A virtual office combines address services with off-site technological communications enabling people to lessen their overhead costs while still managing to keep business professionalism intact. Not all people have the cash to fund and maintain a traditional office; therefore, a virtual office can provide you with a professional business address cutting down on your office expenses and at the same time ensuring that you effectively run your business.
Today, there are now a number of companies offering professional virtual office services, from the big executive suites such as Regus to the newer and trendier coworking locations such as WeWork. With all the options inbetween there are thousands of options from as little at $39 a month all over the world. These companies will focus on jump-starting your business as soon as possible, while you concentrate on strategies to promote and grow it. If you are a start-up, setting up the virtual office can be done almost instantly. No need to worry about office leases and rental rates since the premise of working in a central office has been eliminated. Moreover, you won’t ever have to be bothered by the morning rush since you don’t need to commute to your office. You and your employees will have access to the virtual office by simply connecting to the internet. That said, you can do your work even while on the go. Furthermore, you work at your own pace and you make your own work schedule, thus lessening work-related stress.
Getting professional virtual office services from a reputable company will definitely be to your advantage. Professional virtual office service companies employ experienced, multi-tasking staff who are equipped to handle the needs of their clients. They will be the one taking messages or handling calls for you, it is like you have your own professional secretary but the difference is that you are only expected to pay for the services you use.In case the secretary falls ill you won’t have to worry about the medical bills that would be the problem of the virtual office company.
Aside from having someone to take phones calls and messages for you, it is also important that you have a professional city address where you can receive your mail and package deliveries when necessary. By using a virtual office service, you will also be provided with a virtual business address, which will give your company a more professional and prestigious feel.
Another great thing about virtual offices is that they abide by the ‘
get the best for less’ motto. This means that if you ever need a meeting or presentation room, you will have to pay for the service only when you need to use it. Our team at
Your Office Agent are big fans of the virtual Office concept and normally recommend them to all client big and small.
In conclusion, whether you work in London or San Diego, a virtual office provides a cost-efficient and cheaper alternative to traditional offices. They allow you to effectively run yourbusiness while keeping your operational costs down. More importantly, although overhead costs have been cut down dramatically, you are sure that you will be giving excellent service to your clients.
As always we are going to have to rank the Virtual Office as the office of the future based on the same 6 criteria as usual out of a maximum score of 5 points for each criteria -
1. Lease flexibility and space agility – 5 (its virtual so it does not get any more flexible)
2. personal employee growth – 2 (this is the one downside of virtual working)
3. Community collaboration – 2 (again there is no substitute to having people with you at least some of the time)
4. Premises look and feel – 5 (these are all good quality)
5. Desire to be here – 4 (if you have a need for walls in your office then this is not for you but everyone should be questioning why we need walls right now)
6. Employee work life balance – 3 ( You may spend too much time away from home with this new thirst for knowledge.)
A score of 21 points is a fair score for a view to the future of office space.
Each week we try to look at trends in the workplace to help our readers understand what the
office of the future looks like and each week we surprise ourselves with the cream that rises to the top. This week is no different and while looking for the human connection to a perfect work environment, we were repeatedly hit with overwhelming evidence showing that the workplace of the future is a very different place to what we have all become used to over the past century.
Our original intent was to look at how the ambitions of us all make much of the changes in the workplace irrelevant because, no matter how good or bad things are, we will be driven to excel by our inner need to overachieve within our environment. In other words the same leaders would emerge victorious in most environments and the same underachievers would not. It seemed a simple formula of greed and ego winning out over the wants and desires of the human spirit which would have created a nice contract to all our previous articles about the need for a strong
work life balance in organizations. What we found however surprised even us.
Back in the day the rules of the office were very simple. you start out in a cubicle making coffee for your boss and after a period of being bullied you move on to your own 100 square foot office with no windows but with your name on the door. Over the following 20 years the office became bigger and the views got better until finally in those days before retirement you could finally say that you made it to the coveted
corner office on the right side of the corridor and your dinner party invites had been secured for life. The validity of this courageous journey to the core of the workplace universe had never been questioned before and everyone who looked at your name on that corner office door stared with envy and respect.
In our research we looked through recent recruitment reports and surveys from the Office Team to internal reports from
fortune 500 companies and the feedback was startling. The employees of tomorrow pity our 80 hour week slaving to get to the corner office. They see our commitment to the success of our company as a sad reflection of how little we have to give at home. Now it would be nice to pass this off as a few generation X slackers who had never done a days work in their lives but when Office Team did their poll they found 76% of all employees did not want their boss’s job. when we asked our clients we had a similar percentage. When we looked at hours worked they don’t work less than any other generation and probably work more, however their focus is on their family as the objective of their work, not their employer. In addition efficiency ranked as one of the most important requirements they have and flexibility is the number one want and desire. Not flexibility to relax but flexibility to work in the most efficient environment available to balance the long work hours with the need to be with their family. So where does this leave us? Every piece of evidence we have points to the demise of the corner office and to the fact that, unless companies embrace
mobile and home working techniques combined with flexi working, they wont keep the great people of today and tomorrow.
As always the Your Office Agent Scorecard is always based on 6 criteria out of a maximum score of 5 points for each criteria:
1. Lease flexibility and space agility – 5 (this way of working is driven by total flexibility)
2. personal employee growth – 4 (teleworking and flexi working can hinder personal learning and growth)
3. Community collaboration – 3 (not a massive surprise although the family are a lot happier)
4. Premises look and feel – 4 (you work wherever feels right)
5. Desire to be here – 5 ( flexibility keeps employees happier longer – fact)
6. Employee work life balance – 5
26 points is a pretty impressive wave goodbye to the ways of the past and an enter here click to the platform of the future. On that note I think I will get back to my family.