North Carolina coworking spaces find ways to adapt in the coronavirus era

COVID-era coworking spaces sport a slightly different aesthetic than the ping pong tables and communal sitting areas they were initially known for.

Now their features include caution tape and six feet of separation between desks. Cleaning supplies near all shared surfaces. Masks in communal spaces. Single serve coffee rather than coffee bar setups.

But even as organizations have limited their building occupancies and instituted social distancing, some North Carolina coworking offices report that the impacts of the pandemic have, so far, not been as devastating as they feared.

In the case of three coworking and flexible office spaces in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, some divisions that saw initial dips in membership numbers are now holding steady—and in some cases are even increasing.

American Underground, based in Durham, markets itself as a startup hub for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Its mission is to provide 100% of its members with a valuable resource in any given year. In previous years, that has often been in the form of networking opportunities between entrepreneurs.

As the pandemic progressed, the company saw only 20% of its members using the space with any regularity, and those resources transitioned to mainly virtual offerings, like instructional seminars on how to work from home effectively, said Tim Scales, director of growth.

But as Durham entered Phase 2 of its reopening plan, AU began hosting gatherings and happy hours on its rooftop patio, limiting attendance to six people and spacing chairs eight feet apart. Scales said that option has been popular for members missing the organic connections that in-person interactions help foster.

“I think that’s really resonating with our members,” Scales said. “Folks have learned how to work remotely and individually—but they’re still craving the personal connection, and the opportunity to meet fellow entrepreneurs.”

Coworking spaces were growing

Before the pandemic, coworking spaces were expected to grow exponentially around the country within the next decade. Real estate company JLL projected that the industry, which currently comprises less than 5% of the commercial real estate market, could make up 30% of the market by 2030.

In dense metropolitan areas like New York City, where coworking and flexible office spaces occupy huge square footage and house hundreds of companies, many spaces are still waiting to assess the long-term impacts of the pandemic. But in some smaller markets, like the Triangle, executives are already seeing the beginnings of cultural shifts from dedicated office spaces to smaller “landing pad” spaces within coworking communities.

Jessica Porta, the executive director of HQ Raleigh, said that the pandemic has had a devastating impact on HQ’s events department, which used to host weddings, fundraisers and other large gatherings at its Raleigh campus. All of those events are cancelled for the foreseeable future.

But after an initial dip at the beginning of the pandemic, Porta said they’ve also seen renewed requests for HQ’s dedicated office spaces, and even increased requests for coworking spaces.

During normal times, HQ Raleigh’s four buildings house over 1,000 members and 400 member companies, and boast a cumulative 100,000 square feet of space. While the data on company retention and space usage is still anecdotal, Porta estimates that they reduced their coworking space capacity by 50%, and initially saw a greater decrease in demand for coworking space over private office space.

“Now we’re seeing much more interest,” Porta said. “From people who, after working from home for a couple months, kind of have cabin fever.”

Porta added that she is also seeing a small uptick in corporate memberships—signaling what could perhaps be a longer-term cultural shift around office space. Some larger companies whose employees are able to successfully work from home may consider giving up their dedicated office spaces in the future, she said, instead electing to lease flexible spaces where groups of their employees could gather when needed.

“I see kind of the beginning of a movement,” Porta said. “I think that we’re going to see not just a resurgence in coworking, but also an entirely different perspective on working.”

Students are using coworking spaces

In Chapel Hill, Carolina Coworking founder Gregg Gerdau has also seen subtle changes in his clientele list and office space reservations—namely an uptick in UNC students wanting a private office to attend Zoom classes, or in need of a more reliable internet connection.

Additionally, he has received increased requests from couples with children needing a workspace outside of the home, leading him to institute a shared membership option at Carolina Coworking.

“You have two access cards, no additional fee,” he said. “And that way someone can stay home and watch the kids and walk the dog while the other one works, and then switch over.”

All three of the businesses are operating at reduced capacity, per the guidelines issued by the respective cities. Each also has its own certification or wellness check protocol, which asks members to verify that they feel healthy, are not running a temperature, and have not been exposed to anyone with COVID-19 before they access their workspace.

Gerdau has also instituted a dashboard system that allows him to track who has checked in to the building every day.

“It creates a contact tracing database,” he said, which will allow him to alert other members if someone becomes ill with the virus at any point. “And that’s kind of bound to happen,” Gerdau said.

Anita Blanchard, an associate professor of psychological and organization science at UNC Charlotte, studies “entitativity” — or how people perceive groups. She said that the social draws of coworking spaces could be alluring to workers, especially those feeling isolated during the pandemic, despite their risks.

“Part of working at home is that there are physical and environmental cues that you should be doing ‘home’ stuff, and it’s really hard to focus on work when you’ve got all these cues around you,” Blanchard said.

Coworking spaces remove those cues. They also foster innovations between companies, rather than between individual employees, which are a draw for some people, she added.

But coworking spaces, like any shared indoor spaces, demand a certain level of faith in others’ practices during the pandemic.

“If you trust an organization, that your organization has your best interest, you can show up at an office,” Blanchard said. “These could be strangers at a coworking space; they may not all take it very seriously.”

For those who do decide to utilize coworking spaces during the pandemic, “that’s a lot of trusting,” she said.

This story was originally published July 31, 2020 at 8:30 AM.