Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
- Coworking spaces aid in the creation of new career opportunities, equip people with skills, knowledge, and education, and support work-related tasks.
- Access to technology is a privilege that many people do not have. Fortunately, coworking can bridge the gap to provide more equitable opportunities for skills and development.
- With more coworking spaces comes more job opportunities in the workspace industry, including community manager roles.
Generative AI is advancing at the speed of light. In fact, developments are happening so rapidly that it’s unlikely that any human can upskill fast enough to keep pace, leading us to question whether our careers are in jeopardy.
However, the coworking movement is also playing an important role in an increasingly digital world. It aids the creation of new career opportunities, equips people with skills, knowledge, and education, and supports work-related tasks.
Helping, not hindering, our work
Despite the recent struggles faced by other industries to stay afloat, the flexible workspace industry has largely maintained its popularity, with demand for coworking spaces (particularly in residential areas and outer town hubs) rising.
“What’s supporting the flexible workspace boom is technology,” comments Jon Seal, MD at technologywithin. “It underpins the operation, from onboarding new members to the use of smart technology through to booking, invoicing and access to upselling.” These expectations align with the expectations of the modern tech-savvy worker.
Automated calendars replace monotonous back-and-forth email communications between community managers and prospective members. You can book a tour at the touch of a button and it goes straight into the diary. Workspace management systems free up receptionists’ time so that you can book a desk, meeting room, or phone booth in a workspace by yourself.
Data collection is highly useful for workspace operators to learn how and when coworkers use the workspace and which community events prove most popular. These can be synced across multiple touchpoints, without the inconvenience whilst navigating through the workspace.
Technology is a no-brainer for coworking spaces to enhance productivity and reduce bottlenecks. It also gives coworkers a level of autonomy over the working day — and where would be without our digital tools to simplify our daily lives?
Community, collaboration, connection
Despite the increasing reliance on software in the coworking industry, there is one aspect of the workspace experience that cannot be replaced by technology: the human touch.
This customer experience is (more often than not) curated by the community manager — an essential cog in the coworking wheel who facilitates human interaction, and engagement with prospective and existing members, working tirelessly to create a workspace community.
With the rise of coworking and new hubs popping up across the world comes exciting job opportunities for budding community managers who will manage a hybrid community with the help of digital tools. For example, chat apps facilitate effective communication across a virtual and physical community.
Despite the rapid advancement of digital tools, community managers are unlikely to be replaced by technology itself. After all, would you commute to the office to interact with a computer? We largely have the ability to work remotely, but so many choose to work with others. This is what provides the very essence of coworking, and why the demand for flexible workspaces is currently rife.
Jessica Samson, former General Manager at PLATF9RM in Brighton explains (whilst speaking on a panel at GCUC U.K. in November): “A lot of members are fortunate enough to also have their own workspace at home, or an office that they are happy to travel into a once or twice a week. Whilst coworking spaces are a place intended to get your head down and work, members tend to come to the space when they are craving a connection or conversation as opposed to ‘their most productive day ever.’”
Improving equitable access to technology
Despite the myriad benefits of AI and technology, one of the biggest fears to come out of the technology revolution concerns job losses.
“As machines become more capable of performing human tasks, and with lower margins for error, there is a risk of widespread job displacement,” according to Entrepreneur.
This largely impacts people from lower economic backgrounds, individuals who wish to work part-time around family commitments, and young people entering the workforce for the first time. Those who are in white-collar professions are fiercely sharpening their technological capabilities to maintain relevance within an increasingly digital workforce.
Nonetheless, access to technology education is a privilege that not everyone has access to. But, the coworking movement can provide a solution — equipping people with the relevant skills and education necessary in today’s world.
The Alpha accelerator program facilitated by U.K. workspace brand Huckletree since 2017, for example, was launched following acknowledgment of the lack of diversity and equity in the technology startup ecosystem. The majority of successful technology entrepreneurs are white men from privileged backgrounds.
The hybrid nature of coworking means that people can be a part of the workspace community in a virtual capacity, too. This could also enable people with greater access to education.
“We can scale good teachers with digital learning, by recording and sharing lessons,” improving equitable access to learning about technology along the way, explains Sulabh Soral, chief AI officer at Deloitte Consulting.
Is coworking more than just a place to work?
When a coworking space offers more than just a place to work, such as space for education, networking, and knowledge-sharing, it begs the question — do coworking spaces exist for a much greater purpose?
Not only that, but when technology can manage our day-to-day tasks and take care of our “work,” it gives us back some freedom. This time can be spent with family and friends, focusing on well-being, and taking care of ourselves.
Despite our uncertainty about the future of AI, there’s one thing that’s clear — we’re not ready to be taken over by robots yet.
