Dive Brief:
- WeWork plans to pursue the WELL Coworking Rating at nearly half of its more than 600 global locations, the company announced in a press release Wednesday.
- The International WELL Building Institute and the Instant Group launched the WELL Coworking Rating in October 2024 to validate and showcase how coworking and flexible workspaces can meet “evidence-based health and well-being measures,” the organizations said at the time.
- “Today’s workers want an exceptional workplace environment, and well-being is a key part of that experience,” Ebbie Wisecarver, chief design and product officer at WeWork said in a statement. “Pursuing the WELL Coworking Rating across our portfolio underscores that commitment to our members, embedding health and wellness into the spaces they use every day.”
Dive Insight:
The U.S. coworking market has been growing steadily this year, helped by demand in mid-tier markets, with much of the growth in smaller-format spaces. Flexible space has become more common since the COVID-19 pandemic as employers reduce their space to accommodate hybrid work arrangements, Yardi Matrix said in its April national office outlook report.
WeWork is the fifth-largest U.S. coworking company in terms of its distribution in the 50 largest U.S. markets, according to CoworkingCafe. It has been trying to grow the market by pushing into new types of spaces. In April, it launched WeWork Go, which provides private office pods for focused work in high-traffic areas like airports and convention centers.
Now, the company is working to attract demand by placing workplace well-being as a key focus, said Wisecarver.
Health, well-being and workplace performance are becoming “increasingly important factors in workspace selection and portfolio decision-making” across the Instant Group’s global client portfolio, said Sam Pickering, managing director of Incendium Consulting, a part of that company.
The WELL Coworking Rating spans the 10 WELL Building Standard concepts, including air, water, light, thermal comfort, movement and nourishment, the founding groups said. To get a rating, coworking companies must document the strategies and changes they’ve implemented to reach their well-being goals and submit the documentation for third-party review.
IWBI President and CEO Rachel Hodgdon said the commitment sends a powerful signal to the market. “People deserve spaces designed not only for flexibility and convenience, but also for human health and performance,” she said in a statement.
