Microsoft leases 1.8L sq ft flexible space in Bengaluru | Economic Times

Bengaluru: Microsoft has leased 180,000 sq ft of flexible space with Tablespace Technologies in Bengaluru as it seeks to expand operations. The new facility, located on the Outer Ring Road, will come up at Tablespace Technologies’ coworking space and will seat 2,000 people. “The entire fit-out will be done by Tablespace and the tech giant will pay a rent of around Rs 16,000 per desk. The facility has a lock-in period of two years,” said a person aware of the deal. This is the second flexible office deal signed by Microsoft this year.Earlier, the firm had signed a deal for 150,000 sq ft of space with WeWork in Noida. “Microsoft had a leasing requirement of 1 million sft in Bengaluru for long-term consolidation but due to business uncertainties, it is looking for flexible space as it is easy to downsize such facilities, ” said another person aware of the deal. Microsoft currently occupies 550,000 sq ft on Outer Ring Road, the tech hub of Bengaluru. The software giant has operations in 11 cities in India and employs about 8,000 people across the country.In October, the Seattle-based technology giant decided to expand its work-from-home policy and make it permanent for some workers. The firm has released the new ‘hybrid workplace’ model that allows employees to work from home freely for less than 50% of their working week with managers able to approve permanent remote working.