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In this video, Sylvia Bay, Vice President and Senior Director (Design) at JustCo, one of Asia’s leading coworking players, discusses how JustCo adapted to the pandemic, as well as, their perspectives on building the future of work by creating smart digital workspaces.
Managing the pandemic when you have multiple coworking locations across different countries.
When COVID-19 hit China, JustCo’s local teams were able to react quickly and put in place measures to keep members and staff safe. Although the outbreak affected their industry, they saw an increase in inquiries from businesses looking for alternative working arrangements.
While the pandemic started in China at the end of December 2019, by January, many cities, including Shanghai, had announced the closure of offices. In Singapore, where JustCo is headquartered, the impact of the pandemic was felt in February and March as the country closed its borders to overseas travelers. At the time of the recording, JustCo’s centers in Singapore and Jakarta were closed due to government mandates. The rest of the centers in other cities, including Bangkok, Shanghai, Sydney, Melbourne, and Taiwan, were fully operational.
Providing safe working conditions in coworking spaces during COVID-19
JustCo implemented stringent safety measures in all its centers to ensure a safe and productive work environment. This included signs and markings to adhere to social distancing guidelines, reconfiguring furniture, placing hand sanitizers at touchpoints, providing contactless thermometers and health declaration forms, and increasing cleaning measures.
In Singapore, there was a mandate for everyone to scan a QR code for a Safe Entry Check-in when entering a building, and JustCo enforced it at its main doors. Additionally, and aiming at providing safe workplaces, the brand also required visitors and members to fill out health declaration forms and show them to safety officers at the main entry door of their coworking space. During this entire time, JustCo worked closely with their building management to ensure temperature screening was conducted, also reducing queuing through a declaration form via their app.
Managing the return to coworking spaces across different countries
Silvia moved on to explain how they managed the reopening of their spaces. They touched in with General Managers every week to find out how members were responding to the reopening. In countries like Taiwan and Korea, where the COVID-19 situation was under control, a high percentage of members (95%) returned to the office and were operating on a daily basis. For those who continued to work remotely, JustCo kept communication open with their community team by having regular calls to ensure their needs were met.
JustCo set up different activities to encourage members to return after the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, the marketing team sent mailers to explain the measures in place and promote business continuity. Virtual events and collaboration opportunities through the company’s Just Connect feature were also utilized. Additionally, in Singapore, the company initiated a program where members would receive free surgical-grade masks as a welcome back to their space. The community team distributed the masks to encourage members to wear them, as was mandated by the government.
Finding a community of like-minded spaces worldwide to build a safe return to work standards.
WORC is a council of 16 workplace operators and 20 advisors that have come together to develop new guidelines to minimize the risk of COVID-19 spread in the workplace. JustCo has been honored to be invited to join this initiative, alongside other coworking operators from Europe, Asia Pacific, and India, to share their best practices and protocols.
The goal of WORC at the time was to put together a playbook that highlights key health and hygiene guidelines to ensure safe distancing between employees or members and to dispel the myth that coworking was not here to stay. JustCo has participated in WORC by contributing to the playbook, online meetings, and Slack channels.
Coworking post Covid-19
When asked about coworking post-pandemic, Sylvia believed that coworking would still be relevant, as businesses would rethink their work arrangements for a long-term future-proofing strategy. JustCo was looking, at the time of our video, to roll out new initiatives to ramp up its technology solutions and push the boundaries of its flexible workspaces and community programs. The company is using space utilization analytics and tech-powered tools like smart Digital Workspace to help track and evaluate how spaces are effectively used and facilitate member connections.
JustCo wants to create activity-based community building through the use of technology, as people crave human interaction. All of this will be powered by the JustCo app.
Decentralized Coworking
JustCo introduced, during the pandemic, a new concept of a decentralized coworking space with a pay-per-minute option. Members of the public can now use the flexible and adjustable space and amenities, like hot desking areas, seminar rooms, meeting rooms, and phone booths, via the JustCo mobile app. Sylvia believes that this new concept is great for those who are constantly traveling and need a quiet place to work and have meetings, as they can use these facilities and pay as they go. The pay-per-minute option provides the freedom to use the space at any time and the credit card system allows easy check-in and check-out.
Looking ahead, an outlook on the future of coworking
As an architect and designer, Sylvia said she believes that office spaces will become more deskless in the future. Instead of quickly adding partitions and dividers, people should adjust to the new norm of social distancing by being mindful of giving each other space. The office space might become more focused on providing areas for communication and engagement, rather than just workstations.