Shaniqua Davis is a seasoned co-worker — but not in the traditional sense, working alongside fellow employees or shooting the breeze at the office water cooler.
Davis, 29, is the new definition of co-worker — one who rents a desk alongside strangers, takes meetings on sofas in cozy common spaces and steps into a tiny phone-booth-like space when she needs privacy.
In the past two years in Chicago, she’s had plenty of locations to try as she builds her diversity recruiting business, Noirefy. Davis has set up shop at 1871, WeWork, Novel, came close to joining The Wing and now is back at WeWork.
Co-working, she said, has given her an office, an attractive and centrally located meeting space for clients, and a venue for networking. She likes getting out of her home office a few days a week and having somewhere to be in the morning — and working in a space that doesn’t look like a traditional office.
“I’m a small company … I’m only one person. Usually, people like me aren’t doing co-working spaces (because they are expensive), but I’ve figured out the kinks,” Davis said. “I love working in co-working spaces. It’s flexible.”
Davis’ experience illustrates the allure of co-working, a workplace phenomenon that has caught on with freelancers who want a communal table to sit at, entrepreneurs looking for a space to take meetings, and large corporations trying to free themselves from long-term leases and expensive office remodels.
Co-working’s upward trajectory continues, but the industry is changing. Big, shared office space players like WeWork and Industrious are blanketing chosen cities with locations or acquiring competitors. Regus, which outnumbers its competitors in co-working locations around the world fourfold, is making investments to keep up with current trends.
Meanwhile, newcomers to the shared office space industry are moving away from the one-size-fits-all approach and going after specific niches.
Changing demographics are on the industry’s side. By 2025, 40% of working-age individuals will work as freelancers or independent contractors or for a small organization, according to Robert O’Brien, a global real estate and construction expert at Deloitte.
“One of the things that has really driven growth in co-working has been changes to the workforce,” he said. “The fact is that there are more freelancers and virtual workers and people who can work for an organization of any size, but work from a distance.”
Amenities and services are increasingly important in the co-working arms race. The offerings depend on the clientele co-working operators are wooing: blow-dry salons, yoga studios, child care, laundry services, nice bathrooms and showers, wine, beer, and chic networking events are all designed to keep tenants happy and paying rent.
“It’s all about creating a great tenant experience,” said Deloitte’s O’Brien. “You’re basically taking what hospitality organizations have tried to do by creating a great guest experience and now applying it to co-workers in a work environment.”
While cool amenities and services are important, co-working operators also need to make money, which has led several operators to team up with landlords. Co-working businesses get a partner to help share the costs, and landlords get access to a pipeline of future tenants who may need more space as their businesses grow.
For most entrepreneurs, picking which space to settle down in is a matter of both the finances and the feel of the space.
Teddy Heidt, who runs The Gauge Collective, a digital marketing freelance community, left WeWork and recently settled at Working From–Fulton Market because he found it quieter, more communal and offered a more affordable and flexible leasing arrangement, he said.
“It’s more open here and pushes us to be more communicative and social with each other,” Heidt said. “I don’t work with the people around me, but we’ve turned this into a type of cohort where we refer each other to people who may be interested in our work.”
Vanessa Abron, who runs Agency Abron, a public relations, marketing and communications firm, said despite the slight uptick in rent in the three years she’s been at WeWork, she’s staying the course with the co-working space where, ironically, she’s already put down some roots.
Abron, who works from the River North WeWork location, feels “light and airy, like I can take on the world,” when she walks to her desk in the morning. WeWork allows her to bring in the dog, Millie, she often takes care of for a friend. She regularly hosts networking events in the space and hangs out in the common area, where she meets other “co-workers” who have helped her with her business.
But it’s not all perfect, she said. “I do hate that they got rid of the beer and no one will tell me where it went,” she said. “I can’t get a consistent answer.”
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