Coworking offices
Coworking offices have become an important part of the COVID-19 recovery plan as companies look to bring teams back to collaborate and work together in a safe environment once again. However, as part of this transition, there is still a lot of uncertainty as to how businesses and society as a whole will emerge from the once in a lifetime COVID-19 pandemic.
Coworking Trends
In fact, according to a survey of business leaders conducted by the research and advisory firm Gartner, over 80% of company leaders were planning to allow their employees to work remotely either part-time or full time after the pandemic was over. As a result, many companies have been forced to transition to a remote working situation and many of those have had to scramble to set up the infrastructure to do so.
What that means is that there has been an awakening to the business value of a remote work environment, and coworking spaces are poised to be a significant part of this new work culture.
Alpharetta, Cumming, Johns Creek, Roswell, and Milton
For those of you that live close to McFarland Parkway in Alpharetta and near Georgia 400, here are some key reasons why it makes sense for companies to leverage coworking spaces in this new remote world.
Benefit #1: Work Environment Quality
Offices in Alpharetta are full of people that, on some days, prefer to stay in their pajamas but on other days are ready to get out of the house and feel “work normal” again.
“Working from Home” can easily become “Living at Work” and that can lead to many issues as people find themselves struggling to achieve a healthy work/life balance. Workers with families have an extra burden with a multitude of family distractions that can make it harder to focus on work deadlines and deliverables.
In a recent study conducted by Microsoft, over half (54%) of parents reported that it has been challenging to balance both household and professional demands while working from home. In the end, it is just nice to have a workplace that is separate from the comfort of your home.
Benefit #2: Access to a Growing Talent Pool
Finding talent along the GA 400 tech corridor has always been a challenge and, according to a FlexJobs survey taken during the pandemic, 65% of respondents said they would prefer being full-time remote employees post-pandemic, while 31% would like a hybrid remote work setup. That means that 96% of respondents indicated a desire for some level of remote work. Digital Ignition is a coworking place that is in line with the new “Work From Home” world -- particularly from an access to quality candidates that can work across multiple geographies.
Employees looking for coworking office space can theoretically work from anywhere they have access to an internet connection and a laptop. Subsidizing or providing access to a coworking space that is near a prospective employee’s home base could be seen as a nice sweetener to attract talent. Companies that use this strategy will inherently have a competitive advantage since they will have a larger pool of qualified candidates to choose from.
Most recently we saw Spotify announce its new “Work from Anywhere” model which will allow employees to choose whether they want to be in the office full-time, be at home, or a combination of the two.
Benefit #3: Flexibility for a Modern Workforce
Parents in north Atlanta suburbs (like Milton, Cumming, Johns Creek, Roswell, and Alpharetta) are especially interested in coworking spaces. In fact, one of the takeaways from the pandemic is that many workers discovered that they could manage their workload by using time windows. Time windows is the practice of employees communicating on their calendar when they would be available while also blocking off time when they needed to handle personal business (e.g. doctor’s appointments or picking up their kids). With this flexibility, they were able to achieve a better work-life balance.
In fact, according to a 2020 Robert Half study, 73% of employees who were allowed to break up their day between professional and personal blocks of time said that the arrangement allowed them to be more productive.
"Providing employees with flexibility will be just as important when organizations prepare to reopen and transition back to the office as it has been since the start of the pandemic." Paul McDonald, Senior Executive Director of Robert Half.
In summary, coworking spaces like Digital Ignition provide options that line up with this new “windowed work” paradigm that is expected to be the new normal. Digital Ignition provides companies of any size offices and specific cubicles that can be shared among employees that want to work on different days or different hours. Just like the public is demanding, this allows both entrepreneurs and company employees to work in an office environment on demand. An additional benefit is that companies are not locked into long term Class A or Class B office leases, which can result in substantial long-term savings. We're growing at such a rapid speed, we're expanding our location by another 23,000 square feet!
For a tour and free trial week at Digital Ignition, fill out our contact form or call us today!