Shared Workspaces in 2020

Five flexible workspace trends

Scott Galloway, the best-selling author, tech industry pundit, is a marketing professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business; he did not mince words when it came to WeWork’s former CEO, Adam Neumann.

Galloway said, “WeWTF is an especially risky business going into recession, when the ability to variabilize costs is limited, but revenue decline is unlimited. WeWTF has $47 billion in long-term obligations (leases) and will do $3 billion in revenue this year. What could go wrong?”

Galloway issued a blistering prophecy in a 2019 tweet. WeWork was gearing up to go public; on August 14, four months later, WeWork publicly filed its IPO; on September 16, WeWork delayed its IPO. Eight days later the party was over, Neumann stepped down from his role as CEO. WeWorked morphed into WeCrashed and David Brown, the host of Business Wars did a deep dive into the entire fiasco.

Although, Neumann cast a dark shadow on what is still a relatively new industry, Flexible workspaces aren’t going away.

So, what’s next for Flex?

That’s the question I posed to Julio Pardo, a community manager at B@Work, Pardo said, “Before Covid we had a lot more Entrepreneurs and start-ups. Now we are seeing more workers that are no longer commuting into the city and are going remote.”

The revival of suburban locations

Before the pandemic, co-working spaces were the fastest-growing type of office space in commercial real estate; According (CNBC) they’re expected to make up 30% by 2030; they currently comprise less than 5% of the market.

Focus on building community forget the competition

Pardo went on to say, “But these people realize all the challenges of working from home. More and more there is a need to separate the work life from the home life. People that need to get out of the house and into a space (mentally and physically) to be more productive.”

The Hotelization of office assets

Space as a service remains as a foundation for the business. Jeff Revoy, co-founder of venture-backed SpaceIQ said, ” There are other revenue streams built atop it. Examples of this include in-house business coaching, on-site restaurants and coffee bars, and even IT services. In many cases, they operate as standalone businesses to non-members and add-on perks for members.”

Compounded or cmpnd for short, is an all inclusive living co-working community with locations in New Jersey and Long Island. Their story, an excerpt from their website reads: “In the past, society strived to separate work, family, friends, and personal time. we were told we needed a “balance” of these separate elements and duties to feel fulfilled and de-stressed.”

They go on to say on their homepage that now there is a “more intense desire to identify ourselves by ALL that we are, rather than who we are 10 a.m. and then later at 7 p.m. the unique combination of what we do throughout all minutes and hours of the day compounds into our singular being.”

CLO COFFEE CO is located inside cmpnd’s shared space. Proprietor Roger Angeles said on their sites homepage, “CLO will be an extension of your home, office and school, and just a place where our intention is to try to make your day a little better and kinder.”

Investment in customer experience

In order for co-working spaces to thrive, they’ll have address workers’ concerns over spacing and sanitizing. Members will expect access to cleaning supplies, facility managers will be expected to provide a robust frequent deep cleaning protocols, in generally environments.

Members may gravitate toward spaces where they have assigned seating at desks that are farther apart.

Integration of health and wellness

The global wellness industry grew 12.8% from $3.7 trillion in 2015 to $4.2 trillion in 2017. Health and wellness options will be the differentiating factor, what was once a nice to have is now playing an integral in the business model. Coworking space providers might want to consider partnering with Yoga, Qigong, Mediation or coaching professionals as a way of expanding their portfolio to new and existing members.

Closing thoughts

Coworking spaces will be around for the foreseeable future, those who survive will build a strong sense of community, Ron Blake is an Executive MBA Candidate at NYU Stern School of Business and he agrees. Blake works out of TIGERLABS in Princeton NJ, he said, “Even before I put my headphones on the co-work space lends itself to higher production than say the home office where the fridge, laundry and Hulu are just a few steps away.”

A podcast can be an effective way to engage your audience and position your co-working space as a go to resource within the community. As podcasts continue to rise in popularity, co-working spaces can leverage this trend and provide exposure for their members.

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