Is the widespread adoption of teleworking policies turning office property upside down?
Christophe Burckart - Companies have embraced the advent of hybrid working. 20% of them had a teleworking policy before covid, and this figure has risen to 80% today. This phenomenon is having an impact on office property and the locations in which people are setting up. When you talk to a major account, most of them want to keep their 'totem' locations, their head offices or regional headquarters, and make everything else more flexible with satellites that allow their employees to work close to home. This is why we are now present in towns that are not necessarily business towns. For example, in the last three months of 2022, we opened workspaces in Brest, Carquefou and Poitiers.
But what are the advantages of working in a third-party location rather than at home?
Christophe Burckart - I'll take the example of a site I know well, the Regus centre at Maisons-Laffitte, located opposite the RER station. The vast majority of its customers live just five minutes away. In this town of 25,000 inhabitants, this 1,700 m2 is full of people who don't want to work from home, but who also want to be able to travel easily to Paris when they need to, while keeping their professional and personal lives separate. Working in a third place also means you don't have to suffer from isolation, you can be part of a community and benefit from synergies by sharing the same premises with other companies.
Is the world of work becoming more decentralised as a result?
Christophe Burckart - It's an interesting phenomenon. Some of the customers using these centres in secondary towns or suburban areas are employees of large companies who telework close to home, while others are entrepreneurs who decide to "telework". stay close to home rather than locate their offices in Paris or in a major metropolis, and only come there for their appointments. This has an interesting impact on the revitalisation of these areas, and that's why we're very well received by local authorities. We need to support this movement.
How will the IWG offer evolve in France in 2023?
Christophe Burckart - We expect to open or sign two sites a month this year, with a good balance between major cities - our next site will open near Lille Europe station - and towns with less immediate business. Demand is growing very fastOur business is market-led, whether in major conurbations, suburban areas or secondary towns. Our business is driven by the market. Depending on the location, demand has risen by between 50% and 60% compared with the pre-pandemic period. We have a huge number of new customers who were in a traditional real estate approach and who have learned the lesson of covid and want to more hybrid thingsIt's all about flexibility and being able to go on and off.
Has your development strategy changed in response to this growing demand?
Christophe Burckart - Our national coverage will accelerate in partnership with franchisees or investors who call on us to operate flexible working spaces in their buildings. This model will very quickly become a major part of our development. Our determination to develop as a franchise is beginning to bear fruit with some fifteen sites currently being opened or developed. But it's not just about franchising. Our strategy revolves around two other areas, in particular organic growth in France's 15 largest cities. In these cities, the neighbourhood phenomenon remains important, and we are not established everywhere. Finally, a third, more recent, growth driver is the desire of building owners to have flexible workspaces within their buildings. In this context, they ask us to act as a service provider, through management contracts.
Workspaces now seem to be an integral part of many property projects?
Christophe Burckart - This trend towards mixed use is very strong. There isn't a large-scale project that doesn't include coworking, shops, housing or coliving. All the more so as the PLU (Plan local d'urbanisme) is increasingly demanding this. Real estate is becoming increasingly servicedIt's a good thing that we're now able to offer our customers, both companies and users, the same level of service. Many companies no longer want to have to manage leases or deal with general services. The implementation of the tertiary sector decree, which will require action to be taken to reduce the energy consumption of buildings, reinforces their desire to take responsibility for this management out of their hands. As a result, they prefer to use services offered by operators such as IWG. We are seeing in the property sector what happened in the IT sector, when companies started to use large service companies such as Cap Gemini or Atos.
Are the expectations of company employees also driving this development?
Christophe Burckart - We have a recruitment crisis, as you know. To attract talent, the work experience must be increasingly positive. You need sophisticated facilities, places to share, wellness services, attractive locations with shops around them, as well as bars and restaurants where you can meet up after work. In the end, this is a major draw for companies like ours.
Is office property playing an increasingly important role in a company's attractiveness?
Christophe Burckart - The weight of HR managers in real estate decisions is becoming very important, because there is this human dimension on which hybrid working has a strong impact. Before, we used to talk mainly to property managers. Now we're also talking to the finance department and the HR department, which needs to implement a teleworking policy, attract talent and develop productivity. Real estate is a tool that contributes to this.
