In-house co-working spaces

Empty offices are costly and often uncomfortable for those who do show up. Work from home and back to the office are a pressing topic for many. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, is instituting a 5-days-a-week in the office policy. Here he is is his candid and entertaining reaction in an company townhall to employees unhappy about going back to the 2010s:

Hilarious video (really audio) of rant by JP Morgan Chase CEO

Like Dimon, I believe that it's a free country, so there will be many different models about what in-office presence is expected. Be it 5 days (or even 7 days) a week to all the way remote (“digital first").

An attractive solution seems to be a hybrid, or mixed model, where part of the time employees are in the office, part of the time they are at home. Such a model might also allow for personalised solutions, depending on work requirements, co-worker locations, client contact, privacy and secrecy requirements, and the employee's personal needs and preferences. One main disadvantage with such a model is cost. As, the CEO of a West Coast real estate company puts it in the WSJ:

“It’s working. But it’s hard just as a physical fact to pay for an office that is mostly empty.” randome CEO quoted in the WSJ.

Here I propose a solution, which presumably is not new, but I haven't really seen advocated for much: In-house co-working spaces.

An in-house co-working space is an arrangement where a company creates a co-working space within its premises.

• Cost savings (by renting unused space)

• Under hybrid models, offices are often half empty, which can feel eery. A co-working space brings life back to the premises.

• Under hybrid models offices are necessarily empty. Presumably one wants some jour fixe, during which occupation will be high, while on other days occupation will be low. Having an on-site co-working can smooth out demand for office space.

• Co-working users from other organisations can enrich the work environment. It can be inspiring to have startups on site.

• Clients, vendors and other business partners can choose to co-locate their offices on-site for some time. Be it just before and after an in-person meeting, or be it for weeks while a joint project is going on.

• An organization can dynamically (with, say, one-day notice) increase or decrease its office space

• Partners and teenage/adult children and other family members of employees can come with their partner/parent to work. A family can have commute together, have lunch together, dinner together. And all this flexibly. Some might do it every day, some just in a special situation.

• More amenities and central services, such as a bigger and better cafeteria, gym, a foosball and ping pong tables, meditation spaces etc. as the size of the work force in a site is effectively bigger (internal workforce + co-working users).

• Partnering with a co-working firm brings best practices about office design and best practices to the organisation.

• A co-working space is a contribution to the community: it attracts more people to the local area generating business for restaurants and retail. The more efficient use of space generates supply, which ultimately lowers both office and residential rents.

• Organisations have an interest that attractive co-working spaces are available to their employees who live far from the office. If they lead by example, maybe a whole ecosystem of co-working spaces will develop.

The main disadvantage is that the co-working space is accessible to external persons (with registration and ID). Another disadvantage is that this is not a feasible model, if employees have fixed, permanent desks.

• An external partner from the co-working space industry is involved in designing, managing and renting out the co-working space.

• For larger organisations especially, a part of the office space, is still exclusively for the organisation.

• Design and entry features make it clear that the co-working space is and is not part of the organisation's space itself.

• A space management system is in place that allocates spaces based on demand (supply of space is presumably fixed in the short run). Prices to external users reflect demand. Employees get priority, and their family members and friends preferential treatment. Similarly, for business partners. The system can be thought of as a market with price differentiation reflecting external effects of the user on the company.

• Don't think of in-house co-working spaces as a profit center. Think of it as increasing office life quality and relationships with employees and others while potentially recuperating a fraction of the costs of the space.