{"id":7333,"date":"2018-09-18T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T13:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theedgeleaders.com\/?p=7333"},"modified":"2025-04-09T15:41:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T19:41:25","slug":"the-rise-of-remote-workspaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theedgeleaders.com\/the-rise-of-remote-workspaces\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rise of Remote Workspaces"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Free beer, free coffee, and free food \u2013 all at the office. These are the perks of WeWork, the latest franchise in co-working spaces.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a growing trend among businesspeople shedding high-rent offices for rent-a-cubicles \u2013 with free-flowing food and drink. Today, there are scores of such companies offering \u201calt\u201d workspaces. Entrepreneurs are increasingly utilizing companies such as Regus<\/a>, WeWork<\/a>, Signature Office<\/a>, and North Space<\/a>. Global brands, too, have partaken in these spaces: CitiGroup, by way of example, rents space at WeWork in New York, while this year Fiverr hosted events at WeWork Toronto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who needs a regular office with all the attendant expenses, when you can rent one, a la carte<\/em>, whenever you think you might need one?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ottawa lawyer Adam Aptowitzer says that he is a frequent user of Regus, particularly when he has meetings in Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn fact, it\u2019s our official office address in Calgary and Toronto. The odd time we\u2019ve rented the Ottawa office has been because we needed a larger boardroom,\u201d says the partner in the firm Drache Aptowitzer LLP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Toronto, it\u2019s because I\u2019m based in Ottawa, and it\u2019s cheaper to have a Toronto office on an as-needed basis, and in Calgary, our lawyer there prefers to work out of her home, but it\u2019s not appropriate to meet clients there. It\u2019s simply cheaper to use a pay-as-you-go office if you don\u2019t need to work there consistently. I think it\u2019s good, unless you grow to a size where you have a team of people working together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WeWork launched in 2010, and today is worth $20 billion US, has more than 250 locations in 22 countries, and a quarter of a million members in 72 cities<\/a>. All told, the company rents out in excess of 1.3 million square metres of space. In London alone, it leases about a quarter-million square metres, second only to the office usage of the British government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regus (now IWG) launched in 1989, and with 3,000 offices, has more than a dozen times the locations as WeWork. Big name investors back the company such as Fidelity Investments, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Harvard Management Company, and scores of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business columnist and coach Lena Elkins began using co-working spaces in Tel Aviv in 2015. Previously, she was primarily working from her apartment and cafes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorking from home was very distracting for me and I had a hard time differentiating \u2018work time\u2019 and \u2018relaxing time\u2019. It can also be lonely working by yourself 24\/7,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only am I much more productive in co-working spaces without the distraction of the refrigerator, TV, etc., but it\u2019s inspiring being around other like-minded entrepreneurs. The connections I\u2019ve made there over the years have blossomed into incredible collaborations, clients, and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The greatest benefit, for her, is that the WeWork franchise is \u201cdependable internationally\u201d \u2013 no matter where in the world she is, there\u2019s an office to use. She also touts their in-house manicurists, yoga classes, WiFi, air conditioning, \u201ca beautiful and quiet workspace\u201d as well as \u201cparties that enable you to engage with the community and constantly grow as a creative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-working spaces are going to be increasingly relevant in the months to come, for many entrepreneurs and small businesses. Nearly two million Canadians work independently already, and in two years, nearly half of the country\u2019s workers will be self-employed or freelance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dave Gordon | Contributing Writer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Free beer, free coffee, and free food \u2013 all at the office. These are the perks of WeWork, the latest franchise in co-working spaces. There\u2019s a growing trend among businesspeople shedding high-rent offices for rent-a-cubicles \u2013 with free-flowing food and drink. Today, there are scores of such companies offering \u201calt\u201d workspaces. Entrepreneurs are increasingly utilizing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":116648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1398,2618],"tags":[86,146,541,187,1338,1337],"class_list":["post-7333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-market-trends","tag-business","tag-business-leaders","tag-entrepreneur","tag-the-edge-a-leaders-magazine","tag-wework","tag-work-space","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theedgeleaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theedgeleaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theedgeleaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theedgeleaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theedgeleaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theedgeleaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theedgeleaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theedgeleaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theedgeleaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theedgeleaders.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}