CENTRL Solutions: How a local business makes in-person meetings work (again)

As we all know, Covid significantly changed how and where employees work. As we work with local businesses to find the right office space solutions for their teams, we’ll be sharing the trends and best practices we see developing for office and workspace solutions.

So we were thrilled when we were recently contacted by an engineering firm based here in Portland. While the majority of their employees are technicians who work in the field, they have an additional 15 employees who are 100% remote. These team members are responsible for everything from customer support, to technology and marketing.

This firm has deep roots in Portland and, prior to Covid, had maintained a tight knit and collaborative culture — something that was much easier to achieve in the days of being in an office every day, 9-5. While they’ve adjusted well to remote work, company leaders never lost sight of the importance of relationship-building and in person collaboration. So for 2022, their leaders took steps to encourage their team members to connect (or reconnect) with each other, both professionally and socially.

When the company leaders approached us, they were looking for collaboration spaces in Portland that any team member could book at any time. They also wanted meeting spaces that provided premium video and audio systems to support meaningful, collaborative experiences — both for those in the room and for those calling in remotely. Finally, they wanted their meeting spaces to be locations where there were plenty of lunch and catering options.

Here’s an overview of how the CENTRL team created a solution for a local wastewater inspection firm with a fifteen-person operations team:

All team members got a CENTRL membership

Since the company wanted all of their employees to be able to book rooms, all team members got signed up with a FLEX membership. Our FLEX memberships also gave team members four day passes per month to work in any of our common spaces (lounge, shared tables, phone booths, etc…).

All team members get a discount booking rooms

In addition to being able to access our common workspaces, our FLEX memberships also give employees a 20% discount on booking rooms. Our simple booking system makes it easy for individual members to reserve rooms based on their needs. Company leaders also liked the flexibility our rooms provided. Our rooms come in a variety of sizes with our largest room accommodating groups up to 20 people.

Within a few days of reaching out to us, we were able to sign up all team members with FLEX memberships and they’ve become a wonderful presence at all of our Portland locations!

If your team is looking for professional, well-designed spaces that allow your teams to collaborate, work individually, or just spend some time together in shared spaces, we invite you to schedule a tour with us.