Changing technology and millennials moving into management has seen a shift in attitudes towards work – with traditional approaches to doing business being adapted and becoming more flexible.
Strict schedules, product-centric advertising and rigid office environments are being traded in for minimalistic creative working spaces and a clear drive to put the needs of consumers first.
Poise structural engineer Seb Willett, 33, rents office space at WERK_ premises in Alabaster Street in the Baakens Valley.
Described as the alternate industrial hub, WERK_ provides general workplace essentials such as Wi-Fi, lockers, plug points, personal desks, use of a boardroom facility and ablutions for a rental fee of R1,000 a month.
Willett rents a full office at the premises.
“I enjoy working around other people.
“For us [Poise], it’s really great that there are a few other architectural firms renting space here and that makes for good business,” Willet said.
“For the most part we have our meetings at the architects’ office, but there have been times where we’ve used the boardroom next door.
“And the people who do pop in always say they like the look and feel of the place.”
Poise had previously used office block space in Central, Port Elizabeth, but Willet said he did not enjoy being closed off from other people.

Simon Galland, 27, has been running his nonprofit organisation, Saga, from WERK_ since 2015.
He said the building had become his second home and an easy way to make connections with people who had similar interests – business and nonbusiness related.
“As an NPO it’s good for us to connect with people and to spread the word about what we are doing,” he said. “We do a lot of construction, and there’s always someone in the valley or at WERK_ who will know someone we can make contact with to help with what we do.
“The main advantage in this space is being able to connect with people and to get advice – there are people who do pretty much everything in the valley, so there is always someone to talk to.
“I’m not from SA, so the people in the valley have become my family.”..