Category: The Business Exchange

May 2018 – The workspace that you choose for your company’s offices ultimately has a major impact on your staff turnover and with South Africa’s current skills shortage, this is an important factor that every business needs to take into consideration when looking for new office space.

Whether you are a large, established corporate or a small business just starting out, the ability to attract and retain talent is a vital component in becoming an employer of choice and should be one of your main HR business strategies. Being an employer of choice means that potential employees with the right skill-set look forward to working for your company and your current, talented and experienced employees stay with your company for many years to come, keeping those vital skills in-house.

What are the main benefits of being an employer of choice?

• Attracting the right talent to compete in the market
• Improving employee productivity and commitment
• Building a long-term business

How important is the workspace for employees?

It’s very simple. For your employees to be productive, they need to be happy. For them to be happy, you need to create a positive employment brand and a great working environment. Employees who are happy, are engaged with the company and by extension, creative and productive. If you are not a forward-thinking employer who is genuinely putting steps in place to become an employer of choice, your best employees will simply vote with their feet and leave for greener pastures.

How does an enabling workspace contribute towards productivity?

By providing enabling, flexible workspaces for your employees, you will demonstrate that you value and care for them. Flexibility in the workspace demands a melding of both open-plan and private workspace, where employees may choose their workspace preference, depending on their requirements or projects. Workspaces that successfully combine these office space designs have been proven to create a sense of community and workplace satisfaction in companies such as The Business Exchange, a provider of flexible office space in Gauteng.

What are the most important design factors in the workspace?

Businesses, no matter what size or life-stage are dynamic in nature and have different workspace needs at different times. The flexibility of the workspace which you select should take this into account by offering a variety of office configurations. The Business Exchange is an excellent example of how these different configurations can work in practice.

The Business Exchange offers both private and shared workspaces but also seamlessly integrates these offices in such a way that the public and private lounges, on-site restaurants and coffee bars, flow together with uninterrupted Wi-Fi throughout, allowing tenants to easily move from office to office, meeting room or restaurant.

The contemporary office spaces are fully-furnished, beautifully designed and filled with curated artworks from South African artists. Natural light, which boosts moods and energy levels, imbues the workspaces with an energy designed to improve creativity and productivity.

The Business Exchange understands the importance of productivity and stays abreast of the workspace trends and technology. With flexible leases and many other exciting and innovative features to improve your and your employees’ working days, this is a company worth considering for your next office move.

One of the most important parts of any startup is teamwork. Being able to assemble a great team and create a vibrant group dynamic will be critical to your success as a company. But something that can easily happen is that these teams insulate themselves. A feeling of comfort, sometimes combined with a fear of others stealing your idea, will cause startups to turn inside themselves.

But this is really counterproductive to what you are trying to accomplish. Surrounding yourself with similar professionals such as yourself has tremendous benefits for you and your company. And a top-of-the-line coworking space can do just this.

Of course, moving your operation from your basement or garage into a professional office building will require some adjustment, such as learning to play by the rules. But beyond this, making this move could be one of the best things for your company. Here’s why:

 Boost your professional image

 One of the unfortunate challenges you will have to face as a startup is that people tend to take you less seriously than more established companies. This is normal, but you need to find a way to overcome this.

The best way to do this is to offer a great product or service and to conduct yourself in a professional and personable manner. But just like you wouldn’t show up to a meeting in shorts and a t-shirt, you need to have a place where you can meet clients and investors that gives off an image of success. Renting your own office space is expensive, so by moving your office to a professional coworking space, you’re giving your startup an image boost without breaking the bank.

 Meet like-minded people

 It’s natural as a human being to want to surround ourselves with people who are similar to us. Diversity is nice, as it creates growth, but it’s also good to be able to know you are surrounded by people who are on the same wavelength.

This is what you’ll find in a coworking space. People come from all over to work in these offices, yet they all have similar interests and ambitions. Surrounding yourself, and anyone else working on your startup, with these people can only be good for your company, not to mention that it might give a nice boost to your social life. It’s not uncommon for people at a coworking space to head out after work or hold events at the space so that people can get to know each other better.

Plus, by being in this environment, you are plunging yourself into a nice pool of possible contacts and resources. Finding help for certain tasks at a reasonable price can be a real challenge. But when you’re in this environment, it might be easier to find someone who can help you out in exchange for a favor or a discounted price. Since you’re both in a similar situation, there’s an increased desire to lend a hand, and this is something startups often desperately need.

 Feed off the positive energy

 Building off this a little bit, one of the first things you’ll notice when you enter a dynamic workspace is the energy of the place. Whenever you can be somewhere where people are hard at work at something that motivates them, it’s impossible not to feel motivated yourself.

Working in a startup can be a challenge. Sometimes you don’t know if you’re going to make it to the end of the month, and other times you feel at the top of the world. To help you ride this storm, it’s nice to know you’re in an environment where people are in the same boat. If you get down, you can count on your surroundings and the people around you to pick you up.

 Belong to a community

 Lastly, coworking spaces are great for startups because of the sense of community they bring. You likely have a nice relationship with those that work with you, but apart from that, working at a startup can feel isolating. Knowing that you belong to something a bit bigger than yourselves is helpful for feeling more comfortable and also for keeping you motivated.

Even something as simple as being able to see some of the same people every day can be a huge addition to your work environment. But you could take this one step further, bringing people together with building-wide events or by sharing a coffee club subscription. These little things go a long way towards connecting people, as well as recharging you with energy to face the difficult and competitive business world.

Final thoughts

 While you may enjoy the space and time that working on your own gives you, in the end, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to meet new people and energize your focus if you’re not working out of a coworking space. They can do wonders for you, your employees and your company, so consider moving into one today.

About the author: Caroline has worked for lots of startups throughout her career and loves doing so because of the energy and enthusiasm each one brings to the work they do. However, she has noticed this trend of startups keeping to themselves, and so whenever she can, she encourages them to join forces with others who are also pursuing their dream.

February 2018 – The alarm goes off and you realise its Monday again. Another hard week of corporate stress and other office space annoyances. Friday is seemingly light years away and yet only separated from Monday by two days! The bad news is that there will always be another Monday, but with The Business Exchange’s enticingly affordable office space to rent in Sandton and Rosebank, your Mondays need never be Glumdays again!

The Business Exchange has successfully combined both private and shared office space in the major business hubs of Gauteng, to facilitate better collaboration and offer more comfort while stimulating productivity and creativity in the business environment.

Just Breathe…In Our Delightful Office Spaces

Tenants enjoy the light and airy trendy office spaces of The Business Exchange which are extremely well-maintained and have been professionally designed and decorated with the latest creations from South African artists. The Business Exchange’s range of furnished and fully-serviced offices allows businesses to choose a work environment that best suits their requirements.

Work the Way You Want To

Choose from a private office space with lockable doors, dedicated private desk space or a flexible co-working space with open desks. No matter what your office requirement is, you can enjoy it at The Business Exchange while experiencing our high-speed, secure WIFI.

Dedicated Team Of Management Ninjas

Each business centre has a dedicated client service management team who provides a concierge service to assist its tenants with the more mundane chores of running an office. Your guests and callers will be greeted by a trained receptionist who will professionally direct them to your business.

Our A/V Equipment Will Make You Shine

Meeting rooms equipped with the latest conferencing technology, training rooms and function venues at all The Business Exchange’s business centres allow our tenants to target a much wider client base. It also provides more options for different sized groups to find a meeting space that suits a specific need. These meeting spaces are available at an hourly rate.

Sweating It Out In Our On-Site Gyms

Some of The Business Exchange’s business centres also have dedicated gyms and showers within the office space to encourage tenants to look after their health. An energetic workout can be followed by a delicious breakfast or lunch served at one of our on-site restaurants without wasting valuable time travelling.

Educational In-house Networking Sessions & Workshops

The Business Exchange strongly believes in assisting our tenants to grow their businesses. The business centre holds several regular events and networking sessions during each month to forge new business relationships and to help drive our tenants’ economic growth. One of our most recently introduced endeavours is the highly successful “Lunch & Learn” series, which is a 60-minute lunch-time work-session hosted by different tenants of The Business Exchange. These informative sessions provide marketing tips and cover topics such as Public Speaking, Video Marketing, etc., which appeal to a wide range of entrepreneurs.

The Business Exchange has seamlessly created professional, yet affordable and flexible office spaces designed to build a culture of happy and productive employees who look forward to coming to work on a Monday.

November 2017 – How to get the most out of your office space in Rosebank and Sandton

It’s perfectly natural to hesitate before putting pen to paper on a long-term lease for office space in Rosebank or Sandton. These prestigious areas are well-known for their high-income status and upmarket properties. Although many small business owners and entrepreneurs would welcome an opportunity to base themselves from serviced offices in either Rosebank or Sandton, they may fear committing to one of their business’s largest expenses – office rent.

This fear is well-founded as in the past, landlords tied their tenants into lengthy contracts which left companies with little or no room to manoeuvre in the event of their business taking an unexpected up or downturn.

Fortunately, times have changed. The increasing availability of shared office space, such as that offered by The Business Exchange, means that businesses have little to fear when change happens. They can now easily upscale or downscale their office space – without being penalised for it. With office rental agreements from 1 month and upwards, companies like The Business Exchange are enabling business owners to succeed in prestigious locations by providing them with affordable office space in Rosebank and Sandton.

David Seinker, CEO of The Business Exchange which also has office space in Sandton, Rosebank and Morningside, has a passion to see his tenants succeed and offers them a number of additional benefits, when they sign up a flexible office space rental agreement.

The Business Exchange not only offers its tenants professionally-designed office space filled with beautiful works of art in the prestigious areas of Sandton, Rosebank and Morningside, but also a number of other benefits too

• Saving money on serviced office spaces
• Growing your business network
• Learning through business mentorship
• Promoting your products and services
• Having fun while you are at the office!

Affordable Office Space

The Business Exchange offers various configurations of shared office space which allows entrepreneurs to take advantage of affordable office rentals in Sandton, Rosebank and Morningside. By sharing serviced office space with other like-minded business people, costs are cut considerably as business services, furniture and facilities are also shared, negating the need for further capital outlay. With monthly office space rentals from R500 for fully-serviced office space, The Business Exchange is worth considering for your next business move upwards.

Professional Reception Services

A Receptionist plays a vital role in ensuring a consistent professional image for your guests. All our office spaces for rent are equipped with a dedicated and skilled Receptionist, who will professionally direct both your calls and your guests to your company.

Widen Your Business Network

The Business Exchange holds regular business networking events, to which all its tenants are invited. These occasions allow tenants to mingle and get to know a bit more about each other’s businesses. It is a perfect opportunity to build your list of business contacts and uncover new opportunities.

Develop Your Business Knowledge

As an up-and-coming leader in serviced office space, The Business Exchange has introduced several regular mentoring sessions for business people, as well as fun pitching events, which provide tenants with a chance to learn new business skills and to put them into practice.

Promotion. Promotion. Promotion.

All tenants have access to our modern meeting and training rooms, as well as our dedicated events space where you can hold your conferences, seminars, training, promotions or launches. Our meeting rooms are fully-equipped with the latest video-conferencing technology. Various monthly membership options are on offer to provide value for money when you do your bookings at one of our meeting rooms available for hire.

Take a Break

We are not all about hard work! All our serviced office spaces have access to beautifully designed, on-site canteens, restaurants or coffee shops offering delicious meals and snack. This is where you can take a break from your laptop – or bring it with you. Some of our tenants even prefer to hold informal meetings there.

Get Fit While You Work

For those on a tight schedule – you don’t have to miss gym either. Our latest addition at our Morningside office space now includes a well-equipped gym, so you have no excuse not to exercise!

Membership Options

The Business Exchange has various membership options available to its tenants, which include; access to co working office space, video conferencing/boardroom usage, access to business and networking events, discounts on additional bookings, free use of events space and more.

For more information, please contact one of our friendly Business Managers from a serviced office space near you.

March 2017 – Working from a remote base, such as your home, is becoming more popular with today’s increasing level of connectivity. However, remote working has many disadvantages since “work” is dynamic and involves more than just the processing of a set list of duties. Intrinsically, going to a place of work is a social experience where you learn from and mentor others to accomplish certain tasks that simply cannot be done by oneself.

Nature has shown us that it is almost impossible to survive entirely on your own and that it is far better to surround yourself with others. The work environment is no different. Increasingly, reports from studies conducted to uncover the impact of loneliness on remote workers, (Perspectives on Psychological Science), are pointing to a rise in mental health matters, such as anxiety and depression, as well as physical health issues. It seems that by people having more ways to connect and work remotely, social isolation and loneliness is on the rise. These feelings of isolation, in turn, lead to increased absenteeism due to ill health, a decline in work productivity and ultimately a reduction in the organisation’s turnover.

In addition to loneliness as a disadvantage to working from a remote office, there are a number of other drawbacks that remote working presents.

Distractions

Although working from home, may seem attractive, it is fraught with distractions. Demands from children at home, the temptation to catch up on your favourite TV series or to test out the latest computer game, the irresistible invitations from stay-at-home friends to lunch – all these require a high level of self-discipline.

Work-Life Balance and the Sacrifices

When you work both for yourself and from your home, extended working hours will creep up on you – especially since your clients can reach you virtually 24 hours a day, every day. It is vital for both your health and your relationship with your family, to have a dedicated office separating your business life from your personal one. Having a dedicated office will also help you to regulate your working hours, and give them some normal semblance.

Lack of Team Work

As an employer, you may have noticed that your employees, who work remotely, are not as engaged and community-orientated as the rest of your office-bound workers. It may surprise you to note that large tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Apple have built their offices in such a way as to discourage remote working and to encourage their employees to interact more frequently with each other. These tech giants understand that a closely-knit team, created through regular and informal networking in the office, is a happier one and has a higher level of job satisfaction – which ultimately leads to increased productivity.

Inefficient Communication

For a company to be healthy, its employees need to understand its boundaries and how things are done. It is not possible to put everything on email. Narratives must be told, and these can only happen on a face-to-face basis. Intricate communication networks are formed through having conversations in the office, which aren’t always possible when you are working remotely. A Technology Review report, which analysed patterns representing the degree of engagement between people conversing, came to the conclusion that informal, face-to-face meetings were a more efficient way to spread information tailored to increase worker productivity, than formal meetings.

Negative Impact on Innovation

Remote working can result in missed opportunities to network and interact with others. You are far more likely to come up with an original idea when you are surrounded by other like-minded business people, than sitting on your own in your remote office. Remote working is not for everyone – nor is it for every organisation.

At The Business Exchange’s offices in Sandton, Morningside and Rosebank, we offer a variety of fully-furnished and stylish office space – available in configurations ranging from private offices to shared office spaces and co-working areas. Whether you want a full-time office or just a place for a few hours a week where you can network and socialise, we have flexible packages to suit every entrepreneur.

For more information, please visit our website.

Requirements for fully-serviced office or meeting room space may vary from hiring a meeting room for a few hours to hiring an office on a monthly basis. The Business Exchange offers a variety of flexible office space solutions designed to meet the working environment requisites of prospective tenants and also caters for entrepreneurs looking to simply rent a desk for a few hours a week.

This office space and meeting room rental model is rapidly gaining popularity due to the many benefits it offers cost-conscious tenants in terms of only paying for what they use.

Both start-ups and established businesses are finding value in the business networks that are naturally created within this type of environment. New opportunities can be explored as additional business leads are uncovered, enabling tenants to establish their presence more firmly in their business environment.

LOW OVERHEADS
Whilst operating your business from home may initially keep your overheads low, serviced office spaces will provide you with additional benefits that will support you in the daily running of your business and reducing your stress, allowing you to concentrate on your priorities and not office maintenance. The Business Exchange will ensure that you only pay for what you need.

INSTANT OFFICE FACILITIES
Choosing to rent fully-serviced office space means that IT and telecommunications infrastructure are already provided. Simply connect and start working with no operational down-time.

PROFESSIONAL OFFICE SUPPORT
One of the main benefits of renting fully-serviced office space is the professional image presented to your clients. The Business Exchange, providers of fully-serviced office space, has professional reception staff on-site to greet your visitors and to answer and redirect your incoming business calls. Furthermore, our tenants benefit from office cleaning and maintenance services which contribute towards their convenience.

FLEXIBLE WORKING SPACE
Serviced office space packages from The Business Exchange are flexible enough to allow you to easily reduce or expand your office space depending upon your business growth. Unlike traditional office rentals, you are not tied into lengthy, inflexible contracts.

HOTELING
This is an alternative office arrangement which is becoming more popular with professional services companies with employees who usually work from home. These companies are able to reserve a desk for their employees at The Business Exchange’s prime location in the Sandton CBD.

MAXIMISE YOUR BUSINESS OPERATIONS
The Business Exchange ensures that it uses the latest technology and high-quality equipment to enable its tenants to operate at maximum efficiency during their tenancy.

ATTRACT THE RIGHT TALENT
By utilising our fully-serviced and furnished offices, located in a prime business location with easy access to major transport hubs, your employees will be able to concentrate on their core functions whilst maintaining a healthy work-lifestyle balance.

ENCOURAGE INNOVATION
As mentioned earlier, companies benefit immensely from the networking opportunities that can be found by sharing office space. It also encourages innovative ideas through casual discussions with other like-minded tenants and establishes valuable business relationships.

Contact The Business Exchange in Sandton to reserve your meeting room or flexible office space and experience a range of exciting benefits.