Food for thought: WeWork, WeCrashed, We’ll Match-A-latte

In the (not-so-distant) future, your next job offer and even its office space might be just a stone’s throw from your front door (we’re talking big urban spaces here). You won’t stumble upon it on LinkedIn or any job board. By the time the copy’s been approved, the role will already have been signed and filled!

In the future hybrid work world - what will connect those dots?

JUST TWO THINGS:

Local human spaces and local professional platforms.

Right now, the stats say hybrid work isn’t retreating… it’s frothing and steaming itself into hospitality. Post-pandemic office occupancy in the UK hovers around 56% of 2019 levels (JLL, 2024).

And that missing 44%? They’re milling about locally tucked into a cosy café with just enough room to host workers on a flexible day rate, greeted by a barista who knows exactly their drink style.

So who stands to benefit from this shift?

Local cafés that design their spaces (and price them fairly) for both work and leisure, creating fluid, interchangeable areas that flex without feeling like they’re subsidising the big-city corporate leases. And professional community platforms that connect people within those spaces, matcha-le-latting in-person connections that help their members steam ahead.

Sure, we already have co-working spaces. But why aren’t professionals flocking to them? Most wonder: What’s the real difference? I can grab a table and walk into a “designed space,” yet I’m often surrounded by a disparate mix of people who share nothing but the walls around them. 

And therefore we share nothing.

Like corporate offices, these spaces are structured and that structure can stifle - creativity, spontaneity, the feeling that you’re and your life is part of something…  

Cafés (and co-working spaces that get this right), on the other hand, offer a fluid social rhythm and a sense of neutrality, they flex with you. The good ones feel human because they are human. They offer a welcomed antidote to the sterile, unwelcoming environments we often find ourselves in…

Those who manage to blend the two, a local space supported by a local platform, are onto something powerful: creating real value, real connections, for their communities that blend far, far greater things than just a friendly smile…

Checkout our new Tables for Freelancers to connect