How do you find office space for your employees?

Nowadays, buying or renting commercial premises is not the only solution for accommodating employees. You can find private, open-plan or operated offices for them. These solutions, based on cost-sharing, will enable you to benefit from very attractive prices. Buthow do you find office space for your employees? Here's the complete guide!

1. Define your search area

According to a Michael Page study, nearly 72% of French people would like to live closer to their place of work:

This is far more than in Germany (27%), Italy (46%), Spain (35%) or Europe in general (40%).

The location of your teams' offices is therefore a major criterion to take into account.

If your employees all live in the same arrondissement, you'll have no trouble finding flexible offices in Paris.

But if your employees live in the 4 corners of Lyon, the task becomes more complicated! ⚡

You'll need to choose a location that suits everyone, or rent workstations in different coworking spaces. For example, you could rent an office for 6 at Focus Rive de Saône (Lyon 5) and a workspace for 3 at Flex-O Lyon.

2. Choose a type of office (open space, private, operated)

Once you've got your search area in mind, you can choose a type of office.

In concrete terms, you have 3 options: the open-plan workstation, the traditional private office and the operated office.

If you want your employees to feel at home with each other, we recommend the traditional or operated office. These solutions will give them the privacy, quiet and soundproofing they need to collaborate and be productive!

3. Define the number of workstations to rent

To find office space for your employees, you need to plan for as many workstations as people.

But you also need to take into account your next recruits!

If you're planning to recruit a community manager, a sales representative or a developer in the next few months, you'll need to factor them into your headcount when looking for office space.

4. Define a budget per workstation

Now that you have the number of employees in mind, you can easily define a budget per workstation.

There are a number of factors that affect the price of a leased office:

• the type of office (open space, traditional, operated);
• coworking location;
• services and facilities included (e.g. one breakfast per week);
• the prestige of the address;
• hours of access to L'Espace, etc.

At workin.space, we have ❤️ to find the perfect office for your team. Just give us a call and we'll take care of your office search from A to Z.

5. Equipment and services

What do your employees need to thrive in their future workspace?

To find out, we invite you to ask them. You can ask them directly, place a suggestion box next to the coffee machine or create an online survey.

Their answers will help you find the ideal offices for your employees.

Here are some examples of facilities and services your team members might love:

• a meeting room with unlimited access ;
• an outdoor area: a rooftop or a corner of greenery;
• a fully equipped kitchen;
• a bike room ;
• a gym;
• on-site parking;
• a photo studio, etc.

6. Compare offers

The time has come to compare the offers available on the market.

In addition to price and location, you can compare offers according to Divers criteria:

• manager communication ;
• Google reviews ;
• facilities ;
• opening hours ;
• brightness of the workspace...

At this stage, the challenge is to find the flexible office that meets all your search criteria.

A bit like looking for an apartment!

At workin.space, we specialize in corporate office searches.

7. Check opening hours

Do your employees work Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.? You shouldn't have any trouble finding a shared workspace open at these times. But if some of your teams work at weekends (cuckoo for sales staff), then we advise you to check the opening hours of the spaces still in the running.

Although more and more coworking spaces are opening 24/7 (via a badge system), not all of them are.

8. Visit your future workplace

Before you sign the service contract with your best pen, remember to visit your future workplace. This is essential if you are to find the most suitable offices for your teams.

During this visit (with your partners and/or employees), you can get a feel for the atmosphere of the place.

If you want your employees to be immersed in a stimulating entrepreneurial environment, take a tour of the premises with this in mind.

On the other hand, if you're looking for an atmosphere of unrivalled tranquillity, visit the site several times. This will allow you to see how loud the place is at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m....

In short, make sure that your team members will be working in an environment that you approve of 100%.

9. Move on to booking (signing the contract)

We almost forgot this essential step in a successful office search. Signing the service contract will provide you with ready-to-use office space.

The contract should state everything from the number of workstations rented, to whether office furniture is provided, to whether and how often cleaning is carried out...

The rental period must also be specified. Generally speaking, this varies between 1 and 24 months.

The price and various terms and conditions should be indicated (payment terms, payment instalments, security deposit, notice period).

Finally, the terms and conditions for terminating the contract must be clearly explained.

Finding office space for your employees: the rundown

Finding office space for your employees isn't something that happens overnight. But it can be done very quickly, as long as you clearly define your needs.

To speed up the process and bypass these 9 steps, we offer you a personalized search for your future offices.

At workin.space, we have a network of 3,000 partners in over 600 cities across Europe. Whether you're looking for a team office for 2 months, 6 months or for life, our teams are on hand to find you the rare pearl .

And to take things a step further, here are some excellent reasons to locate your business in a coworking space.