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PANDEMIC PIVOT
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Shared workspace companies see positives in COVIDcaused changes
BY WILLIAM WILLIAMS
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all facets of o ce work — and dramatically in some respects.
However, companies that o er shared workspace services have actually bene ted from changes the coronavirus thrust upon of ce workers. e positive results might seem surprising on the surface. But when considered in detail, they actually make sense.
Jon Pirtle, CEO of Nashville-based e|spaces, says business has remained very stable during the pandemic. And for every member lost, a new member has emerged.
“Podcasters are using our spaces more,” he says, for example. “We’re set up with the technology solutions they require and have ‘Zoom Rooms’ they can rent by the hour whenever they need them, as they might keep di erent schedules and need the o ces at o times. e [podcasters] even have a built-in audience [at e|spaces] and other members really root for them to be successful. It’s been a fun thing to observe and it’s happened very organically.”
Pirtle says that since the pandemic hit, he has observed established companies utilizing e|spaces for cost savings and for landing new clients. As an example, banks are starting to question their traditional sales model, he notes.
“I was speaking to a member the other day and he said, ‘Why do we make a potential mortgage client come to us? We should go where the clients are,’” he says. “ ey can set up a small o ce exactly in the middle of 50 potential clients who walk by their o ce every day, and they get to know a new prospect pool. ey save money in the process. It’s that
ERROL WILLIAMS, WEWORK
WeWork’s East Nashville space
kind of use that we’re seeing more and more of from companies of all sizes.”
Pirtle says one of the positive results of the pandemic is the diverse makeup of e|spaces’ clientele. People — entrepreneurs and those employed by larger organizations — who might never have looked for co-working space are seeking it now.
“It’s creating a great energy in our spaces,” he explains. “It’s also emphasized that we live in a highly connected and collaborative world that has a di erent set of needs from [those needs of] just a few years ago. We’re uniquely positioned to provide those solutions.”
Errol Williams, WeWork’s Atlantic Territory vice president, says that due to the pandemic, exibility will continue to be a key priority for every size business worldwide.
“COVID-19 has fundamentally changed how we work and has accelerated a new way of working that would otherwise have taken decades to unfold,” Williams says. “Flexibility has been pushed to the forefront as companies rethink their workplace strategies and real estate footprint.”
Williams predicts the conventional o ce model will survive. However, while companies re-evaluate and rethink their workplaces, WeWork is seeing the market — and speci cally enterprise companies — realize the value of its “ exibility at scale.”
“We’ll see this demand for exibility continue post-pandemic as companies and employees do away with this idea of ‘presenteeism’ in the o ce in favor of providing the best location for employees to do their work,” he says. “ ere is no longer a playbook for teams and employees. And the more exible options companies provide, the better.”
Moving forward, and as business leaders continue to think about the future and adapting to their employees’ needs, Williams and WeWork foresee them providing access to clean, exible workspace in the same way they provide perks and bene ts like health care or free lunches. For this reason, WeWork has accelerated its plans to digitize its product, providing users with the ability to choose when, where and how they work, directly from their phones.
“ e shift towards greater demand for exibility and optionality will de ne the way we work moving forward, and WeWork’s On Demand and All Access products (both available in Nashville) are uniquely positioned to solve for this need long-term,” he says.
Williams says WeWork is now speaking to various higher education institutions that are searching for space solutions in order to reopen schools and reimagine how they use spaces for learning. e company has seen “early successes” with Georgetown University, Northeastern University, the University of Arizona and New York University Shanghai, he says.
In April, WeWork unveiled its Future of Workplace plans, which include de-densifying spaces, enhancing sanitization and increasing air circulation, and adding signage to promote health-focused behaviors like wearing masks and maintaining social distance.
And with the pandemic’s impact easing, one thing cannot be denied, e|spaces’ Pirtle says: “ ere have been a lot of entrepreneurs born in the last year — through force or by choice.”
