The morning vehicular traffic of people on their way to work has returned, after months of having slowed down due to the health contingency caused by Covid-19. But despite the fact that people have returned to their workplaces (some with hybrid formats), the offices do not finish filling up.

Seeing recovery slow, attempts have been made to find other solutions to high vacancy rates. Among them is the reconversion and greater flexibility of the spaces.

Given the situation, one must think about “adapting spaces, changing the vocation of buildings as required; think about coliving. We must rethink users and their needs, which have been changing; that from going to live near his job he went to go to the corporate ones and now the new trend is the hybrid mode, ”says Erick Pérez, president of the Mexican Association of Coworkings.

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He considers that the rent of spaces has increased by 20%, compared to the last quarter of the year, “in private offices in business centers, coworking spaces or private spaces and in virtual offices. The occupation of private offices, he indicates, is increasing, but very slowly”.

Boardrooms and conference rooms is a segment that is doing very well, he says, because technology is required for team meetings and it is something that is needed. Coworking has also been successful, as many people are in the home office, although 80% of people are not happy with working at home all the time for various reasons; schedules, distractions of all kinds or the internet capacity is not adequate.

“Programmers and designers don't have that much of a problem. But we are social beings, we need human contact. So being at home is fine, but not a full day. People no longer want to be at home, nor do they want to travel two or three hours to their workplaces, and the 9 million square meters in Mexico City are concentrated in the same area,” he adds.

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Amxco perceives “we are recovering, not as we should because the national economy has not recovered due to many factors. Before the pandemic we were growing 30% per year. It predicts that all the people who work in a workspace, in any type of office, will do so in a flexible space and calculates 30% of the population by 2030.

There is no ideal recovery, the market has not leaned towards one service or another in particular, but the gradual recovery is felt.

The key issue is, says the president of Amxco, quality, "that you pay for a good service, which is why we choose to offer all the protection measures and facilities such as renting an office for three to six months, furnished and equipped , being that before it could not be rented for less than a year. And flexibilities like allowing growth or cutting expenses also count.

What we are learning, concludes Pérez, is that "the world and employees are constantly evolving, they have other types of interests, aspirations and that as a workspace industry we have to evolve, be more flexible and adapt, because the workforce it is the most important thing for companies, and their people are in our spaces.

In Solili you can consult available offices in Reforma, Insurgentes and Polanco

Original note