‘Flexibility is key’: Why MNCs, government offices are turning to co-working spaces
By | Chew Hui Min | www.channelnewsasia.com
SINGAPORE: Ms Mildred Ang, who works at Klook Singapore, will sometimes head to a “hideout” at the co-working space where her company is based, for some alone time to think about “abstract stuff”.
This hideout could be a wellness room or an outdoor rooftop garden, where she can be away from her co-workers for one or two hours, she said.
“I then have the ability, or the flexibility, to come up to our team to continue the discussion or have a different brainstorm session,” said Ms Ang, who is the travel e-commerce firm’s partnership and affiliates lead.
“I think that’s one of the greatest benefits.”
Klook, which employs about 100 people in Singapore, has been leasing one floor from a co-working space here for the past two years. Employees can also use desks at all the branches of the co-working chain, which Klook requested not to name.
Ms Cary Shek, the firm’s vice-president for people and culture, said that when Klook entered the Singapore market a few years ago, employees worked out of a shophouse. But as the team expanded, that became impractical.
It wanted a space that would better facilitate collaboration and mingling among team members, and found that a co-working space could also provide more flexibility compared with leased office premises.