The Post-Covid Future Of Office - Coworking Spaces

Last six months have fundamentally reshaped the existing way of life, globally. And this evolution will continue till we reach a new equilibrium. The seemingly rigid structures have become flexible to survive, and solutions offering malleability and adaptability are the need of the hour.  

One of the biggest global trend in the professional worksphere, that was a direct outcome of the pandemic, is the work-from-home culture. Employees safety (at office and in home-office transit), social distancing norms and the inability of the existing office infrastructures to allow adequate provisions for the above, and the necessity to continue business operations at the same time, resulted in the emergence of this common work-trend across the globe. 

On one hand, there is a section of the global workforce which might permanently continue work from home due to the nature of their roles or benefits/synergies that many organizations & professionals are discovering in this system. 

On the other hand, many organizations are still figuring out their ideal office vs home configuration - which teams/roles would be required to attend office physically and which ones can seamlessly continue their work from home - a decision which will primarily be driven by the industry-type, work- culture, stage of business, nature & criticality of work/role, among other factors. 

Due to the complex nature of the above question, it is quite a challenge for many business enterprises currently to assess their exact office space requirement in the medium - long term, making it difficult to commit to a long term lease of a dedicated office infrastructure, involving significant fixed cost commitments. Most of them are stuck in a wait-and-watch situation.

Here's where coworking spaces offer a perfect solution due to their following advantages:

1. Flexi costing due to Pay per Seat - Office infra costs are a significant cost head for any enterprise, and in an uncertain scenario, it can benefit greatly from flexi costing offered by coworking spaces - you pay only for what you use, on a per seat basis. 
2. Shorter lock-ins - No long term contractual commitment.
3. Distributed Office set-up - Organizations can offer their employees the advantage of workplace closer to their homes, by setting up satellite offices across various centers of a coworking space.
4. Professional safety management related to the pandemic - Most coworking spaces today are complying with employee safety rules, offering minimum distance between two seats, fully sanitized facility, contactless workspaces, heat monitors, etc.
5. Hassle free office administration - Uncertain times require organizations and teams to focus on the road ahead, so having the coworking space handle office administration needs is a great plus.
6. Flexible scale up and scale down of capacity - Depending on the changing team size and work from office/ home team split, organizations can adjust their space requirement seamlessly in a coworking set-up.

Infrastructure, technology, scale, location as well as design - Coworking spaces today have evolved in multiple dimensions to a point where they can serve as a workspace solution not only for startups, freelancers or independent professionals, but also for SME's & large enterprises, all of which are dealing with uncertain times today, and hence can greatly benefit from a flexi-office space solution. 

While WFH (work-from-home) has it's own pros, it also suffers from cons like distractions, family disturbance, connectivity issues, etc. Some organizations may therefore in future prefer plug-and-play distributed office set up to facilitate WTW (walk-to-work) for its employees, to provide professional environment and improve productivity, as well as to promote their well being and mental health as they have shorter commuting times and get to spend more time with their families. 

What seems sure to happen is that in future, business organizations will prefer a combination of work-from-office & work-from-home arrangement for their teams, and flexibility being at the core of coworking spaces, they are most aptly aligned for this hybrid arrangement.

Also, coworking spaces that are most agile and offer innovative solutions, will gain the most from this tectonic shift in work trends and emerge not only as a solution for business enterprises' office infrastructure dilemma in current times, but also as their workplace of the future.