eGuide: Workspace-as-a-Service: A new way of working, a new way of paying for your workspace

The world of work has changed

During the last two years, the world of work has seen a seismic shift in how people do their jobs and how businesses operate.

Working from home doubled in the UK during 2020 as a result of the pandemic and, surprisingly for many, productivity didn’t dip. This led to business leaders asking all sorts of questions about how, where and when people work best, and to redefine the role the office plays in supporting people and organisations to work better.

Although concepts such as agile, activity-based and location-independent working aren’t new, they were still relatively underused across many industry sectors, until events forced them to take the plunge and move away from the traditional, static work space.

Now, more and more organisations are realising the benefits of providing greater flexibility and agility to their people, with a combination of different kinds of physical workspace and the technology to move between them, to work beyond the bounds of the office, and to communicate and collaborate seamlessly across dispersed locations.

A new kind of office for new modes of working

The office is still essential for bringing people together, for creating bonds and a shared sense of community and purpose. But the way that it supports people has changed, for good.

Concepts such as hybrid working and the destination office have changed the relationship workers have to the physical office space, which in turn has changed the way these spaces are designed and built to support new modes of working.

Businesses that harness these changes to drive better people performance, productivity and innovation stand to reap the rewards of better business performance. However, all of this requires investment, at a time when many organisations are facing financial uncertainty. For many, the last few years have been a rollercoaster ride, with ongoing economic volatility making business leaders cautious.

But what if there was a better way to finance your workspace, allowing you to benefit now, while minimising risk and freeing up your business capital?

The office is still essential for bringing people together, for creating bonds and a shared sense of community and purpose.

Introducing Workspace-as-a-Service

An innovative way to finance your ideal workspace

Workspace-as-a-Service is a subscription model inspired by the technology sector – it’s no longer about paying for the asset, but it’s all about paying for the business benefits.

Instead of making a large, up-front payment for your new workspace, you have the ability to fund it through lease finance, spreading the cost into simple, affordable monthly payments over the lifespan of your workspace.

This way, you can achieve your ideal workspace today with no up-front investment, and start reaping the benefits straight away, while protecting your business capital which can be deployed more effectively elsewhere in your business.

A new way of working - a new way of paying for your workspace

It’s a simple switch, but by changing your funding model from capital expenditure (CapEx) to operational expenditure (OpEx) you can finance your new workspace through small, monthly payments that include all associated project costs, from consultancy to design, fit-out, furniture, technology, and even assets you’ve already purchased.

This approach has huge financial benefits. There’s no upfront capital expenditure, which allows you to keep your business stable and secure while expanding – without the risk of large financial outlay. It also means that you don’t have to wait to start creating your future workspace - you can afford to do it today.

As you’ll see from the financial illustrations overleaf, financing your workspace is quickly becoming one of the smartest business decisions that leaders are making.

Building the right blend

Your workspace is individual to your business and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Where some business operations may thrive in a traditional office set-up, others may find it less conducive to productivity and counterintuitive to the way their employees work.

Building a workspace that truly works for you relies on expert consultation and analysis so that you can be sure that the approach you opt for is one that is best for your business. Assessing your workspace forms the backbone of these decisions along with discovering the different benefits that different workspaces and styles will bring to your business and your people.

The first step is to work with an experienced workspace consultant to build an evidence-based strategy that clearly lays out the approaches that would take your workspace from strength to strength. Exploring workspace psychology, assessing staff needs, examining space optimisation and fusing great design with solid research, we’ll take a deep dive into exactly what it is that your workspace needs to thrive.

Highly tax efficient with 130% tax relief.*

A full end-to-end service in a simple wrapper

Concept and detailed design

With our Workspace-as-a-Service offering, you can wrap up a full end-to-end service into a single, simple monthly payment. We provide a full endto-end service from initial consultation through to aftercare. But more than that, we stay with you through the lifetime of the space, ensuring it continues to deliver value over the long term:

Workspace research and insight

Our process begins by mapping your organisational needs and evaluating existing workspace performance to uncover the best opportunities for improvement.

Workspace strategy

Our research informs your workspace strategy, setting out the blueprint for a workspace that optimally supports your business with the ideal combination of people, space and technology.

We combine data-driven insight with creative vision to design your new workspace. Bringing together detailed layouts, work settings, furniture and technology with a unifying brand identity and aesthetic to create a space that looks as good as it functions.

Project delivery

We take care of the whole delivery process, managing suppliers, subcontractors, project timelines and dependencies to deliver on time and to budget, with attention to detail and snagfree promise.

Workspace furniture

From designing your furniture scheme, to procuring, delivery and installation, we ensure your project benefits from top-quality workspace furniture at the best price.

Your Workspace, Your Way: Introducing Workspace-as-a-Service.

We go beyond turnkey to support you throughout the lifetime of the space

Workspace technology

We help you achieve the right technology overlay, from audio visual to video conferencing and collaboration, from full immersive environments and meeting rooms, to desktop video, VoIP, room booking and more.

Move management

We take the pain out of your move with a full turnkey service, so that your people are ready to start work from the moment you get the keys.

Space dressing

We provide all the little touches that bring your space to life, from statement furniture pieces, to plants, artwork and decoration.

Aftercare

Whatever crops up as you settle into your new space, we’re there to take care of it. From tweaks to your layout, furniture or technology, we provide a smooth transition as you take occupancy.

Continual evolution

We stay with you over the lifetime of your workspace, checking in to understand how your business and use of the space is evolving. We can help you manage those changes, with ongoing consultancy and scheme refreshes to ensure it continues to meet your needs.

Workspace renewal

When the term of your lease comes to an end, you can take the opportunity to re-evaluate your space, to understand if it’s still meeting your needs. Renewing with us means you can fast-track a full refresh of the space, so it keeps delivering maximum value to your people and your business.

Your ideal workspace designed and built for a simple monthly cost

We design to your budget

We’ll show you what you can achieve with your budget, and it may go further than you think.

There are some significant tax benefits that you can take advantage of with the OpEx funding method which allows your money to work harder for you.

It’s also important that you know exactly what you can include within that budget. The range of assets we can finance is wide-ranging and touches most parts of your business.

What’s included

You can include more than you think with our OpEx funding model, including workspace consultancy, design, fit-out, technology, furniture and move management, as well as aftercare services and even assets that you’ve already purchased.

We’ll walk you through the scope of assets and project costs that can be included so that you see exactly where the benefit lies when choosing to finance your workspace.

How it works

like to keep things simple at every step of your journey with us. Our five-step process is transparent and straightforward.

We talk you through the finance options available to you based upon your needs and what you are looking to achieve.

Our illustrations then show you expected costs, calculate any tax benefits and show the opportunity cost savings you make.

Once we have all the information we need, and you are ready, we secure the credit for you. This can take between a few hours and a few days.

Typically your agreement goes live at practical completion and you start making your payments. At the end you get to choose what you want to do.

You will receive a formal offer letter. Signing this secures your facility. We then handle all the supplier (stage) payments for you.

Cash is king: protect your working capital

When you’re running a business, cash is king. And dipping into that cash can reduce your ability to exploit new business opportunities.

When you partner with us to create your new workspace, you don’t have to risk any of your capital or delay making changes to your office. Affordable monthly payments make your new office accessible and viable whatever stage of growth you’re at.

As long as you keep to the terms of your finance lease agreement, you’ll have access to all your assets for the duration of your contract and you can even add it as a tax-deductible expense to your business balance sheet.

Highly tax efficient with 130% tax relief

You can benefit from 130% tax relief with super-deduction.

The super-deduction allowance is one of the most attractive tax incentives for business investment that’s ever been offered by the British Government. You can claim back up to 25p for every £1 you invest in qualifying machinery and equipment until the end of March 2023.

It also offers a 50% first year allowance for special rate assets until the end of March 2023 and the Annual Investment Allowance that provides 100% tax relief for plant and machinery investments has been raised to £1 million until the end of March 2023.

All of these together make a superb opportunity for you to create a workspace that can put your performance way ahead of the competition.

So, what might that look like for you?

A new way of workinga new way of paying for

How does the financial model work?

The traditional method of financing a workspace project involves agreeing a budget and payment plan with your chosen workspace partner, that will typically involve a series of interim payments throughout the course of the project, with the final payment usually due on or shortly after practical completion.

This means front-loading the costs for your business, while the benefits that you gain from your new workspace will be realised over the coming months and years.

The alternative is to fund all or part of the project through a lease finance agreement, which amortises the costs over a number of years, transforming a costly lump sum payment into manageable instalments that allow you to pay for the project over the lifespan of the workspace.

There are additional advantages in tax savings, as well as avoiding the opportunity cost of tying up the organisation’s working capital, which can be redeployed elsewhere in the business to great effect. In essence, it works to smooth out your cashflow with a simple, predictable monthly payment.

What would you prefer to

The benefits of finance

Tax efficient

For private sector organisations, leasing provides a highly attractive, fully 100% tax deductible solution. Those that are subject to higher tax rates have even more to save.

Retain capital

Locking capital away in depreciating assets is no longer necessary. Free up the cash to be deployed elsewhere, working harder for your organisation and delivering true returns.

Costs match return

Leasing allows you to match your costs in line with the return on your investment, unlike capital where all costs are paid upfront and in full.

Make budgets work

Make investment decisions based on your needs and not limited by constrained budgets which might otherwise restrict what you can achieve.

Reduce risk

Become less reliant on your primary funder(s) and spread your risk. Your existing credit lines remain unaffected and you unlock access to 50+ specialist asset funders.

Fixed costs

Your payments are manageable, low and fixed for the duration of the agreement so no hidden surprises or exposure should interest rates rise in the future.

Strategic solution

Strategically, leasing provides you with a mechanism to manage the lifecycle of your furniture and fit out assets, across your whole estate, avoiding large capital investments.

Spread VAT

Rather than pay the VAT in full upfront as you would with traditional capital expenditure, the VAT is paid on each repayment (excluding Hire/Lease Purchase agreements.)

Total project funding

Expertise to make sure that all of your costs, including fees, labour and delivery charges can be included in your facility.

Your workspace, your way

It’s time to give your business the workspace it deserves.

A truly agile, flexible office that grows alongside you and gives you financial stability and security is achievable, and easier to afford than you might think.

New modes of working are here to stay, and workplaces that take advantage of this shift in how we work are more productive, more connected and collaborative, promote better wellbeing and employee engagement, and help you attract and retain the best talent. Investing in a new office space really is good for business.

Next steps

We’re here to help you build the workspace that you and your people need to perform at their best. Together, we can design and build an office that supports your goals and your staff, to ensure that your business goes from strength to strength.

The first step is to get in touch for an initial no-obligation consultation with our workspace experts, to discuss your challenges and map out your options. If you’d like to find out what you could achieve, then call us on +44 (0)20 8309 0000 or email hello@officeworkspace.com

Let’s work better.

At Office Workspace, our goal is to enable your people to achieve more – to be more productive, more connected, more engaged, more creative. To work better. We create workspaces that deliver on these promises, bringing together the latest insights in workspace psychology, evidence-based design, innovative workspace technology and proven change management techniques, to help drive improved people performance.

Modern workspace strategies are all about people. By providing choices in where, when, and how people work, we empower them to find the best way to achieve their goals, enabling them to flex and adapt to the opportunities and challenges they face.

Successful businesses recognise the value that a future-ready, people-centric workspace can bring. At Office Workspace, we can help guide you and your people to a better way of working.

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