Work Near Home

For the majority of office workers, working from home became the norm during the lockdowns. As a result, there has been a fundamental shift in the way we work, and remote working is now here to stay.

Flexible work life balance

Companies have also discovered the advantages of remote working, and many will no longer demand that staff members spend every day in the office. In fact, some large companies have ambitious plans to adopt hybrid working models. The UK arm of oil giant BP, for example, asked staff to adopt a 60:40 split between the office and home in a move that has enabled the company to release capital by selling its Central London headquarters.

Moving out of London

If you run a company and have previously felt obliged to have a Central London presence because that’s where your clients are, you could now be thinking that downsizing your premises and moving out of the capital will be a good business move, because so many other companies are doing the same. By adopting hybrid working practices and renting space at serviced offices, such as one of the UOE Hubs, outside the London weighting area, you can save a lot of money at the same time as pleasing your staff members who’ll be able to work a lot closer to home.

If you or your staff do have to make frequent trips into London for meetings or to work part-time in a Central London branch, there are options for cheaper train travel from Hertford. Flexi Season tickets allow eight return journeys at peak times in a 28-day period and are available on Great Northern (Hertford North) and Greater Anglia (Hertford East).

Is working from home full time good for individuals?

While some people have built home offices or converted the spare room and are really enjoying the WFH lifestyle, others are finding it more of a challenge. One study has highlighted the struggles some people have with the divide between work life and home life, with many people reporting tiredness, and a sense of isolation as having a negative effect on their mental health.

Despite the obvious advantages of home working, permanently WFH won’t suit everyone. For many people, sharing your office space, kitchen and coffee machine with co-location occupiers can be motivating and enjoyable. And this extends beyond just having ‘human company’. It addresses younger workers’ concerns about feeling disconnected and missing out on the opportunity to learn professional skills as well as the soft skills learnt through observation and interaction with more experienced colleagues.

So, if you don’t want to work from home on a full-time basis, but your company wants to reduce the amount of time you spend in the office, or even close down the office completely, what can you do?

Rent a local serviced office

Serviced offices offer a solution that allows you to create your perfect work/life balance. The UOE Hub in Hertford offers you the opportunity to work near home, with all the advantages of being in a professional working environment with the busyness of colleagues around you and none of the distractions and loneliness of being at home.

Choose from a lockable office or a resident desk according to your needs or budget. We provide everything you’ll need, and your monthly rent includes utilities, high-speed internet, cleaning and maintenance, and 24/7 access, as well as unlimited tea and coffee.

You’ll be sharing the office with a variety of entrepreneurs, SME owners and employees and professionals who’ve chosen to work near home. If lockdown has made you appreciate how much nicer life is without the daily commute into Central London, for example, then the Hub is definitely for you!

Another huge advantage is that renting serviced office space means you’ll be permanently networking. You never know who you’ll get chatting to, and the relationships formed between co-workers often result in business collaborations. Indeed, many large companies – such as accountancy and law firms, venture capitalists and IT companies – are placing employees in co-working spaces in order to foster relationships with innovative start-ups, resulting in long-term business relationships that are built from the ground up.

Working near home in serviced office spaces such as the UOE Hubs offers many advantages in terms of personal and professional productivity and success. Click here if you would like to arrange a tour of the Hertford Hub and embrace the benefits of working near home.