Yes, Co-Working, or Open Workspace, facilities are popular today, but what will they look like in 3 years?
Will there be more or less common desk type facilities in 3 years or more office suites with sub-office space for businesses who prefer a more professional image but want the workspace facility business support?
2022 Could Be When It All Changes
This article… Can Co-Working Spaces Help Your Business Become More Productive? …reports on co-working space being preferred by the current Gen Z (18 to 24-year-olds). Well, what about the generation behind them? Will they be called Gen Alpha?
Maybe we need to take a look at what is going on in the High Schools or even Jr Highs of today to see what is coming next in the work environment before supporting there is a need to be even more open co-working space. What is going in the pre-college education system over the past five years will dictate what work environment will be wanted in three years.
Many middle and high schools specializing in College or Tech industry preparatory education are finding when they allow their students to go off into closed offices to work on a project the students perform better and get high grades than the students who prefer to stay in the large open area with other groups.
OR, just ask my 15-year-old grandson. His school is a private school that strictly prepares students for the college environment.
He is quick to say he prefers a private office environment than working out in the open where there are far too many distractions. He is about 5 years from hitting the business world, so look out C-Suites.
If he and his school’s directive is any indication on office space needs in the near future, it maybe time for the current open workspace facilities to divided up their current open space to into 250 to 350 sq foot closed in offices with a door.
A Step Further
What about office space ideas supported by my firm, SyncLab Media, where financial support is given to agencies who lease or build commercial buildings with enough space for all their vendors and support teams to have their own company suit inside the agencies building?
That is where we would like to see these Open Workspace ventures head instead of them supporting the Party co-working space environment.
It would be hard to support more co-working space. The action SoftBank took with WeWorks was an indication that their business model is not as widely accepted by the Gen Z business people as they thought it to be.
So why is there so much written on how Co-Working space is wanted over having a private office? Could it be that there is a lot of money invested in these open workspace concept that it is worth their further investment in hiring a social media firm to flood the market with articles stating unverifiable stats support co-working space?
Or, is the need for co-working space really out there but at a much lower level than is offered today.
Either way, the need for a private office is not going away. From all indications the need or demand for executive suites is probably going to increase. Whatever space someone can make a living in will be the space business people need and want.
Guess we will see in three years. Let me know how I can help.
