Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Co-working places are not just the joy of young shoots and small technologies. IBM confirmed this a few years ago by settling, until 2020, at a New York address of WeWork.
In Quebec, while the pandemic is redefining the rules of work flexibility to the point of questioning the long-term rental of space in office towers, Cossette has changed its universe and made a leap into the WeWork constellation. In November 2021, the agency’s Montreal branch left its 86,000 square feet of space for 35,000 square feet on an entire floor, rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest.
“The lease was coming to an end,” says Louis Duchesne, President, Quebec and Eastern Canada. We had to decide whether to renew or not. We took advantage of COVID to ask questions about remote work. »
PHOTO MORGANE SHOCK, THE PRESS
Louis Duchesne, President, Quebec and Eastern Canada, at Cossette
We thought it would be a great opportunity to choose a collaborative space as an experiment. We couldn’t predict how our way of working would change. Let’s learn without committing ourselves by signing a 10-year lease.
Louis Duchesne, President, Quebec and Eastern Canada, at Cossette
The agency has brought its 500 employees into offices that are specially intended for it. Cossette has its own floor. “Other WeWork members cannot work on our floor, but we can go to other spaces,” confirms Louis Duchesne. It is not a pure solution of coworking. That’s what turned us on. It was more or less conceivable to go to an essentially collaborative place. We felt the need to have our home. »
Such a move can be associated with a loss of prestige… “We thought about that, admits Louis Duchesne. But we are in 2022. The pandemic has been an accelerator of important values in business. To offer an interesting experience to employees, we can no longer just define ourselves in an office space. Even senior management does not have an assigned office. The idea is to choose your space according to the tasks to be accomplished, when you come to the office. »
The rules have changed
COVID-19, hand in hand with the workforce crisis, has upended employees’ desires and priorities and forced companies to question where they work. The moving truck now invites itself into the reflection! “We sold some furniture and works of art to employees, we donated others to organizations, to auctions, we took some pieces with us,” lists Louis Duchesne.
Will other large companies follow? “I doubt that major companies will make such a leap in the long term,” replies Mathieu Turnier, senior partner at the commercial real estate agency Colliers. But the demand for flexibility will increase. In these uncertain times, most companies think of it for a short-term solution, because they do not need to do any work, furnish, wire. Co-working offers all turnkey services, while construction costs have skyrocketed. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY COLLIERS
Mathieu Turnier, Senior Partner at Colliers
Currently, few organizations based in downtown Montreal are going out of business. “It stabilized in the last quarter, says Mathieu Turnier. You see more businesses not taking up all of their square footage or remodeling their current space. Office towers are emptier than before, but that was the case before the pandemic. »
Heading for the suburbs
So rare are the managements that adopt the Cossette formula (and its agencies under the umbrella of Plus Compagnie), many are considering opening satellite offices in co-working spaces in the suburbs to be closer to their employees.
“More traditional companies have been calling us since the start of the pandemic,” notes Francis Talbot, founder of Montreal CoWork. But we have to educate them. Some expect to pay less. However, it is often more expensive per square foot, but they pay for flexibility. The space can be reduced or increased each year. »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
The coworking space of 2C2B Coworking, in Boisbriand
Meanwhile, office spaces are multiplying around Montreal. According to Colliers, in Brossard, 500,000 square feet of office space has sprung up since the end of 2020. At Espace Montmorency in Laval alone, the new area amounts to 300,000 square feet.
In terms of coworking, 2C2B Coworking alone, which already offers spaces in Boisbriand and Terrebonne, plans to add five floors of space in Mascouche in the fall. “The next step will be to open on the South Shore because of the three-year construction of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel, explains principal director Cassy Baillargeon. We want to offer North Shore–South Shore hubs to businesses. »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Olga Belkin, Cassy Baillargeon (center) and Guillaume Beaudin from 2C2B Coworking
“The quest for satellite offices is a trend coming from abroad, explains Olga Belkin, communications strategist, business development, of 2C2B. We have been approached by US real estate agents looking for co-working satellite offices for large teams. The suburbs, near the residences of the employees, interest them. It is thus easier to recruit. Very large companies will drive this trend: 95% of Fortune 500 companies have decentralized offices. »
According to the American podcast Everything Coworking, there is an explosion of flexible spaces in the suburbs, says Cassy Baillargeon. “In Montreal, currently, we are at less than 1%, she says. In the United States, before the pandemic, it was already at 5%. »
“Our proposal is complementary, adds Olga Belkin. But the small spaces currently offered in the suburbs are not suitable for large companies. At the same time, in 2021, I floated the idea of testing a multi-CEO satellite office. In more traditional areas, we see more rigidity. We know, however, that the world is changing, that we need to be agile. »
Cossette could stay at WeWork for a very long time, in the opinion of its president. “But beauty is flexibility,” says Louis Duchesne. It’s utopian to sign a firm 15-year lease these days. »