Coworks CEO says employers should consider coworking spaces

The market is talking, and it’s saying something simple: the old lease-it-and-they-will-come model is broken. That's where coworking and flex comes in.

RALEIGH, NC, UNITED STATES, August 6, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- You can almost hear the creak of empty office chairs.

In the first quarter of 2024, U.S. office vacancy shattered a 40-year record at 19.8%. And it kept climbing past the 20% line a few months later. (CRE Daily, Facilities Dive) Meanwhile, nearly one-third of all paid workdays in June 2025 still happened somewhere other than a company HQ, despite a chorus of return-to-office (RTO) edicts. (Business Insider)

The market is talking, and it’s saying something simple: the old lease-it-and-they-will-come model is broken.

The numbers speak louder than mandates

Vacancy isn’t the only data point flashing red. Office building sale prices fell 11 percent in 2024 and are expected to keep sliding through 2025. (Business Insider) Yet demand for premium, experience-rich space is outpacing supply, with just 6 percent of Class A buildings capturing a quarter of all leasing. (The Wall Street Journal) It’s a paradox: the square footage exists, but employees want better. Not more space.

Coworking operators and hybrid office owners solved that riddle years ago by baking hospitality, technology, and community into every square foot.

Flexibility trims the fat from your P&L

Traditional build-outs now average $280 per square foot in U.S. markets. Multiply that by a modest 150 sq ft per employee and a fresh headquarters can top $42,000 per seat before rent or utilities even show up on the balance sheet. (JLL)

By contrast, the national median price for an open-desk coworking membership sat at $149 a month at the end of 2024—roughly $1,788 a year. (coworkinginsights.com) Even private-office team suites pencil out at a small fraction of a long-term lease once you strip away taxes, maintenance, furniture, and the capital you’d lock up in tenant improvements.

Savings aren’t only about rent. Coworking converts fixed costs into usage-based expenses. Need ten extra seats for a product sprint? Add them for a month. Closing a contract? Drop back to two day passes a week. Finance leaders love the cash-flow agility; ops leaders love not having to wrangle cleaning crews, HVAC vendors, and espresso machines.

Culture thrives when space sparks collisions

Ask any community manager and they’ll tell you: culture grows in the in-between moments: the hallway chat after a client pitch, the impromptu whiteboard session over free cold brew. And Office designers are leaning into that reality. JLL’s 2025 global design outlook notes that employers are shifting from tracking butts-in-seats to measuring innovation and social capital, designing “spectrums of space” that foster different group dynamics. (JLL)

Coworking spaces have operated on that spectrum from day one.

Wellness is another box conventional offices still struggle to check. From saunas at 717mkt in coastal Carolina to after hours whiskey tastings at Pursuit Coworking in Pennsylvania, coworking operators bolster mental and physical health by design. Because they know a healthy member base sticks around.

One platform fits teams of one to one hundred

Solo founders grab hot desks, two-person startups level-up to a dedicated office, and Fortune 500 project teams grab 40 seats for a six-month rollout—often inside the same building.

Hybrid employers use coworking like elastic infrastructure: headquarters on specific days, local satellites the rest of the week. That model dovetails neatly with what the WFH Research survey shows: among employees who can work remotely, hybrid is the dominant pattern. (Business Insider)

An abundance mindset beats a fear of empty desks

Many RTO mandates stem from a scarcity narrative: If we don’t see you, we’re losing productivity.

The data says otherwise.

A Stanford-Backed study estimates that flexibility feels like an 8 percent pay raise to top performers, with zero hit to output. (Business Insider) When employers treat workspace as a benefit—not a surveillance tool—they trade fear for trust, and talent reciprocates with engagement.

Corporate real-estate teams busy plotting “offices of the future” could save themselves the mood boards. Walk into any well-run coworking hub and you’ll see it live: rooms you can book by the hour, phone booths for private calls, sensor-driven HVAC that cuts energy use, and events that turn members into collaborators. The Urban Land Institute’s 2025 report calls this flight to quality a long-term trend, predicting more companies will shed 20–25 percent of legacy space while upgrading the rest. (The Wall Street Journal)

Vacancy rates, fit-out costs, and employee preferences have all shifted, but the mindset of many landlords hasn’t. Employers who embrace coworking tap into a ready-made ecosystem of flexibility, community, and wellness. They get predictable costs, happier teams, and a space that can morph with every market cycle.

In an era where trust outperforms control, that’s not just smart real-estate strategy. It’s good leadership.

DeShawn Brown
Coworks
+1 919-576-9430
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