A New Paradigm for Shared Office Space: The Professional Services Hub
As companies commit to the hybrid work model, many are downsizing their offices and moving into shared spaces.
In this moment of transition, Firmspace has noticed the emergence of a new office paradigm: shared office spaces now also serve members by acting as a hub that aggregates and recommends local, qualified professional services providers.
This service spans industries like legal and financial, creating opportunities for partnerships, client deals, and other business cross-pollination.
How does this look different from the coworking model that was the norm back five and 10 years ago?
A professional services hub retains separate spokes, unlike what you might have experienced at a crowded coworking bar during a pre-pandemic happy hour with free beer on tap. Instead, shared offices are moving toward a referral-centric model that reduces friction for professionals as they look for the right services to support their business needs.
A New Baseline for Access to Professional Services Recommendations
Shared office spaces can distinguish their offerings with amenities that teams can’t get at home, including …
Front-desk service.
Mail and shipping service.
Onsite IT support.
Access to a notary public.
Onsite customer experience staff.
The service component of coworking and other shared office spaces may be especially desirable to small companies that don’t have robust HR departments. This way, coming into the office means having to worry about anything but the work that matters, whether you only stop in for one day a week or you maintain a regular membership at your shared workspace.
The Trusted Recommendations You and Your Team Need
We believe the office should be a place where professionals go to accomplish their work. But for those who work in shared office space, it can also be a place where a network of professionals get things done.
It’s not a stretch to imagine a future in which professionals at Firmspace also gain access to a roster of known and trusted referrals within the list of professional services ou. r members so often need to support their work. These may include …
Financial planners.
Accountants.
Actuaries.
Legal services.
Investment managers.
But this should not be confused with a play-to-play model in which Firmspace staff simply refer our members to other professionals who hold Firmspace memberships around the country. All recommendations for professional services providers would be carefully vetted and primarily consist of relationships our team has built internally.
With a shared office, it’s not uncommon to find recommendations for Realtors, but in the future where professionals operate on shorter-term contracts and the membership model gains popularity, we’ll see more and more folks look to each other for trusted support.
We will also endeavor to have a recommendation on hand for the professional needs our members have, outside of secure and private workspaces.
How the Rise of Productivity as a Service Will Bring about This New Paradigm
Professionals are returning to downtown office spaces because they – and their employers – understand the value of reserving time and space specifically for office work. As many folks establish new routines for their daily commutes this summer and fall, these professionals are thinking about two major priorities:
Health and safety
Productivity
For many, the entire purpose of headinging downtown every day or trading your apartment for the office is to gain productive working hours.
With this, we’re seeing the rise of Productivity as a Service. Professionals are looking for ways to maximize their time in the office, trom project management tools to increased interest in private office space. For this group, working at a shared office space that also acts as a professional services hub is a natural fit, as it saves them the time and stress of identifying the right vendors for their legal, actuarial, and financial needs.
The Office Has Always Been a Hub
The idea of the office as a professional services hub isn’t new: professionals have long relied on their offices as a headquarters for their ambitions outside of the home. It’s where people still gather to collaborate on shared goals and initiatives, and even the pandemic hasn’t changed this.
At Firmspace, we’re continually thinking about how our spaces can better serve our members, and much of our focus this fall is on the ways we can reduce friction from their everyday lives.
If you’d like to know more about what a membership at Firmspace entails, book a tour or reach out to our staff today.