Article updated in August 2020.

What are the actual benefits of a tailored workspace? Last year, we asked two companies sharing the same Regus Centre about why it works for them

Two businesses can look alike from the outside. For example, they may have the same number of staff and appear to be using an office space in a similar way. But in practice their different industries, working patterns, operations, technology needs, levels of customer interaction and company culture all influence the way they use a workspace to achieve their goals.

Part of the problem with conventional office space is its inability to adapt to the particular needs of a business. Rather than the workspace dictating how a company is going to work, things ought to be the other way around.

Twenty minutes from the centre of Brussels is Regus Groot-Bijgaarden. Two of its tenants are recruitment company QIS Jobs and property agency Morgan’s Real Estate. Both of these businesses have evolved from being one-man-bands to teams of four or five people.

QIS Jobs began using the Regus centre’s co-working space, before eventually upgrading to a private office within the centre. “When we grew to a team of five people, we moved from Regus’ co-working package to renting a private office in the same building, which allowed more privacy for meeting candidates,” says Yves Vannerom, Chief Happiness Officer, QIS Jobs. “There were no complications, it was really easy to change.”

Meanwhile, Morgan Cornelis, founder of Morgan’s Real Estate, operated his business from home before going straight to renting private office space. “We didn’t have the money to have a real estate shop but, within three to four years, we grew to become a team of four letting agents and, in 2018 we moved to the Regus centre,” he says Cornelis. “I wanted each team member to have their own work station, so we have 24 square metres of our own personal office space in the centre.”

One similarity between the companies lies in their need to host customers. “We needed a place where we could meet candidates,” says Vannerom of QIS Jobs. “At the Regus centre, there’s a staffed reception – when a candidate arrives, they can wait downstairs with a coffee if we’re still on a call, which creates a really professional set-up. When they come inside, we need a space where we can have a conversation and, if the meeting room is taken by another candidate, we can go to the kitchen or another area.”

Cornelis says employees from Morgan’s Real Estate also host customers in the shared meeting room or the kitchen area. However, a key need of their business is the ability to use other Regus centres in other parts of Brussels. “Someone who has an appointment on the other side of the city and wants to do some work nearby beforehand can make use of the Regus centre over there before their meeting, which is great if you know there might be traffic issues,” he says.

“We discovered how easy and flexible it was, it makes us more efficient and it clearly links to our business model, which has very few geographical limits. Thanks to the flexibility we have, we can be more agile in the areas we sell, compared to a real estate agent shop on the corner.”

Both QIS Jobs and Morgan’s Real Estate have found that having a workspace that revolves around them has given them added value, allowed them to perform more efficiently and bring more flexibility to their staff.

Check out IWG’s Global Workspace Survey (2019) for findings on how flexible working trends