We Aren’t Using Office These Days. What Should We do with it?

The world has come to the lockdown mode. So is Dubai. The COVID 19 pandemic has created such a powerful impact all over the world, that companies are forced to close down their offices. Employees are being asked to work from their homes to maintain social distancing.

In Dubai, except for the vital sectors, employees in all private firms are working from home. Business centers in Dubai are vacant, so is office space. Coworking spaces that have seen a booming business of late are witnessing a slump.

A survey conducted among the coworking spaces across the globe reported 71% cancellation of events, 65% cancellation of meeting rooms, and 20% space closure. Then how are the serviced offices Dubai going to survive this pandemic?

We have compiled a list of things you can do to stay afloat and overcome these difficult times.

• Rent space to conduct webinars: Meeting rooms in shared office space can be rented out to conduct a webinar. Since the meeting rooms in serviced offices JLT already have all the necessary equipment like whiteboard and projectors, the webinar can be conducted most professionally. Attendees of the webinar can log in virtually from the comfort of their home.
• Rent space to conduct online workshops: The meeting rooms in the Business center Dubai can also be used for conducting online workshops. These workshops need not be restricted to corporate events. It can cover a broad range of activities like art and craft workshops, storytelling, and even motivational talks. The attendees of the workshop can connect through video conferencing facility.
• Providing on-demand services: The recent pandemic has witnessed a high demand for online food and grocery delivery. If you have the technical expertise, then you can set up a small unit in the office catering to the requirement of these sites and apps. It can be a call center or providing technical assistance to these online platforms.
• Rent out temporary office to companies: Most of the companies in Dubai are required to restrict their staff to 30% of the total strength to maintain social distancing. But the nature of certain business requires the employees to be physically present in an office. This is the right time to rent out temporary office space in a business center to accommodate the excess staff. But you should bargain and fix an affordable rate so that both the parties’ benefit.
• Use as a storehouse: Office spaces near hospitals can be used to store PPE kits and other essentials used in hospitals. Since all the office spaces are air-conditioned, there is little chance that the products might get damaged. You also get the satisfaction of being part of a bigger cause when the empty office space is used for such purpose.

The pandemic is not going to last for long. Once things are in place, the business should start as normal. For this, you can consider the following to boost your business.

• Offer a rental discount to existing members who have hired space in business centers in Abu Dhabi.
• Offer a better price for new members who want to hire coworking space or meeting rooms.
• Facility to roll over unutilized days to the coming months.
• Offer commission to existing members for referring new people.

You can adopt the above marketing strategy until the pandemic curve has flattened, and the business picks up. This will help you stay afloat in a volatile market.

The good thing about flexible office spaces is that the demand is expected to rise in the future. With the decentralization of office work being the norm at least for the next few months, there is likely to be more demand for coworking space and serviced offices.