Co-working spaces to gain most in post Covid times, say the industry

Managed office spaces are the preferred option for the corporates right now, says Oshika Lumb, Co-founder, FindMyCoWork.com.

Speaking at Realty Webseries, a Realty & More and ICCPL initiative, Lumb said as per the lead matrix nobody is comfortable to go for a hot desk immediately due to social distancing. “However the co-working players who are putting their best foot forward, the promoters who are working towards sanitization, who are providing thermal scanners, etc. but in 3-4 months I see even the hot desk culture is emerging”, said Lumb.

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On asking if there are any sustainable margins right now on which the industry is operating, Puneet Chandra, Co-founder & Director, Skootr said that this industry has to be looked into from a long term perspective. The Skootr Co-founder added that In any industry in a downturn, people conserve and the margins shrink. “But in a long term view I think just wait about 6-8 months down the line, I think all co-working will thank this Covid period”, said Chandra.

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Another panellist at the event, Vineet Anand, Director – Office Services NCR, Colliers International said that the clients of the IPC are currently not even asking for abatements or discounts. Anand said that the occupiers are sitting with co-working players and developers and working towards reworking their leases so that they built in those flexibilities and secure future and secure flexibility norms in those lease deeds. “So I think it is more of a long term than short term”, added Anand.

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MD of another co-working space provider, Worknest Business Centre, Tanisha Batra said the cost per seat has gone up. Batra further elaborated that the cleaning and maintenance expenses have gone up and that these are taken into the accounts. “But this is a very temporary and short term thing which will stabilise in a span of 3-4 months. Right now the focus is on building relationships and not making money out of it. We are focusing on how to sail through the whole thing and saving on costs”, added Batra.

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On asking about the demands that the industry has made to the Government post Covid, Vikas Lakhani, Co-founder, InstaOffice said that they have requested the
TDS refunds to be expedited. Lakhani informed that the Government has paid heed to this and a lot of TDS refunds have come. The industry has also urged to take various liqu9idity boosting measures, said Lakhani.

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Tier II co-working player, Next57 Coworking’s Founder Prashant Sharma said that there is a good bandwidth that is adapting work from home style in Chandigarh specifically, but at the same time, Sharma said there are lot of companies who are downsizing, who are exploring the options of adopting a co-working space. “So I think time will tell how much hit its going to cost us in Tier II cities”, said Sharma.

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Ankur Bhatiani, Director, Urbania Spaces that in the current times when a lot of companies have sacked a lot of people, they are not going to sit at home. Bhatiani said these people would either like to join another company or start something on their own. “for the start-ups, the best option available is co-working offices”, said Bhatiani.

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