This is an installment in an ongoing series highlighting statistics from a recent Coworks survey of coworking space operators and managers. The goal is to illustrate the scope of their daily responsibilities and examine the amenities and infrastructure defining today's flexible workspaces.
Notable secondary offerings included podcast studios, private offices, virtual offices, mailboxes, and more.
These results showcase how certain baseline amenities like desks, opening seating, enclosed meeting spaces, and flexibility for drop-ins remain essential across most coworking models.
Yet as the industry matures, managers seek new ways to differentiate. Custom builds like podcast studios, wellness rooms, plentiful call booths, and extended amenities illustrate this next wave of innovation.
Let's explore popular inventory in more detail:
Desks and open seating
The bread and butter for most spaces, desks offer members reliable real estate to anchor their work. While hot desking allows flexibility, dedicated desks build familiarity. Striking the right ratio depends on your members' needs.
Depending on square footage, supplementary open seating arrangements create fluid areas for collaboration or heads-down work outside of assigned desks.
Crucially, desks and open seating should offer ergonomic task chairs, ample outlets/USB charging, WiFi accessibility, and lighting comfort to enable painless productivity.
Meeting rooms
Private meeting rooms provide soundproofed spaces to host calls, focused sessions, or small in-person gatherings. While basic rooms serve most needs with a table, chairs, display screen, and conference phone - consider sound-dampened walls, smart TVs, and modular furnishings for power users.
To manage demand spikes, implement reservation systems and clear room occupancy displays. For hybrid teams, ensure top-notch video meeting capability in larger rooms too.
Events capability
Event hosting fuels community engagement and provides additional revenue streams for coworking spaces. Dedicated rooms outfitted with sufficient power, lighting, A/V, and open floor plans can double as workshops, speaking venues, or informal mixers.
Build schedule blocks into your calendar software to streamline bookings. Promote the offering to members and extended business networks.
Phone booths
Phone booths grant privacy for calls, video meetings, interviews, focused work, or impromptu refuge from distraction. While basic booths isolate noise, consider "pro" upgrades like desktop computer docks, adjustable lighting and seating, and dry erase walls for whiteboarding.
Hands-free voice assistant access also enables seamless conference dialing and note-taking.
Custom amenities
As competition increases, creative amenities can establish your space as a premium destination. Podcast studios, wellness rooms, recreation lounges, prayer rooms, mothers' suites for nursing, workshop labs, libraries, and extended food services enhance the member experience and brand.
Member surveys, listening sessions, feedback loops, and usage data should directly inform which specialized amenities you invest in long-term. Custom builds feel hollow without demand driving them. Lean on your community's voices rather than guesses or assumptions.
The diverse coworking inventory showcased in the survey results illustrates spaces adapting to users' real working habits amidst fluctuating models of collaboration and productivity.
Balancing staple offerings like desks and meetings rooms with innovative differentiators provides the best chance to attract and retain members from all walks. Inventory ultimately fuels the engine of community.
And of course, software like Coworks ties together managing inventory, amenities, and entire location networks.
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