Corporates' demand for leasing flexible workspace increased by 73% to 31,538 seats during the January-June period on a year-on-year basis. Cushman and Wakefield said the total seats leased by enterprises could cross 50,000 during 2021 in its latest report for the workplace market. In the first six months of last year, enterprises had leased 18,213 seats and 36,255 desks during the entire 2020. The consultant told the media that in H1, the number of flex seats leased reached 31,538, which is almost 87% of the seats leased during 2020, and the estimate for the current year could likely exceed 50,000 seats. This increase is witnessed mainly due to the preference of enterprises to enjoy the advantages of flexibility and cost optimisation that flex workspaces offer. Top officials of coworking, and managed office space operators Simpliwork Offices, Smartworks, The Office Pass, and The Executive Centre witnessed that demand for flexible workspace has grown from small, medium, and large enterprises. Executive Director of India Sotheby's International Realty, Gagan Randev said that the flexible workspaces offer a great office experience which can raise office productivity and also cut the travel time of employees. Founder of Smartworks, Neetish Sarda, said that the pandemic has forced leading companies to rethink realty needs because of new ways of working and work model making. Companies are eyeing managed and flex spaces as their third alternative workspace heading to the hub. Group Managing Director of The Executive Centre, Nidhi Marwah, said that the road to recovery is bringing in a surge in companies hybrid working and India has observed an increase in demand for the flexible workspace industry. CEO and Founder of Simpliwork Offices, Kunal Walia, said that every large organisation looking for additional space today has an important preference towards flexible enterprise workplace providers. Recently, WeWork India announced that it has leased 17,000 sq ft office space to US-based technology firm 3M's Indian subsidiary in Bengaluru. Image Source Also read: Hiranandani Group to develop 2 million sq ft office at Rs 1,000 cr Also read: Commercial real estate investments at $1.35 bn in Q1 FY21