Is coworking dead? Long live well working!


The new workplaces are redoubling their imagination and services to attract workers. Sometimes to the point of forgetting that luxury depends above all on the quality of the air.

For the past two years, observers have not stopped playing with their crystal ball to try to predict the future of work. From the praise of the flex office to the (t)haro on all things telework, via the announced death of the office and the winning edge of the coffee machine: it is difficult to read between the lines, as everything has been said and written on the subject. The big absentee from the card draws? Coworking spaces, which represent a possible alternative for the new adepts of remote work.

Above all, they respond to as much as they suffer from the transformations in working methods generated by the crisis. In these spaces, as elsewhere, it is impossible to pretend that nothing has happened. Employees and freelancers who leave the warmth of their homes are nonetheless looking for "real" reasons to face the outside world to go to work, even if their nomadic office is just a stone's throw from their home. Coworking spaces must therefore offer more than just the possibility of working "side by side". Now more than ever, they must promote collaboration and the creation of links... while focusing on the physical and mental well-being of workers. This means rethinking and redesigning these spaces.

Making room for well-being

Invented in San Francisco in 2005 by entrepreneur Brad Neuburg, coworking is a recent phenomenon. But this model for occupying work spaces already seems to be showing its limits. The reason for this rapid decline? The rise of hybridization, which invites us to ask not so much the question of sharing spaces as that of their usefulness. Reflection, production, collaboration, celebration, etc. If there is one thing that the period has allowed us to rediscover, it is the non-linear nature of working time. This is why companies and HR teams are looking to reorganise the space so that it is useful for each of these working times. With this interior work, the management aims above all to recover the identity of their company. For, within the walls of the flats of the various parties, this identity has been somewhat eroded. Recovering this identity, which is crucial for the re-engagement of work groups, raises a question of authenticity that coworking spaces, which are often standardised and shared, struggle to embody.

Sick Building Syndrome in 5 symptoms:

To stand out from the competition and learn from the health crisis, some companies are offering to pamper workers if they are willing to pay the price. Rooms for group classes, cardio, massage or meditation: in these new spaces, everything is planned to place the well-being of workers at the centre of the rooms. Halfway between palatial living and ultra-polished offices, well working does not force anyone to take up yoga or networking. Rather, it's about "offering the right services to beautiful people who are willing to change their habits*". The problem? Well-working seems to reserve well-being for the happy few in the creative class. Obsessed with beauty, it almost forgets one of the main levers of well-being and, by extension, of productivity: namely, air quality.

Increasing performance without looking like it

Headaches, redness of the skin, irritation of the mucous membranes of the eyes and respiratory tract, difficulty in concentrating, etc.: all these problems can be attributed in part to a deterioration in indoor air quality. Sick Building Syndrome is not a fatality, but it is a problem that can be attributed to the deterioration of indoor air quality. Sick building syndrome is not inevitable. On the other hand, in the long term, it can have serious consequences, with the risk of aggravating or triggering chronic pathologies or even serious illnesses. Difficult to study, the effects of poor air quality do not spare companies which, because of them, see their absenteeism rate rise. In France, the average number of days of absence per employee is 25.1 days per year**. This phenomenon is spreading from one year to the next, affecting more and more employees. Thus, in 2020, the proportion of absent employees will have increased by 17%**.

The key figure :
Improving air circulation
would increase productivity by up to 18%.

 

This increase weighs heavily on public finance accounts. According to the Sapiens Institute, absenteeism costs nearly 108 billion euros annually, or 4.7% of GDP. For companies, the bill is no less steep. With an absenteeism rate of 5% for a workforce of 1,000 employees with an average salary of 30,000 euros, between 1.5 and 3 billion euros would go up in smoke each year! That's between 150,000 and 300,000 euros for a company with 100 employees***... Huge sums that companies could indeed reinvest in luxurious well being spaces. But why not reinvest them in air purification devices instead? Studies have shown that short-term absenteeism is lower than average in offices with better air quality. This is a saving to which can be added the gains in terms of performance. For example, the US Green Building Council estimates that improved air circulation is accompanied by an 11% increase in productivity, and Carnegie Mellon University estimates an increase of up to 18%. The icing on the cake? Biosafety allows us to take employee well-being seriously at a lower cost without giving up on design. In short, well being well done!

 

Marianne Fougère.

 

* Albert Angel, co-founder of Kwerk Spaces, explained in an interview with The Good Life magazine in December 2021.
** Ayming, 13th Absenteeism ® and Engagement Barometer, Study 2021.
*** Gras Savoye Willis Towers Watson, Annual Absenteeism Study, 2021.

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