Over 20 the the world’s largest coworking operators have come together to form the Workplace Operator Readiness Council to create guidelines they will be taking to keep their workspaces safer. Operators involved include Industrious, Convene, JustCo, IWG and several more.
Convene is partnering with Eden Health to help employers have a better understanding of insurance and is working to create a screening system that allows for self-administering temperature checks.
Additionally, some operators are considering barring access to meeting spaces and shared areas unless they have a reservation.
“You can compete on other things,” said Jamie Hodari, CEO of Industrious. “But, you don’t want to get sharp-elbowed about health and safety.”
Many coworking spaces are built for high density, so navigating how to welcome members back into the office may be tricky.
Hodari added that he was surprised with how receptive coworking senior executives were to working with one another. Still, the industry will still be highly competitive in other aspects.
“When clients tell us they need certain things, we’re not sharing that broadly,” said Andrew Kupiec, chief executive of CBRE’s coworking brand Hana. “It might be how they want to have density. It might be what kind of furniture they’re asking for or even how they’re going to have their teams rotate in and out for alternative work schedules.”