Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Tag: coworking

IWG Offers Cyclists Free Access to Workplace Locations for Bike to Work Week

To celebrate National Bike to Work Week and the sustainability benefits of hybrid working, IWG, plc — the leading provider of flexible workspace, both in the US and globally — has announced it will provide free access to its business lounge facilities for all office workers in the metro areas of seven U.S. locations. The participating markets include Chicago, Portland, Seattle, Washington, D.C. San Francisco, San Jose, and Denver. The offer is redeemable for any two days between May 15-19, 2023.

The concept of 15-minute city living — where people live and work locally, within 15 minutes of their home, has been rapidly growing in popularity since the pandemic. There is a growing demand for living more localized and enriched lives with more time spent with friends and family and less time commuting. This philosophy goes hand in hand with sustainable, active transportation options. For hybrid workers who have the option to work at an office closer to their home, biking to work is a healthier, more sustainable option than driving a car or traveling extended distances on public transport.

READ: How To Balance Supporting Your Remote Workers and In-office Employees

“Sustainability is top of mind for many companies around the world — and their employees are looking for ways to decrease their carbon footprint,” said Mark Dixon, CEO and Founder of IWG. “During Bike to Work Week, we are promoting sustainable transportation and access to office spaces that are closer to home – both of which are growing trends and interests of our customers. The shift to the hybrid work model is bolstered by the rising popularity of the concept of the 15-minute city, where people live and work within 15 minutes of their home.”

To participate, all workers need to do is find the nearest location is download the IWG or Regus apps. When they arrive at their center of choice, they will show a ​​photo of their bike parked with that day’s timestamp or a receipt from a bike-sharing company to the IWG team and they will be provided access to the business lounge or co-working space. All IWG locations have fully furnished spaces, reliable high-speed Wi-Fi connection, 24/7 customer service and dedicated meeting room spaces. On the app, users can take advantage of a range of professional products and services from booking meeting rooms to printing collateral to utilizing facilities including private offices, meeting rooms, co-working and creative spaces.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, transportation emissions comprise 27% of carbon emissions in the United States. Switching to a sustainable form of transportation like biking or walking is one of the most effective ways that a person can reduce their everyday carbon emissions, with biking having about a 30th of the carbon impact of driving a car.  Additionally, recent research from IWG and Arup shows that working in the hybrid model can reduce emissions associated with work by up to 90% in some U.S. cities. The report found that workers who travel to a local workspace more than half of the time have much lower carbon impacts than people working with a traditional five-day commute.

Cyclists can take note of bike safety details in each respective market, including:

IWG provides on-demand services to its members, including access to 3,500 locations around the world, meeting rooms whenever they are needed, IT support, networking, and business and social events and much more.

To download the app, please visit here.

 

About IWG PLC  

IWG is leading the workspace revolution. Our companies help millions of people and their businesses to work more productively. We do so by providing a choice of professional, inspiring and collaborative workspaces, communities and services. 

Digitalization and new technologies are transforming the world of work. People want the personal productivity benefits of living and working how and where they want. Businesses want the financial and strategic benefits. Our customers are start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large multinationals. With unique business goals, people and aspirations. They want workspaces and communities to match their needs. They want choice. 

Through our companies we provide that choice, and serve the whole world of work: Regus, Spaces, No18, Basepoint, Open Office and Signature. We create personal, financial, and strategic value for businesses of every size. From some of the most exciting companies and well-known organizations on the planet, to individuals and the next generation of industry leaders. All of them harness the power of flexible working to increase their productivity, efficiency, agility, and market proximity. Join us at www.iwgplc.com

4 big benefits to sharing office space

Pexels Rfstudio 3810756

Shared office space can be a big help to your business for many reasons. As the move to remote work impacts businesses of all kinds, you will find that shared or coworking spaces are more and more important to the success of many businesses. There are many benefits to shared working space and not all of them are related to reduced costs. 

If you have a business that you have been considering moving into a smaller office space, you should think about a shared office space as a solution instead. There are many great things to say about this kind of shared office space arrangement and most companies are finding that this kind of solution makes more sense than ever before. 

If you are ready to learn more about the benefits of sharing office space, you need to read on! 

Big Benefits to Sharing Office Space 

1. Reduced Costs 

Gone are the days of buying your office building and then filling it with your business assets and employees. Sharing office space with other industries that have similar workspace needs can be a big benefit to your overhead. This is particularly helpful for small companies who can always use some extra cash flow to help them to weather economic slumps and the changing nature of work. 

2. Collaboration 

When you work in a shared office space with another company that has similar needs or works in a similar kind of industry, there are almost limitless possibilities for collaborative efforts. Your companies can probably find enough in common to work on shared jobs and to share machines and more. Many companies have similar or related interests or industry spaces that are sharing office space these days just to get the benefit of increased collaboration. 

Pexels Alena Darmel 7710111

3. Flexible Work Hours 

When you do not own the entire office building, you are likely to have access to a building management team who handles the care of the space as well as solutions related to security and other essentials. This means that you will be able to pop in and out of your shared workspace with ease all week long.  

This option can also make it easy to offer hotel-style working spaces for your employees. Most of these kinds of workspaces are secured. They use automated badge access and do not require reception or some other form of regular business hours support like traditional office spaces. 

4. Freedom from the Cubicle and Increased Creativity 

Cubicles are the bane of all kinds of different industries. There is not much that is inspiring about heading to work to sit in a small space and answer phones or type on your laptop all day. Shared workspaces are often designed to offer common seating that is more comfortable and social than traditional cubicle work. Most of these office spaces also have nice kitchen spaces and conference rooms that are much more inviting and inspiring than cubicle spaces. 

Most people will feel much more inspired when they come to work in a location that is light, open, airy, and full of collaborative work that is being done. This is one of the key benefits of having this kind of workspace at your disposal and most of these locations are much more pleasant for customers as well.  

Being able to interface with others while you work naturally is a huge benefit of shared office space. Tech companies have known about these benefits to creativity for years. It is only just now that other industries are taking advantage of the benefits of these kinds of shared working spaces. 

Shared Workspaces Are Beneficial in Many Ways 

Pexels Olia Danilevich 5313161 1

If you have been considering a shared workspace arrangement, you should be clear by now that there are many benefits to this kind of office space. From increased creativity to increased collaboration in inspiring workspaces, there are many great things to say about shared office spaces. Saving money is one of the key benefits of this kind of switch for your office space, but you will love all the other great benefits as well. 

Shared workspaces are the future and for good reason. Adopting this kind of office space arrangement for your business can make everything about your daily operations much more enjoyable and much more cost-effective.  

Jordan Deifik and Jay Kamlet are Colorado-based commercial real estate professionals. They co-own LawBank, the largest and oldest shared office space for lawyers in the Mountain West. LawBank has multiple locations in the Denver metro area and Downtown Las Vegas and offers flexible leasing options to attorneys throughout the region. LawBank also assists larger law firms sublet their vacant office space with small law firm tenants. Learn more about LawBank’s amenities, and the Las Vegas and Denver locations.

Why I choose coworking to grow my business

For nearly 25 years, I’ve been the owner of a Denver-based PR firm. We are a boutique agency that uses a hybrid model. That means we have an office like a traditional agency, but my team is a talented group of independent contractors who work virtually out of their own home offices.

For many years I leased an office in Larimer Square. It was in a beautiful historic building in an ideal downtown location and my dogs loved it, but it presented some challenges. Parking was always a problem for clients and we had limited options for team and client meetings, including new business pitches and media training.

I was spending too much time trying to solve those challenges, so when my lease was up for renewal, I decided to explore other options. After touring what seemed like every coworking space in Denver, I relocated to Firmspace in January 2020. The timing was fortuitous. A few months later Larimer Square was boarded up and LoDo was a ghost town.

The Right Time for a Smaller Footprint

When I started looking at different office options as the end of my lease approached, I quickly saw that a coworking space could provide me with a clean look, managed services, and other advantages I would’ve had to hire staff to maintain on my own. I knew I was ready to move to a smaller space where I’d have less overhead and maintenance on my plate.

My old office was just around the corner, so I was already familiar with Firmspace Denver’s building. When I took a tour, my first impression delivered exactly what I was looking for: a professional work space with really nice conference rooms, the privacy I need, and a parking garage in the building. I chose a private office that includes access to meeting rooms and amenities.

Being a member of coworking space also gives me the flexibility to add additional offices for my team if I need them without committing to a larger office and a longer lease. It’s an advantage that makes professional coworking a good choice as part of a sustainable business plan.

A Headquarters Away from Home

My team is very comfortable working remotely, so we were well prepared to work from home when things started shutting down during the pandemic. But we still like having a home base where we can gather to brainstorm, plan, or meet with clients.

Now I spend my time between my home office and downtown. If we’re working on an important Zoom meeting, a crisis communications training, or helping a client prepare for a media interview, I can avoid the distractions of home if I need to. Firmspace offers the security, privacy, and technology that we can’t always get in a home office.

Professional Workspace that Promotes Professional Culture

Some people choose a cowork space for networking opportunities. Some just want to hang out on a couch all day and drink free beer. I was looking for something different. Firmspace feels professional, like a coworking space for grown-ups. It’s an environment where you can easily focus and get work done.

I found an impressive space that delivers the experience I know my clients and team will appreciate when we can finally meet in person again. The conference rooms are well-appointed and equipped with all the video conferencing technology we need, and if we run into technical difficulties, there’s a very capable staff on hand to troubleshoot.

Coworking ls the Future of Work

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we don’t really need a traditional office anymore and all the overhead that comes with it. The office of the future might well be a hybrid model like the one Pushkin PR has used for decades.

I loved my Larimer Square office, but a coworking space offers more flexibility, less overhead, nicer amenities, and fewer headaches. And I still have a great downtown location. It turned out to be the ideal solution during the pandemic, and I expect it will continue to feel that way after things open up again. To me, it feels like the future of work.

Jon Pushkin Jon Pushkin, APR, is the Founder and President of Pushkin PR, a results-driven Denver public relations firm specializing in crisis communications, brand strategy, and digital strategy.

Here’s how coworking will thrive in Colorado

It’s no secret that the modern concept of ‘coworking’ has reached an inflection point.

While owners and operators of traditionally dense office space begin to feel the squeeze as tenants reevaluate their reentry plans, coworking firms are in a unique position to capitalize on a forthcoming high-rise exodus.

As the owner of three Denver area shared workspaces, I’ve been encouraged by the inbound momentum that our locations have received. In fact, leasing traffic is up 20% year-over-year when comparing inquiries from June 2020 to June 2019. At Shift Littleton alone, we have leased 20% of our available office space in the last 10 days.

What’s more, according to a new report published in collaboration between Coworking Insights and Coworker, more than 70% of workers that officed out of a shared workspace prior to COVID-19 plan to return. Plus, nearly 55% of remote workers surveyed said they’d consider joining a coworking space after COVID-19 – even though they didn’t use one before.

This positive news certainly doesn’t mean that there aren’t challenges ahead. Although acquisitions and category consolidation will dominate industry headlines for months to come, agile, well-capitalized firms have more reason than ever to be optimistic about the future of coworking in Colorado.

Here’s why.

Proximity to Home

According to industry data, nearly 90% of all coworking space is located in dense, urban environments. Although we might not see a mass coworking transition from our cities and urban corridors just yet, firms that offer suburban shared workspace environments can provide an increasingly attractive and viable alternative to traditional urban coworking. Without sacrificing the walkability and central location that so many coworkers enjoy, suburban coworking can take advantage of this demographic shift by keeping these professionals closer to home.

Working from home has had its benefits, chief among them the non-existent commute. We anticipate that as people resume their normal routine, including going to the office, a space closer to home will become preferable to the traffic laden pre-COVID-19 routine. In fact, according to a recent office trends report published by CBRE Hana, 56% of people surveyed want increased flexibility between an office, a remote location or have to the option to exclusively work remotely. This data not only validates the importance of suburban coworking facilities, but also real estate’s No. 1 rule: location, location, location.

What Denver submarkets offer is the opportunity to get all the benefits of the office, but closer to home. Rather than waiting to take an elevator seven stories, members can choose to walk the one or two flights of stairs. This also means shorter commute times to the office and increased flexibility to run home to let the dog out, pick up the kids or grab lunch.

In addition, increasingly appealing locales like Littleton, Cherry Creek and Glendale provide a similar amenity suite – think locally-owned restaurants, yoga studios and gyms, dry cleaners and specialty retailers – to offices located within the Central Business District.

Hospitality-Driven Coworking

While there were perks, working from home also came with a handful of daily (much less glamorous) chores. In many cases, people have swapped their business lunches with tasks like laundry, household cleaning and keeping their children occupied throughout out the day.

As employees return to the workplace, it’s likely they’ll seek out a space that can provide a highly personalized – and pampered – experience as opposed to the self-service model typical of today’s work-from-home and coworking environments. This means it’s more important than ever that coworking operators put intention behind every detail and authenticity into every interaction.

Higher Safety Standards

Even with social distancing in place, office environments within traditional high-rise properties may have a harder time addressing building mechanics to keep employees feeling safe and supported.

In this case, coworking spaces, especially those that occupy retail storefront-style real estate are at a significant advantage. With dedicated exits and entrances, coworking staff can disinfect high-touch surfaces like doorknobs and railings with greater frequency.

Smaller footprints – an office trend that will become more prominent in the wake of COVID-19 – also provide an opportunity to make more immediate and lasting changes. Whereas it might take property management teams weeks to address building-wide safety changes, a smaller footprint makes it easier to tackle challenges in real-time.

State-of-the-art air filtration and UV disinfectant systems design to treat viruses, bacteria, airborne mold and pollution, in many cases, can be installed in a matter of days.

Increased Flexibility

At first, coworking appealed to young, upstart freelancers and independent contractors, however shared workspaces have evolved to play an important role for mid-career professionals. In many cases, these individuals are running their own small businesses or are working as a satellite team member of a large corporation.

While these companies have undoubtedly developed strategic one-, two- or five-year growth plans, the crystal ball can become somewhat hazy after that. For many business leaders currently occupying traditional office space, this should beg the question: why I am signing a 7-year lease?

Instead, shared workspace membership agreements typically range in length from 1-2 years, allowing firms the flexibility to scale their workspace needs up or down based on current needs and business projections.

The high degree of flexibility coworking environments offer will only become more important as we grapple with the impacts of the pandemic. Office space tends to be one of the largest expenses for a business, outside of headcount. Having the flexibility to scale up or down as needed will be a determining factor in the office market for companies of all sizes moving forward.

By leveraging a focus on service, safety and flexibility coworking can be well-positioned to usher in this next generation of this industry.