Week 51, 2023

A (dare I say it) quieter week across the coworking universe. We see why an anthropologist supports coworking for corps, what the top metrics are, ALL OUT member Xmas cards, childcare ALONGSIDE coworking, which cities are 2023's hottest flex markets and more.

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📰 Coworking news & views.

🙇‍♂️ Why an anthropologist (+ more) thinks corp workplace strategies need coworking #

Drew Jones, an anthropologist, culture consultant, author, speaker, and former business school professor, shares how and why coworking is evolving "from a social movement to a key post-pandemic workplace strategy".

It’s an interesting look at how the cost savings for businesses and benefits of choice and autonomy for employees are creating changes in strategy across organizations from Fujitsu and Dropbox.

👉 Read this.

😲 Did this space go ALL OUT with their Christmas card!? #

Alex Latham shares the immense effort that went into making The Ministry’s members’ Xmas cards this year, and the well deserved gratitude and smiles those cards created.

Bar. Raised.

👉 Read this.

🐣 What if affordable childcare was an office building amenity? #

Colleen Werner shares an interesting observation in a recent Forbes piece that questions why no major office landlords have begun offering affordable childcare as an amenity.

With childcare costs keeping many parents from going into the office, or even working at all, it’s an interesting thought to wonder what a network of buildings all offering coworking, healthcare, childcare and healthy food options could win in enterprise and SMB business.

👉 Read this.

🔛 One-way brand building (and selling) just doesn’t work anymore #

Cat Johnson shares that since we’re no longer living in the days of broadcasted polished ads, building a brand now takes a little more conversation and responsiveness.

With great examples from Adam Mosseri (from Instagram/Threads), Brené Brown, Alex Hormozi and Mel Robbins – it’s worth a quick read to make sure you’re not just blasting out what you offer, but instead are building brand buy-in.

👉 Read this.

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💻 Coworking technology.

📲 92% of tenants want to use same app to access building and workspace #

In VTS’ first chapter of their Global Workspace Report we learn a few things from the 400 business leader’s surveyed.

Whilst it’s interesting that only 1% have gone fully remote (and 62% are hybrid), and unaddressed maintenance issues most negatively impacts their relationship with the landlord – the data around tech is undeniable.

92% of tenants don’t want to switch between apps just to go from the lobby to their suite – and I’m 110% certain this rings true for members of your coworking spaces too. Business leaders don’t care about tech stacks, integrations or which company uses what app/platform – they just want to get in/out of their space effortlessly and focus on what matters to them.

👉 Read this.

📈 Coworking data.

📐 If sqft/person isn’t a top metric anymore, what is? #

Susan Wasmund shares the results of CBRE’s Global Workplace & Occupancy Report, highlighting 3 key take-aways.

For the first time in 20+ years of collecting occupancy data: they’re seeing more people than seats, cost per visit and other metrics more popular than sqft-based metrics, and there’s a shift away from private/individual space to more collaborative spaces.

👉 Read this.

😳 Is over 150M sqft of premium space left off Kastle’s index? #

Boston Properties’ CEO, Owen Thomas, recently shared that Kastle’s widely-cited "Back to Work Barometer" reports is missing data from some of NYC’s major office landlords. Also interesting to see that in NYC BXP’s daily utilization has grown to 94.8%, whereas Boston and SF were seeing 73.6% and 45.3% respectively.

The landlords who have opted out, who Gabe Marans notes as owning 150+ million square feet, include Vornado, Brookfield, SL Green, Tishman Speyer, Related Properties, Rudin Management and Silverstein Properties.

👉 Read this.

🔥 Which cities saw the most flex desks requests? #

Bobby Sodeiri shares data on which cities were in the top 10 in which The Instant Group saw the highest total number of flexible desks requested.

They were: 1. London, England 2. Mexico City, Mexico 3. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 4. Dubai, United Arab Emirates 5. Sydney, Australia 6. Chennai, India 7. New York City, New York, USA 8. Colombo, Sri Lanka 9. Singapore, Singapore 10. Berlin, Germany.

But the graph also shows the year-on-year change in demand across them, highlighting that whilst Mexico City, Riyadh, Colombo and Sydney saw over double-digit growth (163%, 48%, 23% and 19% respectively) – demand dipped in Singapore (-27%), Berlin (-16%) and -4% in NYC, London and Chennai.

👉 Read this.

🎙 Coworking conversations.

Erika Gifford and Sean Comeaux from Hatchworks coworking share their journey, community-building tips and why it’s important to make real connections in coworking on the Visionaires series of the Coworking Values Podcast

🎧 Listen to this.

Maria do Ceu Bastos, Co-Founder, and Manager of Nowhere Desk talks about integrating local culture and her vision for a unique coworking experience on the Coworking Values podcast.

🎧 Listen to this.

Tobi Skovron joins the Flex Uncensored podcast to discuss the importance of enhancing service offerings for large enterprise companies, the trend of traditional office space users seeking alternatives, and the need to maintain brand identity when acquiring city and regional brands.

🎧 Listen to this.

About This.

ThisWeekInCoworking.com is a weekly newsletter summarizing the coworking celebrations, stories, market moves, tech updates, and discussions you may have missed.

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🌍 infinitSpace is hiring an International Expansion Manager in London or Amsterdam

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🌍 infinitSpace is hiring a Brand & Marketing Director in London or Amsterdam

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🇺🇸 iPostal1 Workspace are hiring a Director of Business Development (US remote)

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🇺🇸 The Shop Workspace‘s parent company is hiring for an Events Manager in New York City, NY.

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🇺🇸 BLANKSPACES is hiring an Event Coordinator in Westside, LA

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🇺🇸 Lucid Private Offices are hiring a Community Coordinator in Scottsdale, Arizona.

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🇺🇸 Lucid Private Offices are hiring a Community Coordinator in Forth Worth, Texas.

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🇺🇸 Lucid Private Offices are hiring a Community Coordinator in Alpharetta, Georgia.

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Other Summaries.

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👉 Read this.

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Week 21, 2026

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👉 Read this.

Week 19, 2026

This week, we explore a look at how the UK landed in this business rates ‘mess’, a new data connector to query 50k businesses’ spend, what 81% of office landlords are planning re: flex, the power of a notepad, and more.

👉 Read this.