‘Just make people come in on the second Thursday of the month’: workspace provider Mark Dixon on the WFH debate

London: Mark Dixon believes that many companies are realizing they don’t need a massive office anymore. He admits that working from home isn’t his thing. He finds it too distracting and thinks you really need to be disciplined to make it work.

Dixon, who runs IWG, one of the biggest office space providers, has seen a shift in how businesses operate. He started IWG back in 1989 after struggling to find a decent office in Brussels. He noticed people were meeting in coffee shops and thought, “Hey, there’s a need for flexible office spaces.”

While he’s not a fan of working from home, he’s all for the idea of “working close to home.” He envisions people skipping long commutes and meeting up at local workspaces instead. This trend has gained traction, especially since the pandemic changed how we think about work.

Dixon points out that more companies are ditching the idea of a big central office. Instead, they’re looking for hubs where employees can gather as needed. IWG is right in the middle of this shift, providing those hubs.

The pandemic has made hybrid working the norm for many, with a significant number of people in the UK now working this way. At IWG’s Engine Room in Battersea, you can see the new office culture in action. Some folks are decorating for the holidays, while others are on video calls or working on their laptops.

For those who find it hard to focus at home, IWG offers everything from desks to full offices, mostly in suburban areas now. They’ve expanded to over 1,200 cities worldwide, with a big focus on smaller towns since Covid hit.

Dixon believes that having regular office days is more effective than just randomly showing up. He suggests scheduling everyone to come in on the second Thursday of the month for important meetings. This way, it’s more about planning than leaving things to chance.

He’s become a bit of a voice for hybrid working, feeling that many employers are finally catching up to what IWG has been doing for years. But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for IWG. They’ve faced ups and downs since their stock market debut in 2000, especially during economic downturns.

Now, with the rise of hybrid work, IWG is thriving. Dixon has made quite a fortune from it, but he’s also facing pressure to move the company’s stock listing to the US, where they make most of their profits.

After decades in the business, he’s still active, recently visiting sites in Australia and New Zealand. When asked about retirement, he jokes that he thinks more about making wine than stepping back from work. He’s also a wine producer in France and has a few estates in England.

Dixon’s had quite the life, even hitchhiking in his younger days. He’s got a Rolex from a young entrepreneur he once helped out. With all this going on, he’s not in a rush to check the time or retire anytime soon.