Big Corpo Trend: Why Are They Moving to Coworking Spaces?

Small businesses, freelancers, and startups were the original occupants of coworking spaces. But the nature of business is evolving. And large multinational organizations are increasingly becoming a facet of coworking spaces. The atmosphere of these spaces somehow boosts productivity and triggers innovations. So, it's little wonder there's been a rise in coworking spaces' use by multinational corporations.

In this article, you'll understand better why big corporations are migrating to coworking spaces. And you'll further gain insight on how to improve the state of your coworking spaces to fit this new demand.

 

Why Established Companies are Switching to Coworking Spaces

Companies are starting to see the value in coworking spaces. These spaces provide several amenities that businesses would have incurred significant expenses acquiring. For example, some provide office phone systems for small businesses.

Other factors propelling this massive shift toward flexible workplaces include the following:

 

1. CRE Market Timing

Big businesses can usually anticipate shifts in the commercial real estate market (CRE). And they do this with remarkable accuracy. Forward-thinking businesses know signing a typical longer-term arrangement at the local market's peak is not an optimized financial decision. To avoid such, they scout for well-designed coworking spaces allowing them to enter or stay in the market until rental prices settle.

 

2. Accounting & Valuation Benefits

Major shifts have occurred in lease accounting practices in recent decades. Leases of over one year are usually recorded as liabilities on the financial statements of public companies. By 2020, it became mandatory for large private enterprises to do the same.

Therefore, companies sign leases for shorter than a year with coworking spaces and avoid the negative effect on their balance sheet. And this move may make their values more enticing to potential investors.

 

3. Business Nature

Many sectors of today's economy are experiencing rapid evolution. As such, businesses must evolve in light of this ever-changing landscape in both the marketplace and consumer expectations.

For instance, let's assume a business wishes to enter a new market and introduce a new product or project. Alongside this, such a company may also look to expand its sales team to cover that market. The execution of these activities will be augmented by the speed and agility necessitated by coworking spaces.

A flexible space alternative is preferable to the bureaucracies accompanying a typical office space agreement. Also, these spaces are so modernized that they introduce businesses to amenities they probably never knew they could engage. For example, few knew about IP phone meaning until its adoption for use in coworking spaces.

 

4. Talent Recruitment & Retention

It's becoming increasingly difficult to get skilled workers willing to shelve their current life to relocate for a new job. Therefore, large firms often take advantage of coworking spaces when recruiting and retaining top personnel in niche fields like custom enterprise software development, advertising, or graphic design.

In other words, coworking gives businesses the wiggle room they need to accommodate specific essential personnel. And this approach proves better than expecting them to rearrange their lives to work for the company.

 

5. Geography & Footprint

Top corporations possess significant regional, national, and global footprints. As such, the need for physical expansion is usually a priority. The advent of coworking spaces helps solve the problem of getting physical structures. In fact, it helps ease their financial burden.

For example, businesses with their headquarters in the USA but a rapidly expanding clientele in Canada can easily build a location in the country by renting a coworking space. Customer service has become so crucial in the contemporary marketplace. Therefore, an organization can still quickly switch to a dynamic customer bubble to fulfill expectations effectively.

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Benefits of Coworking Space for Big Corpos

Large companies have begun to see the value shared office spaces offer. Therefore this trend will continue to expand. The following are arguments for why these big corporations are adopting coworking spaces:

 

1. Networking Potentials

Coworking spaces allow their members to meet and interact with new people daily. This move fosters the growth of a cohesive and supportive coworking community. This can enable workers to learn things that they might otherwise have had to rely on google searches or wikipedia for, or even require training courses.

For example, imagine an intern software developer wanting to learn how Hadoop environment works. Signing up at a coworking space means they can mingle with veteran developers who can teach them for free and even recommend them for better opportunities.

As you can see, networking is beneficial. The success of new businesses and startups depends on their ability to quickly and effectively connect with other promising professionals.

Nothing is more critical for businesses in today's culture than networking or having a solid business network. Regardless of a person's field, whether they work for a large corporation or as a freelancer from home, making connections is essential to building and expanding a business.

 

2. Professional Address

Sharing an office with other professionals and having access to meeting and conference rooms are two of the main benefits of coworking spaces. Another one is the professional address. For the benefit of their members, coworking spaces are typically located in prime areas. You'll find them in bustling downtowns, close to financial districts and prime business locations.

It’s not just about the address. The environment also has an important role to play. Doing all your work in a cyber cafe or the living room isn't the best way for big corp workers to present themselves to potential clients.

On the other hand, a coworking space not only provides a professional area that improves the average professional’s overall workplace visibility. But it also has dedicated conference rooms, cafeterias, and lounges to help users work more effectively.

 

3. Financial Maximization

Coworking space managers provide daily, weekly, and monthly plans to remote workers from various organizations. This flexible payment plan is the first step in helping large corporations save money otherwise spent on overhead for an office. In other words, multiple company types can share and find fulfillment in these high-quality workspaces. This way, all users indirectly share the rental charges and running costs.

 

4. Collaboration Opportunities

This advantage is strongly connected to the possibility of making new connections. Coworking spaces give professionals more room to take risks and seize opportunities with others. Any conversation can happen in flexible, open coworking workspaces. And for some people, it can be life or career-transforming. Coworking spaces encourage employees to work close to one another, facilitating faster communication and cooperation.

The synergy of the coworking community's members makes it ideal for teamwork. For example, software developers from different companies sharing the same coworking space can connect to carry out manual testing concepts on new software.

 

5. Coworking Spaces Provide Inspiration

Coworking isn't for pessimists who doubt the sincerity of strangers and dismiss any sign of development as a fluke. Coworking caters to those with a long-term perspective who are confident of the presence of better opportunities than just being remote workers.

Coworking spaces afford users a supportive environment that can even boost mental health. By its very nature, a coworking space brings professionals in contact with people in similar working circumstances. It can be motivating to see the achievements of others working in the same conditions. Plus, on the days when big corp employees are less motivated to work, the camaraderie and inevitable banter in coworking spaces can be a huge boost.

 

6. Amenities

Big corporations can leverage a coworking space's diverse amenities. It’s even better when you realize these amenities are rarely present with a traditional lease. For example, it’s the coworking space’s burden to provide access to fast internet for voice over internet protocol and other workplace communications.

Many coworking spaces also outfit their facilities with advanced tech for conferences, presentations, and other important meetings typical of big corporations. Big corporations can rest knowing a coworkspace will provide access to tech that helps their employees stay competitive.

It also goes beyond tech and the latest workplace gadgets. Flexible coworking space providers also deliver amenities to improve the average worker’s experience. For instance, furnished interactive spaces, break rooms, and kitchen facilities are becoming a staple of today’s workspaces.

 

Adapt Your Coworking Space to Meet Big Corpo Demand

Working remotely is moot if it requires workers to spend 40 minutes in rush hour traffic from the suburbs to the city core. Instead, a coworking space should be somewhere workers can access as pedestrians. Or at most on a bike from their residence,

Market demand for nearby flex office space options like cafés and coworking spaces will undoubtedly expand. The information above provides insights into what big corpos expect from their coworking spaces and how you can meet that demand. Good luck!

The article was written by Richard Conn. Richard is the Senior Director for Demand Generation at 8x8, the best cloud phone services platform with integrated contact center, voice, video, and chat functionality. Richard is an analytical & results-driven digital marketing leader with a track record of achieving major ROI improvements in fast-paced, competitive B2B environments. Richard Conn has also written for other domains such as Kustomer and Agility CMS. Check out his LinkedIn.