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Coworking news & views.
😜 It doesn’t matter what happens with ‘them’. #
Lisa Skye and Dave Cairns share anecdotes and assessments on how flex space is the future of work, regardless of what happens with WeWork.
Love seeing growing requests at Primary, and Dave’s note that as all employees become consumers of space – brand, culture and hospitality matter. A lot. Lucky all skillsets coworking brands have been honing for almost a decade. Right?
👉 Read this.
🤔 Is hybrid a cop-out? #
David Heinemeier Hansson notes why firms need to pick between office or fully remote, and not cop-out with a hybrid strategy, noting that not picking just combines the worst bits of both office and remote work.
The 1,300+ comments on the post are worth checking out, and a good idea to think about if firms HAD to pick, what risks or opportunities would that create for coworking in your city?
👉 Read this.
✨ Would Taylor Swift make a great coworking space operator? #
Self-confessed "late-blooming Swiftie" Jen Luby shares 4 lessons, we as community leaders, can learn from the global pop superstar. From cultivating ownership and belonging, to embracing individuality, or mastering the art of storytelling and showing humanity – I’d have to agree, Taylor is a community mastermind.
👉 Read this.
🏨 Making the case for dynamic pricing in coworking #
Christmas Marquez-Correa shares why coworking spaces should implement a dynamic pricing strategy (like hotels do) and how flexspace can help operators manage it.
Given what I’m seeing from platforms across the stack (eg Nexudus enabling dynamic pricing in w20/22), more and more individual tech companies are making it easier for operators to leverage fluctuating pricing, and profit margins
👉 Read this.
🚨 Some things landlords should note about management agreements #
Will Kinnear scrutinizes flex space management agreements (for landlords) in Property Week, noting that "they can have advantages over leasing space to an operator, but they are not a lease".
I’m glad more and more content and events are being made to help landlords and operators craft better and more balanced management agreements, maybe we may even get to the market maturity of there being an open standard template or something similar.
👉 Read this.
🧐 Google address management thread for coworking space owners #
Coworking space owners often find navigating the address dilemma to safeguard their Google Business Profiles tricky. In this thread by Amy Toman, a few operators chime in with how they protect their main listing from being ‘taken over’ by member business’ profiles.
ICYMI: I summarized the 2021 change in GBP guidelines for coworking spaces here.
👉 Read this.
✌️ 22 ways to build community in your space #
Cat Johnson shares a list of 22 ways for coworking spaces to build community. From keeping it real, to playing together, there are tips and lessons from a bunch of spaces Cat’s worked with, connected with, been a member of or brings together in The Lab.
👉 Read this.
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💻 Coworking technology.
😲 Over 40k bookings in one month?! #
Marius Jarzyna shares that DeskNow have gone from ~1k bookings per month last year, to over 40,000 bookings in May 2023.
I understand this is a combination of both internal space being booked by employees at their employers’ locations and bookings of third party spaces whilst traveling via their connected marketplace.
👉 Read this.
📱 Canadian operator partners to offer 3rd party space access #
Justin Raymond and Kane Willmott share how/why iQ Offices and flexday are working together to help members of the former access 3rd party spaces through the latter.
From what I hear/see, this seems to be a similar deal to what WeWork and Upflex announced in w6/22. Excited to see this work in Canada, and beyond.
👉 Read this.
Coworking data.
🇮🇳 More numbers prove India’s flex market is huge #
Workthere India shares more numbers proving that India could be THE hottest flex market in the world.
I enjoy the deep look into how flex space is leveraged differently from other markets, for example with ‘Global Capability Centers’ from Microsoft and Google using over 1M sqft of managed workspaces. Landlord’s also approach flex adoption differently, opting to partner up with a preferred operator across their portfolio, or by investing in/acquiring experienced operators. Another interesting note is how ping-pong tables, which are barely used amenities in other regions, are the "heart of every space".
👉 Read this.
🇹🇷 Flex space supply in Turkey sees 25% growth #
Coworking Europe shares some numbers fro CBRE Turkey, which show a 25% year-on-year growth in the number of flex space offerings. The largest national operators are eOfis (57 locations), Regus (23 locations) and then Workinton, Kolektif House and Plaza Cubes (18, 14 and 13 locations respectively).
👉 Read this.
😲 Data from 14,000 surveys office workers on remote work #
Janet Pogue McLaurin shares that Gensler have just published their new research after surveying 14k office workers in 9 countries and across 10 industries.
They researched how and where people were working, why people were going to the office, what’s working/not, and what’s missing.
👉 Read this.
Coworking market moves.
💳 Amex offers (another) coworking trial perk #
Jamie Hodari shares that American Express is offering a free month of Industrious’ Global Access Membership to their cardholders.
I’d love to see how this plays out, given that in 2021 we saw a similar perk and saw coworking space added to their travel portal. Someone’s going to get card benefits and coworking right, so team Industrious, you know where to find me to share the deets.
👉 Read this.
🎨 Global brand refreshes their brand. #
In an interesting turn, WeWork announced a ‘brand evolution’. In short, it featured a new secondary color scheme, imagery style and a shift in typeface of their logotype and corporate font.
As someone who’s spent some (a little too much) time working with ad/branding agencies, I do like the story behind the refreshed positioning (see here), but do wonder about its impact in the face of We’s market cap and exec challenges.
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Michael Everts and Jamie Russo discuss building the foundation of a coworking business plan on the Flex Academy series.
Martin Taylor-Müller chats with Christoph Fahle about seeking out a solution that could simplify the administration of a global coworking solution, while also accommodating diverse work preferences and locations for his teams.
Amy Toman sheds light on some crucial points that every coworking space owner needs to be aware of concerning Google Business Profiles (GBP) in a discussion with Christy Alexander on the Just Off Glen podcast.
Note: One standout point is the strict prohibition of offering any form of gift, incentive, or reimbursement in exchange for a Google Review. We know it’s tempting to sweeten the deal by offering free drop-in passes or discounts on meeting room bookings for reviews, but beware… if reported, just once, your precious GBP listing could be lost forever.
Brian Watson chats with Jamie Russo about running 7 Alt Space locations and supporting hundreds of customers with no employees (thanks to automation) on the Everything Coworking podcast.