During transport strikes, difficulties in getting to work are the business of coworking spaces, now present throughout France, even in rural areas.
Rather than going to the premises of their company, many employees prefer this solution. Coworking spaces have spread all over France for ten years. There are now more than 2,000 of these places where individuals or companies can book workspaces, by the day or over a longer period, in France.
>> Will coworking spaces reach two million m2 since 2024?
They are an intermediate solution between teleworking, alone at home, and working at the company’s headquarters. They offer the possibility of making meetings or videoconferences. And now, according to Nathanaël Mathieu, co-founder of NéoNomad, a platform for booking coworking spaces, “There is always one of these workstations ten or fifteen minutes on foot or by bicycle from home.”
This is what makes them successful in the event of a transport strike. NéoNomad was also able to see a 70% increase in attendance during the strikes at the end of 2019, before teleworking became a habit. Since the beginning of 2023, the booking platform has observed increases in attendance of around 15%, and expects a peak in bookings if the renewable strike lasts a long time.
The adaptability of coworking spaces
According to Nathanaël Mathieu, in January and February, around two hundred coworking spaces launched special “strike” operations: a change in opening hours – to be accessible earlier and later -, a drop in their prices or even free for some, or even free breakfasts. History “to come to the aid of those shipwrecked from the strike“, believes the co-founder of NéoNomad, but also to allow new customers, who we hope will come back, to test the formula.
This trend is confirmed by other market players: at Morning, which manages forty workspaces in Paris, the number of reservations in a place close to home has doubled. And at OfficeRiders, which provides original workplaces, often apartments, cafes or hotels, we speak, in the event of a strike, of a multiplication of small meetings, with less than ten people, facing the inability to make it all to headquarters.