How Flexible Office Space Models Are Changing

Ever tried to plan headcount for 12 months, while your office lease wants 7 years? That’s the gap this “new breed” of shared offices is filling: not the old “rows of hot desks” coworking story, but plug-and-play private suites, flexible terms, and operators running space with owners instead of betting the farm on long master leases. (Different risk profile, different incentives) Office supply is quietly getting tighter in the places people actually want to be. Data shows that in the top 58 U.S. markets, more office space is being demolished or converted than newly built in 2025��about 23.3M SF coming out vs 12.7M SF coming in. That’s a structural shift and not a one-quarter blip. So if you’re a tenant, the “easy button” increasingly looks like: → Flex suites in better buildings (because the operator already built out the spec, tech, and services) → Shorter commitments (because nobody wants to gamble on a perfect 5-year forecast) → Right-sized footprints that can expand/contract without a full relocation And for markets like Florida, this tracks with what we’re seeing on the ground: demand is still there, but it’s choosy. The flight is toward quality, convenience, and terms that don’t punish you for being realistic. Shared offices aren’t replacing traditional leases. They’re becoming the “buffer layer” between uncertainty and commitment, especially while owners reposition older product and new office construction stays selective.

Forget Soho House's stock price for a second. And think about their $450 million in annual membership fees. The real estate world isn't just about leases anymore. It's about recurring revenue. Membership models have changed real estate forever: Real estate is changing fast. It's not just about owning buildings anymore. The old way was simple: buy property, sign leases, collect rent. But that's old news now. New models sell access, not just space: • Travelers join private travel clubs instead of just booking hotels • Teams join coworking spaces with amenities, instead of just renting white boxes • Residents buy into living experiences with perks, not just apartments • Second home buyers invest in flexible ownership, not just one vacation house This change from leases to memberships is everywhere: Hotels → Vacation Clubs (Marriott → Timbers Club) Office Leases → Flexible Workspaces (CBRE → Industrious) Golf Course Homes → Private Club Investments (Random HOA → Discovery Land Co.) 1. Predictable cash flow • Traditional leases mean constant turnover headaches • But members stay for years—not months • When hotel occupancy drops, membership dues keep coming That's why these businesses survive downturns better than conventional properties. 2. Higher customer value • Members spend way more than regular customers • A hotel guest stays once and may never come back • A club member comes back multiple times Plus they bring friends who become new members. 3. Unique market position • Institutional capital can't play here • Their investment rules force them into old categories • They need to put $100M+ to work—these emerging categories are too small (for now) That creates a sweet spot for smaller investors. That's why we're seeing membership models explode in: • Branded home communities—like buying into a luxury club • Adventure sports spots—private surf, ski, and nature getaways • Marinas & waterfront spots—exclusive access plus growing value • EV & green hubs—premium charging and eco-travel networks The future isn't just about owning space—it's about selling access. What's the next type of real estate that'll shift to subscriptions? 

This article in MIT Sloan Management Review on hybrid work by Nick Bloom, Prithwiraj Choudhury, and Brian Elliott confirms what we've been documenting for years: This isn't a location problem. It's a leadership capability gap. While too many executives still debate office attendance, their more forward-thinking, innovative competitors build the leadership AND operational capabilities that a high-performance flexible work model--not just "hybrid"--requires. The research and case studies that the article cites get critical points right: ✅ "To date, no peer-reviewed research shows a benefit to a rigid five-day office model." ✅ Synchrony's CEO focusing on measurable results over presence. ✅ Atlassian's teams creating working agreements. ✅ The reality that only 25% of managers of distributed teams get leadership training (and we wonder why they are reporting historically low levels of engagement and burnout!) But this alone doesn't close the capability gap. What I'm seeing in our work with organizations: 👉 Teams need more than permission to create norms. They need facilitation frameworks for making planning and coordination decisions within the context of broader organizational parameters that all levels of leadership have aligned behind. 👉 Managers need consistent protocols, tools and training to guide the conversations about how, when, and where their specific work gets done—not just implement generic policies. This includes defining: → How does work get prioritized and coordinated for your business? → When do teams need to be together in person, and not in person, to achieve specific outcomes? → In what spaces and places (in person and virtual) does different work happen most effectively given your constraints? The article does mention the importance of space redesign and technology but a high-performance flexible work model integrates technology capabilities, and workspace design into the defined parameters as one coordinated way of operating across places, spaces and time. This requires moving: ✅ From debating location to starting with the work and defining how, when and where that work happens best, and ✅ From treating flexibility as policy compliance to building it as strategic capability. The evidence is clear. The business case is proven. Organizations that build these operational and leadership capabilities have a competitive advantage and will outperform those still debating badge swipes. What's the biggest capability gap you're addressing to help your organization achieve high levels of sustainable performance working flexibly? #FutureOfWork #FlexibleWork #RTO #HybridWork #Leadership #WorkplaceStrategy #HighPerformanceFlexibility #ReimagineWork

What happens when a company truly litsens to its employees? In 2020, Allstate (The Insurance Company) asked a simple yet transformative question: Where do you want to work—office or remote? The response was overwhelming—95% wanted flexibility. Allstate didn’t just listen; they took bold action. Fast forward to 2024: Allstate sold its Chicago HQ at a 62% loss, slashed real estate costs from $382M to $138M, and embraced a fully flexible workplace model. The result? Despite facing one of the worst years for the insurance industry due to extreme weather, Allstate’s stock hit an all-time high, up 77% since… going flexible. Key to this success is Lauren DeYoung Allstate’s “Workplace Futurist.” Under her leadership, the company has evolved once more: employees are now empowered to work from coworking spaces when needed. As Lauren puts it: “We need shared spaces for collaboration and training. But asking people to commute just to sit on video calls? That doesn’t make sense.” This insight shows how the workplace is being re-purposed. The office isn’t obsolete—it’s a strategic tool. For onboarding, collaboration, and team-building, in-person spaces are invaluable, cutting turnover in new-hire teams from 35% to 5%. But for focused work, flexibility remains supreme. The results? 📉 Real estate spending down by two-thirds (Read that again). 📈 Stock price soaring 77% to record highs. Remember: 10% of Fortune 500 companies are now fully flexible—while only 4% remain full-time in-office. The future of work isn’t about picking one model; it’s about blending both. Last time I checked Allstate is a Fortune 100. Allstate’s journey proves that by listening to your people and adapting boldly, any company can thrive in a rapidly changing world. #FutureOfWork #Flexibility #Leadership #WorkplaceTransformation

𝑨 𝒃𝒖𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈. Take flexible workspace. A decade ago, a GCC head evaluating office space was optimising cost per seat. Simple, transactional, easy to benchmark. Today, that same buyer is asking something else entirely: Does this space make a compelling case to global HQ that this centre deserves the next mandate? That's not a small shift. It means the office isn't the product anymore. Every choice they make, the space, the design, the talent visible in it, and how it runs day to day, has to hold up in a boardroom conversation they're not even in the room for. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆. And once you see that, it changes what "selling proof" actually means. It isn't a better lobby or a nicer floor plan. It's building the physical conditions for the one thing AI hasn't touched: judgement. Decisions. Trust between people who have to bet on each other. That work has always happened in proximity, and it's the only work a GCC can still point to and say, "𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆." That's the bet we've built Table Space around, not because enterprises need more desks, but because the world's most demanding occupiers are voting, with their own budgets, that the room where their teams build trust and make the call together is now the asset, not the overhead. When a global HQ is deciding which centre earns the next scope of work, the space itself is quietly part of that pitch. If you think you're selling square footage, you compete on price and location, a fight that erodes margin every year because square footage is the easiest thing in the world to compare. If you understand you're selling the conditions for that argument to be won: talent quality made visible, operational maturity, and a centre built to be trusted with more, you're competing on something almost nobody else in the category is even built to deliver. It's harder to copy and impossible to price-shop. This isn't unique to workspace. Most B2B categories have a version of this same gap: the seller thinks they're selling the product, while the buyer is actually using it to win an argument somewhere else in their organisation, with a boss, a board, or a global HQ. So the real question for any B2B brand isn't which category you're in. It's this: what is your buyer actually using your product to prove? 𝑩𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇. #brandstrategy #b2bmarketing #futureofwork #gcc

The office market has a strange problem. A lot of landlords still think they’re renting space. They’re not. They’re competing with people’s homes. For most of the last century, office management meant keeping the building running. Elevators worked. Air conditioning worked. Bathrooms were clean. Rent got paid. Now an office worker wakes up on Tuesday morning and asks a brutal question: Is this office worth the trip? That one question has done more to expose weak buildings than any broker report ever will. Because the old model was built for a world where people had to show up. The new one has to win them back. This is why the market is splitting in two. Buildings built since 2015 have absorbed 127 million square feet since the pandemic. Buildings from before 1990 have shed 236 million. Prime space in Manhattan now commands a roughly 73% premium over commodity stock. That is not a design trend. That is the market putting a price on relevance. Here’s the part a lot of owners still get wrong. This is not about tossing in better coffee, some lounge chair, and a few events. It is about changing the operating model. The old property manager was judged on tickets, costs, and lease compliance. The new workplace experience model is judged on attendance, engagement, satisfaction, retention, and whether the office helps people do work that is better together than apart. Different job. Different skills. Different math. WeWork, for all its circus act finances, saw this before much of the market did. It treated the office as a product and the manager as a host. The real estate world mocked the packaging and is now rushing to copy many of the idea. Although WeWork got the economics wrong. It got the direction right. So the market is asking for a better office, and most buildings still are not delivering one. 🔁 Repost if you think the future of office belongs to buildings people choose, not buildings people tolerate. ✅ Follow Scott Hartkopf for bold C-Suite perspectives on Architecture, Interior Design and the Future of Work. #Workplace #CRE #Architecture. #InteriorDesign

Had a conversation with Deccan Chronicle Holdings ltd recently on how the flex workspace market is evolving. A few things stood out clearly. The nature of demand has changed. A few years ago, flex was largely startup-led. Today, a significant part of demand is coming from GCCs, BFSI and larger enterprises. And their expectations are different. It’s not just about flexibility. It’s about speed of setup, ability to scale, and not having to deal with operational overhead. That’s where flex is starting to fit in more naturally. Also seeing deal sizes increase. Not because companies want more space for the sake of it. But because infrastructure, compliance standards and overall quality have improved across operators. Another shift that’s becoming more visible. Companies are no longer thinking in terms of one central office. Multiple hubs closer to where teams live is becoming more common. Flex makes that easier to execute. Also interesting to see how GCC-led demand is shaping markets like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and NCR. In many cases, flex becomes the starting point while companies figure out long-term plans. Linking the conversation here for anyone interested: https://lnkd.in/gEtiMHsR

Leaders are losing the ‘return-to-office’ war. Despite all the noise about ditching remote work, the world’s largest flexible workspace provider, IWG, just posted a record $2.1 billion in revenue. The shift is undeniable: companies are downsizing their permanent office spaces as flexible work takes hold. → Over 8 million workers across 120 countries are using IWG spaces, with room signings up 19% this year. → Research shows nearly half of businesses in major markets like the U.K., Germany, and France are seeking smaller workspaces. → Even CEOs are starting to admit it. Only a third now expect a full return to the office in the next three years, down from 62% last year. → 99% of companies enforcing return-to-office mandates have seen a drop in engagement. At Oyster, we’re committed to empowering people to work where and how they thrive. We're supporting companies to hire, pay, and care for the world’s top talent—so everyone, everywhere, has the chance to prosper. The battle for the office is fading. The era of flexible work is here to stay.

Rethinking the Workplace: Why Flexible Spaces are the Future The way we work is evolving, and the impact of smart, flexible, shelf-stable spaces goes beyond aesthetics & function: • It shapes culture • Elevates morale • Boosts productivity • Drives profitability WeWork's latest survey, outlined in a recent discussion by their new CEO - John C. Santora (ex Cushman & Wakefield), highlights just how essential flexible workspaces are becoming: • 86% believe the 'office' will be key to profitability and culture over the next five years. • 72% of companies plan to expand their workspace in the next two years. • Of those, 59% are turning to coworking and flexible office spaces. Breaking it down by work model: • 95% of remote-first companies are planning workspace expansions, with nearly 3 in 4 prioritizing flexible options. • 76% of office-based and 68% of hybrid companies are expanding too, with two-thirds opting for coworking solutions. The takeaway? Whether you’re remote, hybrid, or office-based, flexible workspaces are more than a trend—they’re a strategic investment in culture, innovation, and growth.

We are in a ‘decade of disorientation’. Work practices and the spaces needed to support them are in a rapidly evolving state of flux. For landlords and flex operators, working out how to respond is EXTREMELY challenging, because our customers are themselves uncertain of what the future of work looks like. But there are emerging macro themes, and I have summarised a few pointers below. Whilst none are individually groundbreaking given what we have seen over the past couple of years, collectively I believe they provide a useful guide: 1️⃣ Flexibility is key: 82.5% of knowledge workers in Australia are working in a hybrid or fully remote way (1). Full time office workers are outliers. RTO mandates are proving ineffective. 2️⃣ Creating workspace communities: The workspace must become an attractive destination, as the majority of people now have the choice of whether to go there or not. “..work is less about where it happens and more about how it happens (and how people work together). That's why the ability to create productive work communities has become an urgent skill to master…” (2) 3️⃣ ‘White boxes’ don’t sell: A rich hospitality-led service offering, sustainable design, and a broad range of exceptionally managed and activated amenities are defining factors for the success of any commercial office asset. Pleasant spaces with nice finishes simply don't cut it. Occupiers expect a lot more. 4️⃣ Smaller, but better: We are seeing more than a flight to quality - this is a flight to experience. Traditional office utilisation has stabilised at 42% (3), and consequently many companies are rationalising their footprint and expecting a far higher standard of workspace experience from their landlords. The Australian national office vacancy rate has risen steadily since 2019, albeit prime grade assets are faring better than secondary stock. Of course, with a smaller core CRE lease, the need for overflow flex space becomes even more important. 5️⃣ Obsolescence is accelerating: The dark curtains of building obsolescence are closing on many assets which do not provide flexibility, a broad range of amenities, hospitality-led workspace services, and which cannot keep pace with sustainability requirements. Many secondary assets are simply no longer fit for purpose. 6️⃣ The office is NOT dead: 90% of knowledge workers are hybrid or full time in office (1), thereby requiring a workspace some or all of the time. But the workspace they need is NOT the traditional office that we used to know. It’s a hospitality venue. (1) Source: Hopkins & Bardoel, Swinburne University, 2024 (2) Source: Dr. Sandra Peter, University of Sydney - The 2025 Skills Horizon (3) Source: XY Sense APAC Data Q3 2024 There is much more to this than a few foundational pointers of course. What do you think are the key factors that will help inform the evolution of workspaces to 2030 and beyond?  Asking for a friend…… #futureofwork