The best work environment for start-ups and scaleups

Starting a company can be difficult, especially in the start-up and growth phase. However, this growth will at some point result in the need to find a good workspace for you and your employees. If you have come to this point or are simply planning ahead, this article will help you find the perfect office for your company!

Before searching for an office, make sure you know what type of office you need. Which work environment suits your company and its state of growth?
For example, if you still work from home, but you would like to have a professional address for mail and business meetings, consider a virtual office.

If working from home starts to bore you and you’re searching for a creative workspace that also offers the possibility to network and make new business contacts, a flex spot in the open spaces of a co-working space might be the first step.

When the next stage of growth is reached, and you acquire more employees, you can change to a small private office in that same co-working space, which gives you the opportunity to meet business relations in your own setting, and work at this office during your own preferred hours. In a next phase, a tailor-made private office can fit your business perfectly.

After choosing the type of office that your company is looking for, you can start your search. Important features to look out for, are the following:

Food & Relaxation

According to Harvard Business Review, good workplaces provide food for their employees. This food should be healthy, of high quality, and still as affordable as possible. Another requirement of a good workplace, is the encouragement to take breaks in between tasks and the availability of places for resting during a workday.

The requirements mentioned above do not seem very difficult to arrange. However, start-up companies do not have the resources or capital that large companies have. You probably do not fully own your office, which means you do not have control over making certain areas a relaxation place. Food might not even be available at this location, which restricts you from influencing the quality, price and healthiness of the food that your employees are provided with.

This is why you should make sure that the workspace you are interested in does not only provide the office space, but also offers open relaxation areas and takes care of the food quality. In a perfect situation, the workspace contains a restaurant or canteen offering high-quality, healthy dishes for a reasonable price, by asking for feedback and input from its customers.

Tools & furniture

Next to the requirements mentioned above, other services and installations that companies need to provide for their employees, are the technological features such as Wi-Fi and printing, as well as ergonomic and attractive furniture. Since this might be a higher priority than food or relaxation, it is important to find an office that provides these features for you, in order to tick all the boxes.

Although this all sounds logical, it can be difficult to find everything in one place. Therefore, a good place to search for offices, are business centres. These buildings often have different types of offices available, which makes it easier for a start-up company to switch workspaces in a new stage of growth, without having to change buildings. Next to offices, business centres often also provide meeting rooms that can be used by their tenants for a discounted price. Some business centres even have a restaurant or canteen with various meal options; co-working possibilities with shared meeting rooms; garden; reception et cetera, to have everything arranged under one roof.

BluePoint is one of those exclusive all-in business centres and invites you to take a look at our affordable office space and complementary services such as on-site restaurants and meeting/event rooms.