Liz Elam, founder of GCUC, the Global Coworking Unconference Conference has set out her predictions for 2020.
We’ve summarised a few take outs below:
- Coworking Established
This side of the pond we totally agree that Coworking is maturing, growing, getting smarter faster and more nimble. Bigger brands continue to grow and customers are demanding more from their spaces. There are also plenty of opportunities for regional coworking spaces with secondary cities being key to continued growth.
- Coworking is a real solution to
Real Estate Costs: Coworking allows you to take it off the books
Worker Disengagement: 66% of their workers are disengaged. Coworking, on the other hand, makes employees happier, healthier and more engaged.
Mental Wellness: The most expensive healthcare issue for all corporations globally is the mental health crisis. If connection cures the disease of addiction then community can cure the disease of loneliness. 89% of coworkers reported being happier in a coworking space.
Attracting and Retaining Talent: Gen Z not only doesn’t want to work in your dated office, they won’t. They need space that they choose.
- Health and Wellness
If you’re not actively educating yourself and designing your spaces with health and wellness in mind, you are going to miss the boat. Physical, mental and environmental health, are all equally important. As far as mental health, the loneliness epidemic is staggering and the numbers are downright scary. Educate yourself and help others. We must be looking for solutions and engaging in conversations.
We have humans in our care for eight hours a day, they often spend more hours awake at work then at home. How are YOU going to make a difference?
- The Distributed Workforce
For years we’ve been hearing about freelancers, gig workers and remote workers, but something has changed. The shift has happened and the numbers show it. We have a much larger portion of the population either choosing to work independently or being sent home to work. Humans need other humans and working from home long term contributes to the loneliness epidemic. The growth of this distributed workforce will drive significant growth for coworking.
- Technology
More and more companies realise it doesn’t really matter where people are. They’re holding meetings on video calls and collaborating on Slack. The coworking world needs to be providing better options for collaboration, both in the physical space and online.
Coworking Exits
As leases expire and people get burnt out or are simply ready for a change, we’re seeing quite a few spaces choose to shut down or being forced to close as their rent is raised. We continue to see consolidation and expansion in coworking. We’ve even seen an evolving marketplace for evaluating and selling brands.
Meanwhile at GCUC UK we are in full planning mode for our two day annual conference in London September 2020 and a new regional conference in Manchester in April 2020.
Read Liz’s full Coworking Megatrend Predictions for 2020 here
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