Over the last three months, Australia’s typically bustling central business districts have been quiet as people stayed at home during the coronavirus crisis.
Now, with lockdown restrictions easing, businesses are reopening and companies are gradually bringing workers back to the office.
Coworking in Australia is undergoing its own transition. While many coworking members question the safety of returning to shared workspaces, others are eager to get back to their much-missed coworking communities and resume some sort of normalcy.
With these different factors pulling coworking spaces in two different directions, will Australia’s coworking industry boom, or bust?
Working from home is convenient and cuts costs. But workers have learned that human connections are irreplaceable, and the absence of community has been palpable.
While workspaces continue to face short-term challenges, the future looks positive. Amidst the world’s biggest work-from-home experiment, the successful elements that underpin the coworking model – affordable rates, short-term leases, attractive amenities, and an in-built culture of collaboration – are exactly what organisations need during a global pandemic.