Flexible workspace provider Regus has teamed up with Shell to launch a trial programme of drop-in business lounges at service stations on motorways across Europe.

The business lounges are designed specifically for the needs of mobile workers and provide users with access to workspace for as little as ten minutes, as well as video communication, email access and printing. The first Shell/Regus business lounge has opened in France, at the Limours-Janvry service station on the A10 autoroute, just south-west of Paris.

Regus has also initiated a similar business lounge trial with French national railway SNCF.

Celia Donne, regional director at Regus, said; “The rapid rise of the mobile worker gives us an excellent opportunity to extend our core offering beyond offices. Technology is a key driver in the growth of a mobile workforce, but the increase in demand for drop-in business centres has come from mobile workers who still need a place to touch down, and a business centre at a motorway service station or railway station platform makes sense.”

A recent study of ‘third place’ workers (those that are not based at home or in the workplace) globally found that 52 per cent spend some or all of their working time in business centres. A total of 17,000 of those questioned said they did not want to work at home and preferred working amongst others in an environment that benefited from access to technology.