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22 / BUILDING DIALOGUE / MARCH 2017
T he picture has been clearly painted: We are
at the threshold of an intense talent war.
Not only is good talent going to be increas-
ingly hard to find considering the global work-
force crisis, but also of the existing talent pool, 87
percent self-reports that they are passively or ac-
tively open to a new employer. No wonder Forbes
says leadership’s top leadership concern in 2017
should be laser-focused on talent retention.
Both shrinking and diversifying, without a doubt –
the talent pool is rapidly shifting to an unprecedent-
ed state. As the talent pool plummets to the stagger-
ing global deficit in 2020, another facet has reached a
record pique. Over half of our work force in 2020 will
identify as freelance, independent or contract, all part
of what is called the contingent workforce. Helping
to drive this expansion is the growing class of entre-
preneurs who work as sole practitioners in their own
business ventures – known as “solopreneurs” – as well
as those who take on part-time independent assign-
ments – sometimes referred to as “side-giggers.” The
1099 worker is outpacing the W-2 employee, per the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Why the shift? The con-
tingent worker cites many positive benefits of their
independence, from a heightened sense of control in
their life balance, increase in revenue and swell of net-
work, and feeling healthier and happier on their own.
As for the physical workplace that serves these en-
trepreneurs, a multitude of alternative, on-demand
spaces, called co-working environments (or incuba-
tors, ecosystems, etc.) seem suitable for serving a broad
range of both start-up and tenured businesses. Users
can capitalize on the opportunities of flexibility, en-
hanced community and shared resources. Businesses
of all sizes and types – ranging from small start-ups
to global enterprises – choose to locate employees or
teams in shared work environments, either temporar-
ily or on an ongoing basis.
The Evolution of Co-working
The global co-working
movement can trace its origins
to the emergence of “hacker-
spaces” in the mid-1990s. These
open workplaces provided
physical spaces where people
with common digital technol-
ogy interests could gather to
work on projects while sharing
ideas, equipment and knowl-
edge. Brian DeKoven, a game
designer, coined the term
“co-working” in 1999, identify-
ing a working style to facilitate
collaboration and meetings. A
few years later, a broader con-
cept of co-working emerged
with the 2005 launch of the
first official collaborative
workspace: the San Francisco
Co-working Space, located in the city’s Mission District.
Presently, the number of co-working spaces around
the world has increased by nearly 700 percent since
2011. Globally, an estimated a half-million people work
in more than 7,800 shared workspaces today – a num-
ber that is expected to climb to 37,000 over the next
two years. Surprisingly, more than half of the users are
frommid- and large-sized corporate organizations. Or-
ganizations encourage employees to work in co-work-
ing spaces for a variety of reasons – primarily to foster
creativity, network, recruit and learn how to emulate the
“start-up vitality” back at their corporate locations. They
have chosen co-working strategies as part of their sup-
plementary, and sometimes even primary, office solu-
tions to anticipate positive results toward:
• Attraction and retention
• Innovation
• Enhanced community
• Improved space utilization
Moving Forward
According to MBO Partners’ annual ‘State of Indepen-
dence in America’ report, 17.8 million people are now
full-time independent workers; in addition to the full-
time independents, another 12.4 million ‘side-giggers’
take on part-time independent work.
Based on research frombothMcKinsey Global Institute and Boston Consulting
Group, there will be a worldwide shortage of talent in the years ahead.
Jenny West,
LEED AP ID+C
Architecture
and Design
Manager,
Knoll