Hong Kong office landlords grapple with ‘irreversible’ hybrid work trend amid high vacancy rates, supply glut
- Flex space provider IWG says it is adding locations rapidly in the Greater Bay Area as property owners seek to capitalise on the trend
- IWG works with Hysan Development, and major landlords Hongkong Land and Swire Properties also have their fingers in the co-working pie
Hybrid work arrangements are likely to persist and become irreversible in the foreseeable future, a trend that is spurring landlords and asset owners to convert traditional office spaces into flexible offices, according to the CEO of IWG, one of the world’s largest flex desk service providers.
Globally, companies and organisations are allowing as much as half of their staff to adopt flexible work arrangements, including some combination of working from home, working at a desk in a remote co-working space and coming into a traditional office, said IWG CEO Mark Dixon.
The trend is driving IWG to add new flex space in Hong Kong, across the Greater Bay Area and beyond, Dixon said.
“IWG is growing its network both in Hong Kong and globally at a rapid rate as the demand for hybrid working accelerates,” he said. “Property owners are seeking to capitalise as businesses of all sizes embrace the model, and we can see this trend in our network growth numbers. In the first half of this year, we added more than 400 locations globally.”
In Hong Kong IWG operates 21 locations under the brands Regus, Spaces, Signature, HQ and OpenOffice, with four new locations added so far this year.
