50% of coworking members don’t pay for their own space – and other insights from new survey
We know that coworking is booming. But who is choosing to work there?
To understand who coworkers are and what it takes to run a coworking space successfully, we at Haven Insights ran a nation-wide (US) survey of 300+ coworking space members.
Along with demographic and behavioral data, our survey instrument gathered deep-dive feedback on how coworkers think about coworking, their space, and their coworking community. Beyond metrics on awareness and perceptions about coworking generally, the instrument instead focused on why coworkers choose to cowork — and what it is about their experience that keeps them coming back.
What we learned
Coworkers are Millenials—likely to fall between the ages of 25 and 34. Most (77 percent) are under 29 years of age. A third of coworkers perceive that they are younger than other coworkers who are using the space. Among millennial coworkers, only half report that their parents understand the concept of coworking.
Most coworkers own or work with a small business or a startup. Thirty-one percent are corporate employees who work for a larger company. This segment aligns with the 25 percent of total coworkers who report that their company purchases seats or membership at the coworking space for the use of remote employees. A further 25 percent of all coworkers expense the cost of membership to their company, whether that company is a large corporate entity or a small business.
Of the coworkers who reported having moved to their current location within the last year, most indicated that the potential to work at a cowork space encouraged them to go ahead with the move.
Most coworkers learned about the concept very recently (64 percent within the last four years). Seventy-five percent joined a coworking space for the first time within the last four years, showing that those who became familiar with the concept more than five years ago decided to join a space more recently. When researching their current space, most coworkers found the information they needed online (55 percent).
When visiting the space, most coworkers found the furniture to be at least moderately important, though coworkers do not place such an emphasis on furnishings and “vibes” as cowork space owners do.
These are just a few of the findings from our research. In all, our report is almost 40 pages long, full of commentary, graphs, key findings from our survey and in-depth interviews with coworking space owners around the US. We designed every survey question in order to empower current and prospective cowork space owners with real-world consumer data about their target market.
For a copy of the report, go here. (The first 50 downloads with the code NEWWORKER will receive fifty percent off.)
To learn more about Haven Insights, visit http://www.haveninsights.com.
