The word has officially hit the wire. By now, many in the commercial real estate industry have heard about the merger of the flexible workspace marketplaces Deskpass and Breather. This marriage brings together two of the best solutions in the flexible, on-demand workspace market—and most notably at a time when companies and individuals are deeply divided over the post-COVID office debate.
Obvious Compromise
Even before the COVID pandemic, battle lines were being drawn.
Individual workers wanted the flexibility, freedom, and convenience of working from home. Leadership wanted culture, collaboration, and accountability through centralized, corporate offices. The pandemic simply gave workers the agency to say, “we told you so,” and to become hybrid-entrenched in a way that they never had before.
In its annual State of Hybrid Work 2023 research Owl Labs found that 66% of companies are mandating in-office work, while only 22% of employees are happy with the in-office work style. This divide results in only 41% of employees saying they would comply with the mandate without complaint, while 22% would return but be unhappy, 31% would return and start but start looking for a new job, and 6% would quit entirely.
It’s a tale as old as time. When two parties become so focused on their specific demands, they miss an obvious solution and opportunity. But we know compromise is always possible—solutions like Breather and Deskpass give leadership to easily meet their needs while giving employees the exact freedom they want.
Using the tens of thousands of flexible space options available through the Breather and Deskpass marketplaces, leadership can bring teams together in locations much closer to where their employees live, delivering on the collaboration and accountability managers are looking for while maintaining shorter commutes and greater freedom most employees expect.
This obvious compromise effectively ends the home vs. office conflict, and it also delivers other benefits like cost management and reduction that many businesses are desperate to find today. Using existing spaces on-demand, companies can immediately reduce lease costs or avoid capital-intensive real-estate development projects while still providing exceptional facilities and features that employees want in an office.
Obvious Alignment
Breather was founded in 2012 with the goal of creating a network of private, comfortable spaces that could be rented by the hour for meetings, work and relaxation offering for remote, highly-mobile employees and workers to use as an alternative to coffee shops and other public locations. Like some other well known brands in coworking, Breather failed to build a business model that could sustain the company in the long-run, ultimately resulting in the sale of the company to Industrious in 2021.
As one of the most successful, innovative brands in the flexible workspace industry, Industrious recognized the value of the Breather’s technology and had the foresight to understand the role on-demand, flexible workspace marketplaces would play in the future of corporate real estate strategy.
After acquiring Breather, Industrious relaunched the brand as a flexible workspace marketplace with some of the best meeting room options and many exceptional Industrious office locations as options for anyone needing space. As the Breather marketplace business began to rapidly grow and Industrious’ core continued to flourish, they realized that other companies—like Deskpass—possessed the skills, technology, and networks needed to help a solution like Breather truly thrive.
With the obvious alignment of the two brands—and the incredible opportunity presented by the rise of hybrid work and worker expectations—bringing Deskpass and Breather together was the obvious solution for both leadership teams.
Obvious Future
A swiftly expanding market. A unique, close relationship with one of the best brands in the industry. Tens of thousands of space options in the US alone.
Together, Deskpass, Industrious, and Breather are perfectly positioned to define and lead the on-demand, flexible workspace market—bringing new features and inventory to companies and individuals at a time when they are desperate to simply get back to work.
Both Breather and Deskpass will continue to offer instant access to their incredible networks of spaces, allowing anyone to make immediate, oneoff reservations for their short-term workspace needs. In addition, customers on both platforms will have the opportunity to leverage the flagship Deskpass solution, Deskpass Teams.
Using Deskpass Teams, companies of any size can launch a flexible workspace for all or some of their company using a pay-as-you-go account that has no per user fee or commitment term. Through this solution, companies can centralize billing, set spending limits, limit location options, analyze usage, and more.
If you’re interested in bringing Deskpass Teams to your company and employees, please contact us here.
Get a complimentary $250 Deskpass credit when you sign up for a Teams account today.
