The impact of COVID-19 has accelerated a number of flexible workspace trends which have now expanded on a global scale.
Flexible offices will be more in demand as companies place greater emphasis on hygiene and health. This will help to ensure that employees have a good work-life balance.
In 2020, trends such as decentralization and enterprise outsourcing, a boom of wellness offerings and a revival in suburban workplace locations are all rapidly emerging. Additionally, the expectation for highly-amenitized assets is driving new office development, with coworking operators quickly adapting to meet these needs and provide best-in-class hospitality for members.
The 2021 Future of Work
To understand the major impacts that the coworking industry has faced this year as a consequence of COVID-19, we examined 7 of the key markets on Coworker — the leading platform for booking coworking spaces worldwide.
The report is now available. Report on 2020 Outlook for Key Markets, This report provides a comprehensive overview of the current trends in the sector, the implications for operators, and forecasts for the industry for 2021. We were able to identify the following trends in 2021 by analyzing the flexible office space markets in Dubai, Hong Kong, and London.
- Enterprises are looking for flexible workspaces that are low-risk and scalable. Coworking has seen a rise in demand from corporations and companies looking to take advantage of the benefits of flexible space as a service and office decentralization, as Sydney has shown.
- Landlords are now seeing new investment opportunities as corporates turn to coworking. Although landlords are known to have avoided coworking expansion in the past they are now able to capitalize on empty space in Hong Kong to meet growing demand from large companies and tech companies.
- The expansion of Grade A vacancies will continue and primarily residential markets will expand.
- Occupancy rates will gradually rise after 2020’s drop. Despite the drop in demand in April, occupancy rates have held steady for many key markets like London. As remote workers increase in demand, this will result in greater resilience.
- To meet the demands of professionals who want safe and healthy work environments, operators will prioritize wellness offerings. Coworking spaces in Lisbon are proving that being able to focus on wellness and work-life balance is a key differentiation as big-city living becomes less attractive.
- Open office layouts will be more popular. As operators modernize their workplaces, they will prioritize design elements like adequate spacing and touch-free fixtures. They will also offer private, enclosed offices that comply with the new safety regulations in densely populated areas like NYC.
- Coworking will be a growing trend for hospitality brands to create new partnerships and coworking spaces. To offer more flexible work options, leading hotel chains such as Rotana hotels in Dubai will partner with coworking providers.
This post was written by Tara Kintz. Tara is a director at https://www.signatureworkspace.com. Signature Workspace, owned and operated by Cantor Fund Management, offers services and amenities such as private offices, flex space, co-working space, virtual offices, meeting/conference rooms, and more.
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