Coworking sector regains strength with hybrid work format

Shared work offices – in English, coworkings – have started to grow again in Brazil, overcoming doubts about the strength of the sector after two years of remote work in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With empty spaces overnight, some companies had to cut back on meat in the first months of the quarantine.

A study by Newmark, a consultancy specializing in the real estate sector, shows that this cut reached, on average, 16% of spaces in the case of those who had to close office areas. Invoicing in the period collapsed, on average, by 75%.

The good news is that these spaces have already been retaken, and the perspective is for further growth. Now, the impetus for recovery comes from companies that started to resume face-to-face work, but this time they sought more flexible models for their employees.

The same Newmark indicates that, last year alone, coworking offices already totaled 1,600 units in the country, with a large concentration in the state of São Paulo (663).

The lowest availability of places is currently in Itaim, a neighborhood where Avenida Faria Lima is located, the heart of the country’s financial center. The vacancy rate in the region is currently at just 2.8%.

On average in the city of São Paulo, vacancy (vacant space rate) is 23.8%, according to April data, slightly higher than the 21.9% observed in March.

Even after strong business expansion, the Inventa marketplace decided to use a coworking space, in the Avenida Paulista region, instead of having its own headquarters.

According to Ana Furtado, responsible for the company’s human resources area, the decision was based on the flexibility offered by this type of location.

“Location was also important. And, if we need more space, we can also reserve the floor below or upstairs, we have that possibility to increase the space.”

Big companies vie for space

If before the pandemic, coworking spaces were essentially used by smaller companies, the shift to a more flexible work model has changed the profile of those interested in using shared offices.

Now, these spaces are also disputed by large corporations.

“The path of sharing spaces, with less fixed costs and flexibility of the employee not having to be physically at the workplace every day, is on the rise and has been an attractive alternative in the current work model”, explains the Director of Research. and Market Intelligence from Newmark, Mariana Hanania.

Petrobras is among the companies that made this move. The state-owned company reduced the space of its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro and started to make bids for renting coworking spaces to accommodate its employees. “Companies no longer want to invest in fixed assets”, adds Mariana.

At IWG in Brazil, which owns the coworking brands Regus and Space, the numbers already reflect this phenomenon. Before the health crisis, large companies represented 40% of customers, a share that has now jumped to 65%.

“Hybrid work has become the new normal. We have eight thousand customers, and 90% of them returned in the hybrid model”, says the president of the group in Brazil, Tiago Alves.

According to the executive, in the pandemic many companies, as well as Petrobras, reduced their offices and decided to spread their workplaces, with the support of coworkings. The idea of ​​these companies, according to Alves, is to give their employees options to work closer to home.

IWG currently has 66 spaces in the country and plans to close 2022 with 100, which will mark the company’s best year in Brazil.

At WeWork, which has 32 spaces in Brazil, the occupancy rate has already reached 80%, higher than in markets such as Canada, France and Sweden, and the second highest occupancy in Latin America.

“We remain excited about the possibilities for 2022, and optimistic with the expectation that growth will accelerate in the coming months”, says the president of the company in Brazil, Felipe Rizzo.

In the pandemic, WeWork was forced to close spaces, but the executive says that, under the impulse of the trend of the flexible work model, the company surpassed its pre-pandemic numbers, reached its largest number of customers since its arrival in Brazil and has, for 18 consecutive months, had a positive net sales balance in Brazil.

One of the companies that migrated its office to WeWork was Valid, which produces 80% of CNHs. It occupies an area in the region of Avenida Paulista.

“In all, there are 175 jobs rotated among the company’s approximately 400 employees in the city of São Paulo”, comments Rizzo.

Customized

At GoWork, demand from large companies is growing and driving a business niche for the company called “build to go”, in which a building is customized for the client. In this format, there is no shared workspace with other companies and all the rest of the services are provided exactly like a traditional coworking space.

Examples include the law firm LBCA and the health insurance company Qualicorp. “This is a modular contract, with more dynamism than the traditional lease. Before the pandemic, more traditional companies were reluctant to coworking”, comments the president of GoWork, Fernando Bottura.

“We had a moment at the beginning of the pandemic when the business model was put in check, but today hybrid work is a path of no return”, comments the executive. GoWork, which has 8,400 workstations, is projected to double in size this year.

Currently, three buildings are in the implementation phase for new offices. The information is from the newspaper. The State of São Paulo.