The idea of smaller, flexible offices is no longer reserved for the entrepreneurial and startup worlds. Now, closer communities and networking opportunities are seemingly more important than the stability that comes with a long-term lease of a traditional office.
Property agency Knight Frank surveyed 120 global companies and the vast majority said they were seeking to make use of outsourced offices. Despite this, only about 5% of companies currently use the coworking format, but the shift is on the uprise mostly due to the vast benefits of coworking.
16% of the companies said that half of their offices could very well be in more flexible real estate in the next three years, citing flexibility, a sense of community, and overall better quality of wellbeing as benefits. To put in perspective, the companies questioned currently employ well over 3 million people and occupy about 230 million square feet of office space around the world.
“The recent boom in co-working is indicative of a structural change within commercial real estate whereby companies desire space that is flexible, highly serviced and aligned within the realities of doing business in an age of disruption,” said William Beardmore-Gray, Knight Frank’s global head of occupier services.
