NY-based WeWork Eyes Indian Millennial With Its Co-Working Spaces

WeWork India, the Indian arm of the New-York based global co-working giant-WeWork is on an expansion mode. The US co-working giant has already launched three workspaces in Bengaluru and 2 in Mumbai and is now well set to launch one in Gurugram, which will be called WeWork Bristol Chowk. WeWork therefore will soon have as many as six co-working spaces inIndia. But that’s not all. Many more are in the pipeline, said Karan Virwani, General Manager, WeWork India. Virwani, an alumnus of KENT University and a new age entrepreneur, actually aims at building a new business model for the millennial workforce who are bringing in a new wave of energy. With a thought to cater to a new business model for the millennial workforce, he brought WeWork to India. A game changer in the co-working space, Karan is propagating the work culture of ‘Do What You Love’ in the Indian scenario with WeWork, where one joins as an individual but ultimately becomes a part of the greater ‘we’!

Quite significantly, the NCR office real estate market remains the second-most preferred destination for occupiers across the country, grabbing 18 per cent market share, only behind Bengaluru. Talking about the latest offer from the stable- WeWork Bristol Chowk, Virwani said that sprawling over five floors and 1,05,000 sqft., the workspace can easily accommodate 1430+ desks with world-class facilities. The workspaces have remarkably superior infrastructure and support system for all sizes of businesses operating at any scale and across domains.

When it comes to office space, co-working, predominantly a concept and culture of the western world till one or two years ago, is fast catching up in Indian metro cities now. Co-working involves various individuals or start-ups sharing a common workplace environment with flexibility making them suitable for different kinds of occupiers. If one goes by what different property analysts say, flexibility seems to be one of the fundamental propositions of newer office typologies whether it is a serviced office, business centre, incubator or a co-working establishment.

Ramesh Nair, CEO & country head, JLL India, points out that at a pan-India level, co-working space of 0.73 million square feet got absorbed last year and in terms of the number of seats available, around 9,600 are available at co-working facilities across the country. Out of the total absorption, Mumbai sprung a surprise with the highest absorption level nationally, followed by Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad. In terms of availability of seats, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai lead the way and are followed by Bangalore, Kolkata, etc.

“Day-by-day co-working spaces are becoming important, given that start-ups are mushrooming across sectors and businesses as India’s millennial workforce increase in size and becomes increasingly entrepreneurial.  This workforce look for spaces that can inspire creativity, provide the means of collaborating with others and keep pace with changing preferences and needs. Increasing mobility and connectivity also means that the current and future workforce does not want to be physically rooted to a few square feet of space,” says Anshul Jain, managing director, India, Cushman & Wakefield.

Interestingly, according to a survey by PWC, millenials will form 50  per cent of the global workforce by 2020. With a special focus upon new workplace designs and work cultures, such international co-working spaces like WeWork are taking care of the holistic wellness of its employees by providing them sports and games facilities, gaming zones, spa, meditation and frustration zones to release the office blues, concierge services and large event areas for office parties and summits.