Co-Working Is Evolving Beyond Shared Space

Martinico: “Co-working companies are bringing in speakers, having happy hours, creating networking events and putting potential customers under the same roof.”

SAN DIEGO—Sharing of HR and admin services, networking parties and encouraging synergies among tenants is the next phase for the growing co-working segment of the office sector, Gensler’s director of workplace Maria Martinico tells GlobeSt.com. Gensler and ICE hosted an event last Thursday titled “Future of the Workplace Ecosystem,” a discussion with local and national industry experts.

Much of the discussion was based on Gensler’s 2016 US Workplace Survey data, which provides a window into the workplaces of “top innovators” as measured by Gensler’s Innovation Index—an average of six tested and validated questions—focused on innovation, leadership and creativity. Top innovators are determined by segmenting respondents into four groups based on their Innovation Index scores and identifying those employees ranking their companies as the most innovative in the sample. By comparing employees with the highest innovation index scores—those in the top quartile or 25%—to those in the bottom quartile, Gensler’s Survey identified a suite of behaviors and spatial attributes that markedly increase innovation.