Coworking and Flexspace Trends - Part 1 - enabling to adapt and grow
Despite a good start to 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic affected coworking spaces in every country. A year on from the beginning of the pandemic, work has forever changed. With the changes to how businesses, freelancers, start-ups and remote workers see office spaces, new trends are starting to appear across the coworking space sector. From Spain to the US and back across the Atlantic to England, the following key trends are shaping the future of work and coworking spaces.
Flexibility
When coworking space clients left their shared offices for the safety of home isolation, successful coworking space OneCoWork in Barcelona and Creative Works in London, responded by listening closely to their tenants’ needs and offering a range of flexible solutions to keep contracts in place. The empathetic and understanding approach resulted in better engagement with clients and a deeper understanding of what was needed to support their return to their office spaces.
Ultimately, the approach paid off. Freezing contracts, pay as you go leasing and renegotiating agreements to create win/win situations for both parties has enabled both the Barcelona and London coworking spaces to design a service and environment in which clients are happy to return to and be a part of. It’s also attracting bigger businesses to their offerings. Both OneCoWork and Creative Works are returning to pre-COVID occupancy levels with stronger customer relationships than ever.
By focusing on supporting members today, coworking spaces are paving the way for new models, memberships and relationships in future.
Increased interest from big business
As restrictions and lockdowns have eased across the world, larger teams and corporations are showing interest in coworking spaces to supplement traditional office solutions. Newer models of service and membership have been put in place by OneCoWork and Venture X in Dallas, USA to respond to this demand.
Rather than a new phenomenon, Scott Mackin, part of the OneCoWork management team, believes that COIVD has simply accelerated corporate teams’ move towards more flexible models of employment. Over the coming decade, more distributed workforces, hub and spoke models for business office locations, and hybrid working models are expected to grow.
While this is the longer term view being seen by many in the coworking space, many larger corporations are waiting for more clarity on the future before committing to long-term plans. Organisation size, location, length of contracts and more will all factor in the decision making process for big corporate’s use of coworking spaces.
Space as a Service
Through the initial shutdown in Dallas, Nadim Ahmed who runs Venture X focussed on streamlining processes and community development with his small team. People began returning to office in Dallas faster than other parts of the US. Nadim also noticed and uptick in inquiries and interest from small business and entrepreneurs looking for office space.
The behind the scenes work done by Nadim and his team exposed the opportunity for specialising in the provision of services that underpin coworking options. As more businesses demand workplace flexibility, demand for community introductions, business collaboration opportunities and increased leasing options will grow along with it.
As with many other industries, business agility and a willingness to reach out and connect with customers have been key to OneCoWork, Creative Works and Venture X finding opportunities for growth and innovation through a difficult period. A continued focus on the needs of clientele coupled with a willingness to respond with new products and solutions that help coworking spaces evolve will ensure coworking providers stay ahead of the massive disruption the sector has seen and will continue to experience.