Alan Mackay, CEO of Werqwise
In the past years, many aspects of the workplace environment have evolved — even in traditional office spaces — including more amenities like gyms or cafes, putting the needs of the employees at the forefront in order to reliably improve both productivity and workforce wellbeing. With the emergence of coworking hubs, businesses and freelancers alike have more options than ever to address these needs accordingly.
Alan Mackay, CEO and Founder of Werqwise, is the latest expert to share his insights about coworking spaces and what assets they offer when compared to traditional office spaces. Werqwise is the realization of Alan’s desire to change the world by changing the way it works. He believes that success is about thinking unconventionally, bringing the right people together, treating them in the right way and ensuring they have their unique combination of physical, emotional, and support environments that they require.
Q: Could you please tell us a bit more about how the workspace has evolved in the past years, since the emergence of coworking hubs?
To understand changes in the workspace we need to start with the evolution of work. It’s not just about the space, it’s about the people and the way they work. In addition to different working models evolving there has been a substantial push towards more efficient use of space. Many aspects of that have negatively impacted on the end user employee experience which in turn has a direct negative impact on productivity and therefore on motivation and staff retention.
Many workplace environments have evolved to include more amenities, from gyms to cafés to slides. These have impacted people’s lives in positive and negative ways, but looking solely at these elements of the workspace is short sighted: happiness should be a long term output not a short term input. By using the principals of environmental psychology you can positively impact businesses by putting people at the center of real estate through creating innovative environments that embrace different business models, different brands and different ways of working.
People need to be able to focus on what’s important to them; they need to be able to decide in which type of environment they would best thrive. It could be at their desk in an open office that they share with the rest of their team, a quiet place in which they can focus, a more interactive area conducive to collaboration or a highly focused creative space. End users need to feel comfortable and confident doing their best work.
Q: What do you consider to be the assets of coworking offices compared to traditional office spaces, and are there any liabilities?
There are many assets of working in coworking offices. These include:
- Build-out not required – The space is move in ready and requires no construction or design on the part of the company moving in.
- Concierge services – any changes or requests made by members regarding their space, are handled for them. They let us know what they want (specific furniture, layout, décor, etc) and we provide it, both when they move in and then for the rest of their stay in the space.
- Financial flexibility – memberships can be catered to the specific needs of the company. They can choose a long-term, short-term, or month-to-month membership, and anything in between. We want their membership to work best for their company.
- Surrounded by diverse people, companies and industries – being in a coworking space means being exposed to and meeting a bunch of new people with different skill sets, passions, and perspectives. Also, being around so many companies can lead to partnerships, collaborations, and assistance.
- Multiple working zones – everyone has different needs and ideal situations in which they do their best work. Introverts may want a quiet space, while extroverts may want a more social environment. You may need a different environment for each of your different tasks during the day. At Werqwise, we offer a variety of working zones so that you don’t have to be chained to your desk all day. You can work in the lounge, the do not disturb zone, a conference room, a phone room, or one of our huddles. You can choose where you work best.
- Ample networking opportunities – with all of the people in the space, you can make connections that you otherwise might not if you were working in an office with just your company. There are also a multitude of internal and external events that offer members the chance to meet influential people.
Q: What do you consider are the must-haves for any space to make its members feel comfortable?
- Diverse working zones
- Top quality amenities
- Flexibility
- Welcoming atmosphere
Q: What is your focus or top priority regarding your clients?
Our top priority is “Empowering you and your workplace.” We want to provide you with the environment and opportunities to be able to succeed. This means that our main focus is on you (our members), and on what we can do to allow you to achieve your goals.
Q: How do you see the spaces evolving in the future?
So far the coworking industry has been able to impact on collaboration and the efficient use of space but has not yet been able to truly impact on motivation through taking a fully integrated look at wellbeing and productivity. It is time for this to change both in shared workspaces and in the corporate environment with workspaces being fully customized for specific teams and tasks.
