The pandemic has forced people to work from home but with COVID-19 vaccinations rolling out across the US and South Florida, that might change soon. Meanwhile, businesses have adapted this past year, finding more cost-effective ways to operate by avoiding long-term leases and using co-working spaces.
“Never tried the concept of remote or home office, we thought that couldn’t be possible,” said Daniel Abrego.
The pandemic has changed the work life for Daniel Abrego and millions across the nation. Abrego has been working at Iconic Workspaces in Aventura since his office closed last year.
He said it was hard to adapt working out of a co-working space, but now he doesn’t see his company ever going back.
“It’s so cost-effective to work from these type of locations that we’re having second thoughts on how to manage,” he said.
With the majority of office employees working from home during the pandemic, demand to work at co-working spaces plummeted.
[We have] everything from real-estate, to health and wellness, marketing, as well as entrepreneurs,” said Stephanie Phillips with Iconic Workspaces Aventura.
But according to Stephanie Phillips with Iconic Workspaces, better days are ahead.
“We actually increased [business] in the pandemic. We actually thought we were going to take a hit but a lot of people have been creating social business life,” said Stephanie.
Reports show before COVID, 17% of people worked from home full-time in the U.S. Once the pandemic hit, that number jumped up to 44%.
Founder and CEO of Native Realty, Jaime Sturgis, said last year companies were in cost-cutting mode, avoiding long-term lease commitments.
“There were people that were puling back and they wanted to see what was going to happen. If work from home was going to be a permanent or semi-permanent thing,” said Sturgis.
Vaccines are now changing the way businesses are operating.
“There’s a preference now to go towards more single-story or two-three freestanding buildings, and lot of these [companies] are actually looking to purchase instead of lease. We’ve also seen a lot of people that are looking to get out of their house. Between screaming babies, barking dogs and cramped spaces, we’ve also seen a lot of people that just need a little bit of space to work and breathe,” said Sturgis.
Abrego said his company is going to stay on the workspace route and they plan to rent a few more office spaces for more of their employees.
“All the administration [and] all the back office operation they could continue working remotely from these type of space because as I said it’s very cost-effective,” said Abrego.
Iconic Workspaces has two locations in South Florida. They offer daily passes and memberships. For more information, click here.
