Coworking spaces have been left largely vacant in the midst of the pandemic, forcing operators to rethink their strategies and pivot away from the traditional, close-knit atmosphere of these shared workspaces.
For instance, Granite City Coworking Folsom, California has started offering more flexible options, such as pausing memberships at no extra cost and allowing members to skip payments.
According to Molly Weber, cofounder and chief experience officer at Sacramento-based coworking firm The Urban Hive, the company has to make major adjustments to continue supporting members throughout these unprecedented times.
“When we reopened in June, we put a number of safety measures in place, including a complete redesign of our spaces and reducing occupancy to one for every 500 square feet, ensuring that nobody ever needs to be less than 10 feet away from their coworker,” said Weber. “Thankfully, our spaces are wide open and quite conducive to physical distancing. We have also implemented “sanctuary spaces” that are clean, private rooms or offices that our members can book out for the day, week or month.”
Weber added that physical workspaces are needed for many workers who are struggling with isolation and are in need of connecting with other members. For members continuing to work from home, they can still socialize with one another through the company’s Slack channel, as well as a new community app that the firm will launch in the next few weeks.
