BENGALURU: Until September this year, ed-tech startup MySchoolPage had its Bengaluru office located in JP Nagar. But for a bootstrapped company, expenses have always been a monkey on the back, more so after the Covid-19 pandemic. In a bid to reduce their fixed and infrastructure costs, CEO Devadas Krishnan eventually took the decision to let go of the 70-seater place they had on lease. The company now works out of a co-working space called 91springboard. “My per seat cost has come down to Rs 7,000 plus taxes. Earlier, the same was between Rs 18,000 and Rs 20,000,” says Krishnan.
MySchoolPage is not the only one. Co-working spaces across Bengaluru are slowly seeing an uptake in their numbers again as people venture back into the workspace. And it’s not just old clients returning to their place at a co-working space. According to Anand Vemuri, CEO of 91springboard, about 30 per cent of the clients they see across their six centres in the city are new individuals or companies.
As the professional world returns to normalcy, companies are looking at the benefits of flexible spaces. “Before the pandemic, we saw 5,000-6,000 seats being occupied across our spaces in Bengaluru. Now, it stands at 2,000,” says Vemuri, addaing that if the trend remains the same, the numbers would assume pre-pandemic normalcy in the first quarter of the next financial year.
At 315Work Avenue, 40 per cent of their clients have returned to work, while the rest, says founder Manas Mehrotra, have retained the office and are expected to return in a couple of months. The space also reports new sign-ups from large enterprises and MNCs.
“Most of our new sign-ups are companies trying to build on flexibility. Whether they are downsizing or expanding, it works for them. With the pandemic setting in deep, companies find co-working spaces ideal as they could station teams here to ensure social distancing at both the original office space and here,” says Mehrotra.
Recently, they leased 12,650 sq.ft of office space to Tata Technologies, which was custom-crafted within two months. “The need for flexible space will only rise in the current scenario, as corporates will look to cut capex on setting up own offices. It will also help them remain agile and retain flexibility to adjust operations based on the market conditions,” says Mehrotra.
Santosh Martin, head of sales, WeWork India, echoes a similar view. He says, “The option of flexible working can reduce the expense of running an office by approximately 15-20 per cent by eliminating hefty deposits, long-term leases, and other expenses.” But there are more reasons prompting companies to opt for flexible alternatives. About 10 per cent of Krishnan’s staff is currently working out of a co-working space while the rest works from home.
“But since I have signed up for a hybrid model, my employees, who are in Kolkata, Mumbai and Jaipur, can just head to a 91springboard office in their city and work out of there when they are ready,” he explains. Vemuri attests, “Earlier, companies would take, say ‘x’, number of seats in just our Koramangala space for all employees to work out of there. Now, they take seats across the spaces we have in the city.”