Deskmag released the final results of its global coworking survey in late January, 2017.
Not surprisingly, coworking continues to grow, evolve, and revolutionize. By the end of 2017, about 1,180,000 individuals will work from coworking spaces globally. A significant percentage of them will be employees of larger companies that have finally embraced the appeal and attractiveness of coworking spaces.
1,180,000 people is no small number; and neither is the number of operating coworking spaces. According to Deskmag’s survey, there will be around 13,800 coworking spaces globally by the end of the year.
Lots of spaces, lots of people, lots of time spent together.
Community is one of the most important value propositions of these spaces, so it comes as no surprise that both operators and coworking users expect to see an increase in their sense of community. Specifically, 73% of coworking members expect to expand their network and contacts through their membership.
A clear indicator of a maturing industry is that less than 29% of coworking spaces have been in existence for fewer than 12 months. For this reason, most operators are planning on expanding their footprint this year:
27% of coworking operators plan to add more desks to their space
11% plan to move to a larger location that would be able to welcome more members
39% expect to add an additional coworking location to their portfolio
A maturing industry, however, also means more and stronger competition. As coworking continues to grow and become popular in untapped markets, most coworking operators report struggling the most with attracting new members.
Additionally, though 62% of members still work from their first coworking space and 54% of them plan on staying in the same coworking space they are currently in, the latter number did drop from 65% in the previous year. This means that coworking operators will need to find a way to highlight their ‘uniqueness factor’ and make sure that their offerings are aligned with market needs and demands.
On the front end of memberships and space utilization, coworking operators are doing pretty well. 38% of coworking members use the space 5 or more times a week. However, long-term memberships aren’t as popular, with 56% of members signing up for memberships of 12 months or less.
To learn more about how Workspaces Strategies can help you align your coworking goals with current market needs, click here.
