Office leasing has evolved over the decades, and businesses today have options that were virtually unheard of ten years ago.
The current professional landscape is largely rooted in flexibility and adaptability, and office leasing trends are following suit.
A 2023 study found that 66% of offices were moving away from individual seat assignments towards a greater ratio of seat sharing, highlighting the need to shift workspaces to accommodate flexible, hybrid schedules.
Coworking workspaces like Launch Workplaces offer a distinct alternative to traditional office leases.
Here, we’ll dig deeper into what each type of office for leasing looks like and offer the five key benefits of a flexible workspace, making our case for why it may be your best choice.
Finding an Office for Leasing: The Two Main Options Available to Businesses Today
Few businesses have the capital to purchase commercial real estate, leaving office leasing as the default option.
Within that, there are two main types of leases available:
- Traditional office leasing: You sign a long-term lease at a fixed price without the option to change or adjust the contract. This type of office leasing rarely includes amenities and services and is focused specifically on the physical office space. Within this type of lease, you’re fully responsible for the costs and duties of running and maintaining your office.
- Flexible office leasing: Companies—plus individuals, remote employees, or solopreneurs—pay for an all-inclusive membership that offers access to office space, amenities and services, and member perks. Coworking spaces are at the forefront of the flexible office leasing category. These spaces offer shorter and more flexible lease terms along with the ability to scale up or down easily as your business needs evolve.
In the traditional model, most office leases are long and rigid, locking tenants into an inflexible contract. You’re paying for the space you lease, whether your needs change or it isn’t used optimally.
In contrast, a flexible office leasing model offers more flexibility and better options. They can accommodate a wider range of employees and team models, from individuals (solopreneurs or remote employees) to large teams, as well as traditional in-office dynamics or hybrid teams, and typically operate on month-to-month memberships that are easy to change.
Flexible Office Leasing Options: Making Sense of Your Options
There are a few workplace solutions under the flexible office leasing model. Businesses and teams of any size may choose from options like:
- Private offices: Individuals and small teams that want complete privacy and security may opt for private offices in a coworking space. Again, you get the space you need to do your work while sharing office overhead costs with others leasing office space.
- Team suites: Designed for larger companies, our enterprise solutions offer private, customized, and exclusive workspaces for a single company. However, unlike traditional office leasing, they’re still part of the coworking community and offer important perks, benefits, and amenities.
Individuals can benefit from flexible office leasing, too. Satellite teams, remote employees, or solopreneurs may also opt for a private office or choose from:
- Coworking: Shared workspaces without assigned seating are ideal for employees and solopreneurs who work from their laptops and enjoy variety. Under this office leasing model, you have complete freedom on where to work while still accessing the amenities and services of the coworking space.
- Dedicated desks: A step up from an open coworking arrangement, dedicated desks let you have your own private workspace while sharing general office overhead costs.
With so many different options—and the flexibility to move between them as your operational needs change—coworking spaces are a great choice when searching for your next office for leasing.
5 Benefits of Office Leasing in a Coworking Space
The variety of options available makes flexible office leasing an obvious advantage over traditional options. But beyond that, there are many important benefits of flexible workspaces:
1. Amenities and Services
Some traditional office spaces offer amenities like kitchens and conference rooms.
However, they’re typically included in your floor plan, which means they can increase your costs significantly, even if you don’t fully utilize them.
In flexible workplace environments, these amenities are shared by all members. This lowers the costs and allows you to use what you need when you need it.
Coworking spaces like Launch offer even more in our all-inclusive memberships, including:
- On-demand meeting rooms
- Printing and scanning
- Refreshments
- Events and webinars
- Virtual office services
- Wellness and community initiatives
- On-site staff members
- Kitchen, lounge, and outdoor spaces
2. Flexible Contracts
We’ve already mentioned the flexibility benefits of coworking spaces, but it bears repeating: flex office leasing offers short-term contracts and flexible options, so you don’t get locked into an expensive contract that doesn’t meet your needs.
We want to work with you and your business, and short-term, flexible contracts are the way we do it. Whether you need to scale up, pivot your operations, or are looking for a new arrangement—flexible memberships let you do it in a way traditional office leasing simply can’t.
3. Cost Savings
Flexible office leasing arrangements are set up for optimal efficiency. Instead of paying for large workspaces and individual desks in a traditional model, the flexible coworking model is perfectly suited for hybrid work models and rotating schedules. This means you’re only paying for the space you need.
Further, shared overhead costs with other businesses and professionals in the space reduce your overall expenses.
4. Community
While flexibility, cost-savings, and amenities are practical benefits of a flexible office leasing model, community is something more intangible—though no less important.
Coworking spaces like Launch are built on a mission to provide more than just space to work but to foster real connections and community between like-minded professionals. We go about this in a few ways:
- Creating opportunities for informal socialization in common areas.
- Hosting professional development, networking, and business-related events.
- Organizing socials and member activities, including wellness and philanthropy initiatives.
5. Optimized Environment
The last major benefit of a flexible office leasing model vs. a traditional one is the physical environment. Designed for productivity and focus, coworking spaces like Launch are optimized environments for your work day. Here are a few features that demonstrate this:
- Spatial diversity: From lounges to desks, kitchenettes to phone booths—there is a wide variety of options to choose from. This lets you break up your work day and find the space that best suits your needs.
- Quality decor and furnishings: While each Launch location has its own style and vibe, they all feature high-quality, attractive, and comfortable decor and furnishings.
- Customizable spaces: Create a work environment that inspires you! As a Launch member, you can make your office your own with colors, art, plants, privacy frosting on windows, and company logos. And we’re here to help you reach your vision.
Finding an office for leasing leads you down two paths: the traditional route or the flexible one. And with short-term contracts and shared, high-quality amenities, the latter offers significant cost-savings and functionality—an ideal option for most professionals and businesses.
We believe that flexible office leasing is the way of the future. Want to see for yourself? Contact us today to book a tour of your local Launch Workplaces location to see what we’re all about.
