Did you know that each and every time you switch between apps your brain takes a moment to recalibrate and ‘figure out’ what to do next?
Those moments add up. According to studies, they can add up to over five weeks of work time. Every year. This loss in productivity is called the Toggle Tax.
Flex space brands like Freedom Works and Coco are already minimizing their daily Toggle Tax with Syncaroo Assistant.
👉 Learn all about Toggle Tax here.
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✊ Coworking impact.
🅱️ Becoming a B Corp isn’t a competition #
Alex Young from Projects, Ed Hobbs from x+why and Oli Ring from Runway East come together during B Corp month to underscore the significance of putting people and the planet just as high on the agenda as profit within the flexible workspace industry and shared some examples of what each of brand is up to.
👉 Read this.
📰 Coworking news & views.
🇬🇧 Platform sees number of fractional office listings grow to 1k #
Tushar Agarwal shares that Hubble have grown from a soft launch with 5 fractional office listings in June 2023 to 1,000 offices across 250 buildings in London now listed on their platform.
Hit the link above to see how fractional (or part-time) offices are a growing undercurrent trend that could present opportunities or threats to flex space businesses.
👉 Read this.
💡 Flex spaces should shifting from CSR to CSV #
"A key feature of a thriving coworking space should always be to empower its surrounding community, not just those who pay to become members. Yes, it’s essential to keep the needs of your membership at the forefront of your mind when building a coworking community, but I would argue that fostering strong and wide community bonds benefits your members more than you might initially think."
Yes! Ethan Phoenix Kentish shares how flex brands should be Creating Shared Value and highlights an example of how a partnership between PLATF9RM and a local creative school benefited both of their immediate and nearby communities.
👉 Read this.
📹 What it looks like when a pro makes your coworking Reels #
Burbity Workspaces shared a Reel that seems to have impressed a number of other operators and local business leaders.
👉 Read this.
␡ On eliminating the top 3 coworking time wasters #
Abigail Schilling shares how when coworking space operator react instead of prioritizing, things get messy and time gets wasted. In the piece 3 major time wasters are highlight (spoiler: they are ‘urgency’, ’24/7 availability’ and ‘low-ROI events’) and how to systematically eliminate them from your business.
👉 Read this.
🐶 Pup-friendly as the hook #
Stacey Banks, a flexspace broker from FlexiOffices, shared a post that caught my eye. Well both mine and my pup’s eye. Instead of focussing on how awesome, beautiful, flexible or well located some London locations are – they focussed on the fact that Fora, LABS, x+why, and Runway East were pup-friendly.
I love seeing flexible space marketed on more levels and differentiators. Nicely done Stacey.
👉 Read this.
💬 Do you run any programming to foster wider connections? #
Tony Bacigalupo asked coworking space operators if they run any public programs designed to foster community, that others could try in their own cities.
In the 17 LinkedIn comments, community leaders from across the globe share ideas they’ve tried and feedback on how they’re going or went. Anything you’d add?
👉 Read this.
🦺 What do you do when you find a time capsule in during renovating? #
During a renovation, the folks at Ministry of Work found a time capsule that was buried as part of the millennium celebrations in 2000, that said it should not be opened before 2050.
So they did what any coworking space operator would do, put it back under the floor, under walk-on glass with built-in lighting. Obviously. But it does look look.
👉 Read this.
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💻 Coworking technology.
💳 Corporate flex platform updates procurement and payment offering #
Desana introduced a new product called FlexPay into their suite for companies shifting towards flexible real estate strategies. In short, the platform will offer a single procurement agreement, centralize payments and offer a dashboard for contract management.
The easier it is for large firms to procure, pay for and manage their flex space contracts, the more utilization we could see across participating spaces.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Platform and UK landlord enter 150 location partnership #
Kramer Kevin shares that Liquidspace and Landmark have announced a new partnership, giving the former’s Enterprise users access to 150 UK workspaces.
👉 Read this.
📲 Booking app doubles down on day offices #
In another fractional office play, Justin Raymond and Flexday share that they’ve made it easier for teams to find and book day-offices (or what they call Flexday Suites).
The pay-now or lease checkout is interesting, but as mentioned elsewhere in this newsletter, don’t sleep on fractional offices.
👉 Read this.
📈 Coworking data.
🇺🇸 2024’s top coworking US metros (so far) #
CoworkingCafe’s most recent analysis delves into the top U.S. metros for coworking spaces. Researchers leveraged proprietary data from February 2024 and divided rankings into three population brackets: large, mid-sized and small metros.
In the large bracket, NY has the highest no. of coworking spaces in the US with 606, followed by LA Metroplitan Statistical Area (MSA) with 357, and Miami with 272. Looking at mid-sized metros Salt Lake City, UT led the pack with 38 spaces, followed by Bridgeport, CT with 35 spaces, and Albany, NY with 29. In the small metros category, Boulder, CO stands out with 25 coworking spaces. Asheville, NC and Trenton, NJ share the second spot with 13 spaces each.
Interestingly, looking at the state level, California is the top state for coworking spaces, with 864 locations, followed by Texas with 627, and New York with 532.
👉 Read this.
📖 What if there were no freelancers? #
Gareth Jones and the TownSq team have launched their latest What If whitepaper, focussing on an often under-appreciated group that play a massive role in the UK economy: freelancers and the self-employed.
Within the report they share some fascinating data, like how 1.86M freelancers in the UK, 15% of freelancers are working mums, the average age is 49 years, and collectively freelancers contribute approximately £140B to the UK economy EVERY YEAR.
👉 Read this.
📊 Where do you think most people first learned about their coworking space? #
OfficeRnD shared the results from the question regarding coworking space discovery. When asked where members first learned about the coworking or flex space they use, 44% shared that it was via word of mouth. The top spot was followed not-so-closely by internet search (34%) and social media (10%).
Another great reminder of how great experiences do not go unnoticed. And that you should also keep an eye on that local SEO.
👉 Read this.
🤝 Coworking market moves.
🇮🇪 Family-owned flex operator expands to run entire building #
Glandore expanded it’s second Belfast city center location, taking on another two floors of Arthur Place. This turns the whole building into 15k sqft of flex spaces for companies needing one to 200+ desks.
👉 Read this.
👏 New 175+ location partnership announced #
Industrious and Nuveen have announced a new ‘hybrid work solution’.
The details of the partnership from what I can see gives Nuveen’s tenants access to a Tenant Experience platform built (and managed) by Industrious, and the ability to make reservatuons for workspaces across 175+ properties.
ICYMI: Tie this in with Industrious’ Deskpass move, and you can see where they’re going with this.
👉 Read this.
🚀 Whitelabel operator launches their first German location #
Flexible workspace provider infinitSpace has launched its first German location, under its signature ‘beyond’ brand. The 4.5k sqm space that offers 700 desks is setup as a management agreement with investor Peter Korbačka.
👉 Read this.
🤩 As predicted, Workbox refreshes brand and then some #
Last week I teased that we’d probably see a refreshed Workbox brand landing soon. This week they introduced the new brand, but also tied in information about their reinforced manifesto and way of working.
This is a pro-move for any flex brands refreshing their brands. Remind existing and potential members, partners and team members about what makes you… well… you.
👉 Read this.
🇹🇭 The Flexi Group opens 5th flex space in Bangkok #
Chris Edwards shares that The Flexi Group’s Common Ground brand is expanding in Bangkok via a partnership agreement with Capstone Asset, and Central Pattana.
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Kurt Patrick joins Gio and Jamie on the Flex Uncensored podcast where he shares his journey from music major to leading sales strategies. They also dig into how the industry is tackling changes in demand, leveraging data and capital to transform spaces into places and his 4 predictions for the coming year.
Tyler Scriven, co-founder and CEO of Saltbox, joined Joe Londsdale to explore the future of logistics, e-commerce and co-warehousing on the American Optimist podcast.
Jason Vana chats with Cat Johnson about brand strategy for coworking spaces on the Coworking Out Loud podcast.
Kane Willmott joins Jesse Fragale on the Working Capital podcast to unpack the evolution of tenant experiences, strategies, secret sauces, coworking and future office predictions.
Danielle Noel joins Liz Elam on the GCUC podcast to uncover her journey from the student housing industry to co-founding Apt Cowork.
📆 Coworking events.
💬 Convo: Attracting perfect-fit members to your space #
March 29: How do you attract perfect-fit office members to your coworking space? Let’s chat about it! Join us for a free, informal, community conversation with fellow workspace operators and coworking pros around the world.
👉 Read this.
