An international tech company valued at nearly $40 billion recently approached Industrious about finding a hybrid solution for employees based in two of the country’s largest metro areas.
Through a combination of custom dedicated suites and subscription memberships, Industrious was able to develop a solution for each region within the span of a month. The company has already begun using a similar mix to serve executives in the interim, and plans to work with Industrious to introduce this solution to other regions in the coming months.
Access Memberships allow the enterprise’s hybrid employees to come into the office once or twice a week.
The Challenge
The company grew greatly during the COVID-19 pandemic, expanding into new markets and hiring hundreds of thousands of workers to feed the increased demand for the company’s services. During this time, it took advantage of Industrious’ Virtual Membership to establish a business address in Nashville while many employees worked remotely.
With vaccination rates on the rise, it’s now looking to once again provide employees with the option to come into the office beginning in the early fall so that they can collaborate in-person, get away from distractions at home, and better connect with their colleagues. Like so many enterprise companies, it’s giving employees the ability to choose how they want to work: full-time in one of the company’s regional headquarters; dividing their week between the office and home; or entirely remote.
Providing employees with options is a smart way to bolster retention, attract new talent, and even increase performance. But doing so can also introduce a great deal of complexity into space calculations. Real estate needs can’t be determined by looking at headcount, location, and anticipated growth rate. Instead, the company needed a way to provide their employees with sufficient workspace on the days they choose to come in — in other words, a dynamic solution that could easily adapt to their evolving needs.
Suites can be customized with a company’s logo and other branding elements.
The Solution
Industrious worked closely with the enterprise to come up with a solution for its employees that would provide them with a dedicated yet flexible workplace. To anchor each region, custom Suites are being built in both cities, each one with capacity for about a third of the area’s total employees. These suites are designed to embody the enterprise’s culture while establishing a productive mix of collaborative spaces and individual work zones. They will serve as local headquarters and gathering spots for employees.
To allow for overflow — and better serve employees who don’t live within a short distance of these headquarters — the Suites have been paired with Access Memberships. A relatively new offering from Industrious designed for hybrid workers, Access Memberships are a subscription option that allow individuals to come into the office on a weekly or twice-weekly basis. These memberships can be based in the same building as one of the custom Suites or in any other location throughout the city so that employees who live in the suburbs, for example, can work from a location closer to home.
This approach has allowed each regional team to design a hybrid solution that meets its particular needs while simultaneously ensuring that employees’ workplace experience is consistent with the enterprise’s overarching culture. For example, one group anticipates having a number of large and all-team meetings. It’s chosen to base its regional headquarter within a building that also has Industrious coworking spaces — which allows it to tap into additional meeting space when it’s needed.
Because the company has employees based across the U.S., it was critical that they be able to work from offices in different parts of the country. Industrious was able to give them access to its network of 100-plus locations so that when employees travel they can easily book a workspace or conference room in their destination city.
The Results
While the enterprise had used a variety of flexspace providers including Industrious in the past, it chose to continue its relationship with Industrious. Working together, both parties developed a solution that could debut in two of the country’s largest metro areas. Now, the company plans to expand on that solution in other key locations in the coming months.
Going forward the company will be able to roll out this solution — complete with customized Suites — in new markets in just six-to-eight weeks. That quick turn-around time is partly due to relationships Industrious has with landlords across the country, which allow the workplace provider to activate real estate for Suites on an expedited timeline.
Both Suites were signed for a short-term period (compared to that of a traditional office space) of just less than two years, giving the company enough time to evaluate how its team is using the space so that it can make adjustments without being locked into a long-term contract. And because the Access Memberships are for individuals, they can be reduced or expanded depending on employee demand. By working with Industrious, the enterprise has been able to secure a hybrid solution with greater flexibility and significantly less expense than a traditional lease would entail.