Australia’s two largest homegrown co-working providers have come together to test a new hybrid work model, which remain a permanent demand beyond the pandemic.
Hub Australia and WOTSO’s will create one of the most flexible work offerings in the country, with the innovative pilot providing more than 25 flexible workspaces to their combined 7000 members across the country.
The national alliance will offer Hub Australia’s premium city co-working spaces alongside WOTSO’s suburban offering.
Hub Australia offers hospitality-inspired workspaces across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide, while WOTSO remains one of the only suburban and regional co-working offerings in the country.
Hub Australia’s Business Impact and Economic Survey in December 2020 found that 44 per cent of members wanted closer to home locations, 46 per cent planned to attend the office for collaboration and 51 per cent would attend a CBD office for regular business.
Hub Australia founder and chief executive Brad Krauskopf said the sites will be open to all members during the pilot.
“Our new alliance with WOTSO gives both companies’ members the choice to stay close to home, or instead spend the day enjoying our premium city amenities,” he said
“We firmly believe hybrid workstyles are a permanent demand beyond the pandemic and many will spend their week working from multiple locations.
“Our corporate and enterprise customers recognise that they need to embrace flexible workspaces to attract and retain talented staff – we believe that offering them a network of workspaces nationally will help them achieve this.”
A WOTSO working space
Mr Krauskopf said analysing where members work during the trial will identify notable trends related to the future of work, with the partnership to enable data-driven insight into the working preferences of Australians post-pandemic.
“This program will help us develop measurable data on how people want to use flexible workspace and how their working routines have changed,” he said.
“We still expect to see large numbers of members capitalise on the amenity that CBD locations provide, but there’s no doubt some of our members will relish the opportunity to work from WOTSO sites in their local areas such as Manly or the Sunshine Coast.”
WOTSO joint managing director Jessie Glew said a shift in work trends has meant people are looking for options to spend more time working closer to home.
“Our partnership with Hub Australia means we are able to expand on a fully flexible model that supports businesses and offers workers the ultimate combination of days in the CBD along with days near home,” he said.
The co-working providers will be testing the model until July 30, 2021 – members of each company can access any Hub Australia and WOTSO space using complimentary day pass access.
