You may have heard that many companies are moving towards being “virtual first.” This generally means that they are allowing all of their employees to work from home or a workspace of their choosing outside of the traditional HQ. For coworking spaces, this may mean that larger companies are planning to use their spaces in new ways.
Coworking Supplementing HQ Teamwork
Dropbox recently announced that they will only be using their HQ for collaboration and employees will come in for brainstorming sessions as opposed to quiet desk work.
In an article on CNN, Dropbox explained that “There are some home setups that are simply not conducive to being able to do great work. We are going to basically stand up a flexible-first allowance and this enables folks to make deliberate choices on how they want to spend that perk stipend. So if you wanted to spend that on a co-working space, we would help sponsor that.”
What coworking spaces can do:
-Reach out to companies in your area that might be trying to solve for remote work
-Think about how you might update your marketing messaging
-Potentially turn large offices into brainstorming/training rooms and list them on Deskpass
-Walk around and think about how you might be able to redesign your space to meet the needs of new coworking members
Keyless Entry
With more remote workers wanting 24/7 access, a way to enter freely with your phone on the weekends, is becoming increasingly important. Spaces are looking at new ways to provide a seamless experience where members can easily enter the building, unlock specific offices and open a laptop to get to work.
As Essensys launches their new platform, founder Mark Furness explains that, “The Flex Services Platform brings together people, spaces and technology to deliver the secure, frictionless occupier journeys and amazing in-building experiences that we believe will be key for the success of our customers, their buildings and their tenants in the months and years ahead.”
What coworking spaces can do:
-Think about what you can automate to alleviate some work for the community managers
-Reassess the importance of all of your amenities
-Research updated technology that might be right for your space
-Think about the touch-points during the user experience and how easy can you make it to connect to wifi, open a door or access amenities
-Make sure everything is complete and filled out (including wifi information and google calendar integrations) on your Deskpass profile to ensure a smooth check-in process for Deskpass users
Flexibility
Spaces are quickly adapting to what members want from their spaces. The biggest request seems to be flexibility. For many companies, that might mean monthly leases instead of longer terms, renting private offices for the day or getting creative with new part-time memberships.
On Deskpass, we have noticed a huge increase in demand for private offices for the day or week and the ability to have employees visit multiple coworking spaces less than 5 miles away from their house.
What coworking spaces can do:
-Create new memberships options for part-time members
-Convert specific offices as day use only offices
-Look into new features that your coworking management software might have added in the past year to meet the needs of your flexible membership options
-Add private offices for the day/week to Deskpass
Get a complimentary $250 Deskpass credit when you sign up for a Teams account today.
