of work, which allows employees to split their time between several locations – whether that’s the home, an office or a coworking space – and enjoy a better work-life balance.

Investors seeking stability and growth post-pandemic are looking at franchise investment – partnerships with IWG rose by 350% in the first half of this year. And investors wanting to get involved in the flexspace industry would be wise not to focus all their attention on city centres.

Companies that have embraced hybrid working are increasingly downsizing city centre HQs and creating a network of satellite offices so they can empower their teams to be more productive and work closer to home.

Flexible office and coworking spaces are playing a key role in this trend, with major corporates including NTT and Standard Chartered partnering with IWG to provide access to its centres for their combined 400,000 strong global workforce.

But having more flexspace facilities in suburbs, towns and villages goes beyond the employee experience. It will also have a positive impact on local economies and communities – which, in turn, will attract more businesses to the area, boosting flexspace occupancy and paying dividends to investors.

According to a report from IWG and Arup, the benefits are four-fold: job creation, transfer of white-collar work away from city centres, regeneration of local high streets through increased footfall and spending, and an increase in productivity for businesses using the centres.

Then there is the reduced commute, its impact on the environment and real estate savings for businesses. And allowing workers to work flexibly near to their homes and offering hybrid working means employers can recruit from a larger catchment area for the best talent and better retain those who may otherwise relocate.

Coworking and collaborating with colleagues from the same or different organisations in a flexspace centre are likely to lead to more creativity and innovation.

Also, workers spending more time in their local areas will lead to greater pride in their workspaces, as well as a rejuvenation of local community hubs such as village halls, restuarants, libraries and sports centres that have fallen into disrepair or closed down due to workers spending their time (and money) in city centres and constraints on local government budgets.

All this growth could help pave the way for the arrival of the 15-Minute City, an urban planning concept where everything a resident needs (including work) can be reached within a quarter of an hour.

“The 15-Minute City is about people wanting to have more of their life more local,” IWG Founder and CEO Mark Dixon explained in a recent interview with Bloomberg Technology.

“Technology now allows that, and the true enemy for many is the daily grind of commuting. That’s what people are looking to avoid. They’ve appreciated more time at home, or closer to home during the pandemic. It’s been very valued.”

As Dixon concludes: “Just when local cities and towns seemed to be dying, Hybrid working may have come along and saved them. The realisation of the 15-minute commute will be one of the most dramatic and long-lasting legacies of the pandemic. What were once sleepy dormitory towns are set to become vibrant centres for work and community life.”

Flexible workspace is the fastest-growing sector of the global workplace market. Make the most of this exciting investment opportunity by partnering with IWG today.