Daily Digest News – August 7, 2020

Published on August 7, 2020 - By Aayat Ali

Hand selected flexible workspace news from the most reliable sources to keep you ahead of the pack. We find all the latest news, so you don’t have to. Morning and afternoon updates. Stay in the know.

Here’s what you need to know today:

• Facebook Extends Remote Working Until Summer 2021
• Korea’s Flexible Office Market Is Flourishing
• Ucommune Formally Walks Away From IPO

Facebook Extends Remote Working Until Summer 2021

Facebook has announced that it will extend its remote work policy until the middle of next year, following Google’s similar announcement.

“Based on guidance from health and government experts, as well as decisions drawn from our internal discussions about these matters, we are allowing employees to continue voluntarily working from home until July 2021,” a spokeswoman said.

In addition to this announcement, the social media company revealed it would provide employees with $1,000 to use towards home office needs.

Despite Google and Facebook making the transition to a more distributed workforce, both have continued to build out their physical workplaces. For instance, Facebook signed a lease to add 730,000 square feet to its already 2.2 million square feet of office space in New York City earlier this year.

Some companies have already prepared a more long-term plan, such as Twitter which announced that workers could work from home indefinitely back in May.

Korea’s Flexible Office Market Is Flourishing

CBRE’s new research titled “Korea’s The Future Is Flexible: The Evolution of Work and The Office in Korea” has identified how the pandemic has shaped the workspace industry.

The findings reveal that there is an increase in demand for flexible workspaces, remote working and activity-based working environments. However, CBRE adds that in order for flexible offices to be successful moving forward, they will need to reconfigure their layouts to accommodate physical distancing and sanitation protocols.

“In the future, companies will need to rethink the balance between office work and remote work considering what the office does for efficiency as well as take into account the recent trend of using the office as a means of corporate branding and collaboration,” said Don Lim, Managing Director of CBRE.

According to an interview conducted with four large coworking firms by CBRE Research, the companies saw that the pandemic actually had little impact on business. In fact, the firm revealed that H1 2020 saw an increase in leasing and membership inquiries looking for short-term workspaces as a result of the pandemic.

“As more companies review the efficiency of space with implementation of remote work, it will lead to changes in the size, role and features of the office,” said Claire Choi, Head of Research at CBRE Korea.

Ucommune Formally Walks Away From IPO

Beijing-based coworking operator Ucommune has revealed it will walk away from its planned initial public offering from the New York Stock Exchange.

The IPO withdrawal, which was filed last December, came after the company entered a merger agreement with New York-based firm Orisun Acquisition Corp. in July.

“In light of the current capital markets condition, the company is considering other alternatives and has determined not to proceed at this time with the offering and sale of the securities proposed to be covered by the Registration Statement,” Ucommune said in its request submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The newly-merged company would have a valuation of around $769 million and is expected to trade on NASDAQ by the third quarter of 2020.