670 hours of annual productivity because you chose a shared office space

The 9-to-5 Work Model is of the Past

My children have seen my husband and the office daily to work. In their early years, I stayed home to care for them.

He woke-up, biked, dressed-up, walked to the train station, and then almost did the same again. Walked to the train station, dressed down, and biked to end his day. Sometimes he “worked at home.” Sometimes, he worked very late; through the night. Only to come home to shower, take a nap, and go back to work. This was usually when it was earning season.

Working remote was nothing new. When our first baby was born in 2002; he brought files home with a special issue laptop and a floppy disk with files. By 2005, our second arrived (it’s his birthday today). The files were online. The Laptop and files were gone, and he had a VPN connection that took him to a virtual office. His office was digitized, and we sat in this quiet deceptive phase. As he moved up the ranks, he scored a corner office. Then something interesting happened. They moved offices; his corner office evaporated; he had to hotel – no one had an office.

If he forgot to book someone else took his usual space. If he was late to work someone else took his space; how he hated those “auto bump” emails informing him that he did not have a place to do his thing that day. This uncertainty made him rethink his schedule, enforced discipline and “lived and die by his calendar.”

Waking up and going to my office space in Jersey City

Enter CORONAVIRUS 2020. The commute changed; we were home all the time. He biked even more and then not at all. Our kids had grown so I was back to work running WorkSocial. Unknowingly, ridding a deceptive trend of the vanishing office space. I was Waking up and going to my office space in Jersey City. We adapted to the lockdown. Socially distancing desks, implementing cleaning measures, rethinking our service offerings and pricing models. Mind you, during this time, all I could do make sure we helped our members and Clients. We all experienced the tragedy of the virus hit home. We all had at least a family member, or a friend, or a neighbor, that familiar face that smile just vanish.

The hustle and bustle of the WorkSocial community had changed. It evolved into a calm and serene mecca of distance, respectful work, video conferences, and phone calls. There was a sense of certainty at WorkSocial, while the world order remained uncertain.

From Disruption to Demonetization: The lease free impact hub that helps its members and community

The flexible hoteling office was all but DONE. The traditional workplace…flexible workplace became very inflexible. It was outdated. Even before the pandemic, We had reimagined the workday. We mapped the future. Safety and trust became our mantra.

We wanted people to come in and leave only once to go home. So, we served up delicious meals daily. To help local restaurants we added a lunch and snack service.

I made delicious frappes and overnight oats. I consulted naturopaths to understand how I could load them up with immunity-building ingredients like goldenseal and zinc.

We hired an all-female, all minority, all fabulous workforce. We had transformed, from an impact hub that helped companies develop productive safe satellite workspaces. And, when safe connects with colleagues to collaborate.

Something else has transformed, our clients. We started catering to public companies and large consulting firms. I saw them making the workplace benefit similar to a 401k benefit or a gym membership– not everyone will use it, but it’s an indicative marker for sophisticated workplaces of the future.

A have your cake and eat it too environment

The biggest takeaway from what we’ve found is the fascinating duality surrounding remote work preferences. People miss their colleagues, culture, and in-person collaboration, but they do not miss their commutes or the rigid 9 to 5 office day.

WorkSocial removed the commuting friction to supported by safe, flexible, local workplace options all around the country. Consider the workplace benefit as a “have your cake and eat it, too” scenario of sorts–or in other words, have your remote work and access to in-person collaboration, too.

Sharing Values: Our Carbon footprint and getting profitable

We began looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint is not only the right thing for the environment and our future, it is a decided business advantage – a value that attracts talent and creates innovation and meaningful work. We have committed to planting 10,000 trees by 2025. We only use biodegradable products and reduced the use of paper.

Distributed workplaces have other derivative benefits: Reduce fixed costs of getting to work and office management by 60%

1. C02 emissions when you don’t drive to work
2. 470 hours of wasted time in travel and recovery per employee (10 workweeks)
3. 200 hours of time saved (missed meetings, late nights and travel delays) (5 workweeks)
4. Boost local economies
5. Take the lease liability ROU off your balance-sheet

The numbers are interesting; you can bring in 670 hours of annual productivity because you chose to rent shared office space.

Our journey from Demonetization to dematerialization

We are no longer an office space provider. Yes, office rent is a line item on our income statement. But we do so much more for our clients.

We are a shipper, a mailroom, a telecom, a travel agent, an insurance company, a caterer, a fundraiser, a wedding venue, a party planner, your admin, a helpdesk, a marketer, and your bank. We have just blended everything you need in your office into a single service provider of growth.

Democratizing our impact

What we do works and now we are proud to say that David gets to play on the same ground at the Goliaths. We are no WeWork we are even better. We have started to collaborate with like-minded operators nationally. We now have offices in NY, LA, and San Francisco.

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