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What a year, right? This is the time for recaps on social media and annual evaluations, and we wonder how well this year balance will go for flexible workspaces (now that we are officially back to the office). 2021 set the mood for this year to be the perfect environment for hybrid working after the pandemic and to move to flexible office spaces once and for all.
We have been able to witness the growth of coworking from the inside, watching how it transformed into the favourite kind of workspace for corporate. That’s why we are hosting today the latest summit to analyse with you all the 2022 evolution of flexible workspaces and 2023 upcoming trends.
Shall we?
How are flexible office spaces closing 2022?
Corporates demand flexible workspaces more and more everyday
Flexible office spaces have been trending among corporate-profile companies for a while now, but 2022 has been the icing on the cake! In Lexington, we close our year with 50% more corporate office contracts than last year, adding up to those already part of our flexible community!
Corporate coworking continues to bring outstanding benefits to both companies and employees, from flexibility all over contract terms, office hours, workplace design and growth, to veeeeeery flexible savings since these type of workspaces are kind of all-inclusive!
Flexible office spaces are here for the long-run!
Coworking has always been quite nomadic: flexibility created the perfect frame for concrete adaptation periods for companies, like landing on a new market or city, or simply taking your team in during a time when the office is not available for some reason, but with an expiration date nonetheless. Ownership, even though not as unshakeable as it was in 1981 when coworking arrived at Spain, is still very much present today.
However, 2022 is also the beginning of the end for this. With an 83% renovation rate, our corporate clients extend their lease contracts for 6, 12 and 24 months, with no intention whatsoever of abandoning Lexington’s workspaces. Cost minimisation, talent acquisition, synergies and the brand visibility reinforcement are all drivers at decision making. Flexible workspaces opening numerous doors to corporations of all-sizes when locating them in the very financial core of Madrid and Barcelona is no point to overlook, and moving into a new location with fewer benefits is not even on the table.
Corporate flexible office spaces, dressed to impress
In addition to that, another great factor that takes part in the flex sector growth, making it worth the biggest companies’ expectations, is office design and personalisation. Defined working environments and various atmospheres are both central points in strategies, making the team the heart of it all so they can find whatever they need exactly when they do need it.
Flexible office spaces leave no one indifferent! From hot-desking to completely branded spaces, with common resources and the possibility of building those exacts units (such as meeting rooms, phone booths, even a reception desk!) within the corporate suites or dedicated executive floors.
The office experience is definitely not as it used to be, so goals and strategic movements must change too. The workstation does not end once you get up from you chair anymore, and having common areas that boost collaborative work, interpersonal relations within the office environment and brainstorming is now a must. People are now the main characters in this narrative, their comfort, productivity and feeling of belonging.
Flexible office space trends in our radar for 2023
The tendency is clear this upcoming year, because even in the highest coworking summit as Proworkspaces’ one (celebrated last October) agreed: flexibility will focus on corporate companies and sustainability from a ESG pov in the workplace.
Coworking as the perfect formula for freelancers and smaller companies is pretty solid, the ultimate solution for them. It is the big corp. and bigger teams and their technology and sustainability requirements who will make the market rise! The most avant-garde technology, eco-friendly politics and respectful design will be the features squeezing all the potential of flexible workspaces.
What will happen in 2023?
Experts foretell even greater growth for flex spaces in 2023, specialisation and transition towards an office space able to create experiences, links and to make us develop our social commitment. The main goal is to put as much distance as possible between our desired office and the one where we’d go to “work from home, but form the office”.
As stated in the CBRE Agile Practice, 2023 is the year in which 70% of companies that already know and work in flexible workspaces, will be doubling said percentage in their office portfolio. And, as this spectrum grows, so does the surface required and the complexity of the space, being enterprise spaces (whole buildings or simple floors) or personalised suites this season basics!
Working routines will also solidify: teams still debating between working from home and coming back to the office will for sure settle in hybrid, with schedule and space flexibility. This is where third spaces become more and more popular among remote workers.
The balance couldn’t be any more positive, right? Flexible workspaces and coworking have meet their match in corporate companies, and one of the greatest opportunities for the market in years. Many more are to come! We’ll be wating.
“Work on your strengths, not your weaknesses. How many of your New Year’s resolutions have been about fixing a flaw?”
Jonathan Haidt