Expanding footprint of flexible office space

It had been years of commutes from the kitchen table to the home office.

Mark Hrabchak finally booked a desk outside of his Winnipeg house last fall — a “mental refresher” for the remote worker. But his desk at Launch Coworking was short-lived; he was on a trial, and the office was booked after.

Hrabchak now awaits Launch’s newest addition — its biggest co-working space yet, opening near True North Square in the coming months.

“(It’s) having that dedicated space, and being able to go and experience regular routines again,” said Hrabchak. “Even, like, a lunch routine.”

He’s ready to work on his startup, Seira Software, with new people around. Walking and biking to 200-185 Carlton St. has become a source of excitement, Hrabchak said.

Demand for flexible office space — from remote workers to businesses who haven’t renewed their leases — has heightened over the past year, according to Launch Coworking founder and CEO Jason Abbott.

Every week seems to bring more customers expressing their tiredness of working from home, he said. He’s also seeing businesses swap long-term office leases for Launch’s short-term booking framework. Often, companies are downsizing their office footprint, Abbott added.

Launch has nearly doubled its members — to upwards of 375 from 200 — since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Abbott believes the number will only grow. For now, he’s focused on Launch’s third bookable location, set to open in May/June on Carlton Street.

The two-storey space more than doubles Launch’s current footprint. It is 14,600 square feet and has 43 offices, alongside a café and lounge.

Abbott called it Launch’s “most ambitious location yet” in an email to clients. Twenty per cent of the office space is already booked.

Pre-pandemic, Launch Coworking had locations on Chevrier Boulevard and Lombard Street. Workers and companies booked seats in the 5,000-sq.-ft. and 6,400-sq.-ft. spaces, respectively; membership was growing “exponentially,” Abbott said.

When COVID-19 hit Manitoba, Abbott feared for his business. He thought customers would cancel their memberships and stay home. Instead, he clocked an uptick in clients — people struggling to work remotely.

Membership growth paused during, as Abbott describes it, the pandemic’s “hangover period.” Meantime, companies grappled with hybrid work versus mandating employees to the office full-time.

The membership boom is back, Abbott said. “(Customers) want to feel part of something bigger than just being at home.”

Launch Coworking opened in Osborne Village in 2020, and closed in November 2023. Abbott said he thought the site would get renovated, but it didn’t, and Launch left to focus on its Carlton Street location.

He called True North Square “the new downtown… It’s where people want to be. It has an energy, it has amenities.”

Matt Dirks plans to work in Launch’s new location. Currently, he and the team at Blueprint Inc. spend at least three days per week in Launch’s Exchange District hub.

The consulting firm previously considered finding its own office, but Launch had the amenities it sought and exposure to other organizations.

“There’s a certain kind of magic that happens with cross-pollination with groups that are just starting out,” Dirks said. “It’s very dynamic.”

Co-working spaces have grown on a global scale. Statista forecasts nearly 42,000 such spaces by the end of 2024, leaping from roughly 19,000 in 2019.

The flexibility, separation from home and collaborative nature of the sites make them popular, noted Mike Shekhtman, senior regional director for Robert Half. “People still continue to want a level of flexibility.”

Even so, fewer jobs postings advertise remote or hybrid work. The Canadian job market hit a peak when 35 to 40 per cent of new postings showed remote or hybrid positions. The number dropped to 26 per cent in 2024’s first quarter, according to a Robert Half analysis.

Just eight per cent were advertised as fully remote, Shekhtman added.

Nearly two-thirds of Canadian Federation of Independent Business members in Manitoba — 62 per cent — didn’t allow remote work last year and didn’t plan to allow it in 2024. A marginal three per cent of Manitoba members said they’d offer more remote work; 26 per cent didn’t intend to make changes; six per cent planned for fewer remote options.

“There isn’t a cookie-cutter solution,” noted Ron Gauthier, chief executive of Chartered Professionals in Human Resources Manitoba.

“Hybrid flexible” seems to be the biggest trend, Gauthier said.

Launch Coworking’s new Carlton Street site is a “valuable asset” for enterprises using hybrid or remote work structures, Ryan Kuffner, Economic Development Winnipeg president, wrote in a statement.

Flex memberships start at $19 a month. Office space at the Carlton location ranges from $599 to $7,899/month. Day passes at other sites, where users grab open table space, cost $7.50 per hour.

Further expansion both in and outside Winnipeg could be in Launch’s future, Abbott hinted.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com