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By Canopy Advisory
There is a clear shift shaking up today’s labor force. Technological advances and a growing comfort-level with alternative work arrangements are fundamentally changing how people work.
This trend is not just entrepreneurs leaving the “comforts” of corporate America to build a better mousetrap. It also includes service professionals going out on their own – pursuing intellectual, economic, and personal independence and balance.
Companies are using this on-demand talent at higher levels than ever before. In addition, amenities that serve this freelance national are growing rapidly.This spring, WeWork will open two co-officing sites in Denver — in the Union Station neighborhood and in Lower Highland.
WeWork rents office space to small companies, start-ups and the rapidly growing segment of independent workers doing project-based work – Canopy’s own target market.
The fact that WeWork is valued at over $15B and added 40 new locations and 25,000 members in 2015 is an indicator to us that this trend toward a freelance economy is not likely to go away.
A recent post on The New York Times website, The Temptation of Co-Working Spaces, states:
Technology has upended where we work. The line between work and play has been blurred, and the difference between the office and home has all but disappeared.
As a result, there’s a new class of white-collar workers (or no-collar, to be precise) who roam the earth looking for places to get their jobs done.
Some of them work from home, curled up on the couch on in a home office. Others camp out at expensive cafes, refilling their mugs of fancy coffee throughout the day.
But increasingly, these untethered employees are gathering in a new kind of office known as the co-working space.
The large number of co-working spaces popping up around the country addresses many of the “down” sides of contingent work. They offer desk space, fast Internet, office supplies and meeting rooms. On the softer side, they offer social connections and a peer group – something many independents crave after leaving big firm life.
In WeWork Shoots the Works With Expansion Plans, The Wall Street Journal concludes:
This business is a ‘when’ business, not an ‘if’ business. Fueling this feeling of certainly is a belief that generational and cultural shifts are fueling a desire for more interaction and communal spaces, which in turn will lead more people to WeWork.
So move on over Google, AirBnb and Facebook. As more and more professionals get a taste of independence, the number-one place to work may end up being wherever your laptop or table happens to be –at home, a great espresso bar or well-designed co-working space.
