On a recent Friday afternoon, dozens of people sat hunched over laptops at TheDesk’s six-story coworking space near Hong Kong’s Central business district, while others chatted over snacks at tables on the outdoor terrace — all of them ignoring government advice to work from home to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Whether escaping tiny apartments that are not conducive to work, or less concerned by a virus that has infected about 1,000 residents compared with more than 110,000 New Yorkers, the surprise result is coworking providers are thriving in Hong Kong, even as much of the world remains in lockdown.
TheDesk signed up 25 percent more new members in the first quarter of this year versus the quarter prior, chief executive officer Thomas Hui (許?) said.
Photo: Bloomberg
“I think it’s especially because the living environment in Hong Kong is very cramped, so there are a lot of disruptions to people working from home,” Hui said.
The Executive Centre, a high-end serviced office operator, leased 33 percent more desk space in the first quarter from a year earlier. Across its 135 mostly Asian centers, it grew about 9 percent in the first three months of this year.
Companies are looking to conserve cash and retain flexibility rather than take the risk of committing to a long-term office lease, chief executive officer Paul Salnikow said.
“The idea of signing a fixed lease with fixed rental commitment over a three-year period, which is the minimum term in Hong Kong, and then investing in the fit-out, buying the furniture, is an overinvestment for most companies,” he said.
It is a different story in Singapore, where a government-ordered shutdown of all but essential services means most workers have to stay at home, with employers facing hefty fines or even jail if they do not enforce the measures.
In the early days of the outbreak, marketing manager Jivan Tulsani preferred to use a coworking office rather than work from home, free from the distractions of family members and Netflix.
“I have a very comfortable home, but it’s too comfortable for work,” Tulsani said. “It’s difficult for me to resist temptation to continue watching Homeland once the afternoon slump kicks in.”
Now he has no choice. The lockdown has forced most coworking spaces to close, remaining accessible only to workers providing essential services such as banking, logistics and security.
Tulsani’s knowledge-sharing platform does not meet the criteria.
Singapore’s coworking spaces are popular with technology firms — from start-ups to multinational corporations — and the lockdown has hurt operators like JustCo.
With all 17 of its centers closed to most workers, usage has declined, chief executive officer Kong Wan Sing (龔萬鑫) said, without providing figures.
Another problem JustCo faces is not receiving rent relief from its landlords, despite the government providing a property tax rebate to ease the strain on commercial tenants.
To help its clients through the crisis, JustCo — which is backed by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte — unveiled its own multimillion-dollar relief package. It would benefit more than 3,000 companies across its centers in eight cities including Singapore, Bangkok and Sydney.
As for WeWork, which made coworking hip before almost imploding last year, while it has closed its Indian offices indefinitely, it remains open in Singapore, China and other Asia-Pacific nations.
In Australia, decals have been placed on floors and furniture to meet social distancing guidelines. Pantries are operating with limited amenities, but the beer taps have been shut off.
In Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, all members must have their temperature checked and wear masks or risk being refused entry, while pets are no longer allowed.
With the world’s biggest work-from-home experiment potentially reshaping the future role of the office, the test for the coworking industry would be to show that it can provide a safe space for workers and companies seeking flexibility.
“The challenge for a multinational is that if you put your staff at a coworking space, can you guarantee that you create a safe environment?” said Tim Armstrong, head of occupier services and commercial agency for Asia-Pacific at Knight Frank LLP.
“There will be pressure on coworking groups to show that they have gone above and beyond with their health and safety as well, if they want to entice multinationals in.”
SMART MANUFACTURING: The company aims to have its production close to the market end, but attracting investment is still a challenge, the firm’s president said Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said its long-term global production plan would stay unchanged amid geopolitical and tariff policy uncertainties, citing its diversified global deployment. With operations in Taiwan, Thailand, China, India, Europe and the US, Delta follows a “produce at the market end” strategy and bases its production on customer demand, with major site plans unchanged, Delta president Simon Chang (張訓海) said on the sidelines of a company event yesterday. Thailand would remain Delta’s second headquarters, as stated in its first-quarter earnings conference, with its plant there adopting a full smart manufacturing system, Chang said. Thailand is the firm’s second-largest overseas
‘REMARKABLE SHOWING’: The economy likely grew 5 percent in the first half of the year, although it would likely taper off significantly, TIER economist Gordon Sun said The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) yesterday raised Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for this year to 3.02 percent, citing robust export-driven expansion in the first half that is likely to give way to a notable slowdown later in the year as the front-loading of global shipments fades. The revised projection marks an upward adjustment of 0.11 percentage points from April’s estimate, driven by a surge in exports and corporate inventory buildup ahead of possible US tariff hikes, TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy likely grew more than 5 percent in the first six months
SUPPLY RESILIENCE: The extra expense would be worth it, as the US firm is diversifying chip sourcing to avert disruptions similar to the one during the pandemic, the CEO said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) on Wednesday said that the chips her company gets from supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would cost more when they are produced in TSMC’s Arizona facilities. Compared with similar parts from factories in Taiwan, the US chips would be “more than 5 percent, but less than 20 percent” in terms of higher costs, she said at an artificial intelligence (AI) event in Washington. AMD expects its first chips from TSMC’s Arizona facilities by the end of the year, Su said. The extra expense is worth it, because the company is
The seizure of one of the largest known mercury shipments in history, moving from mines in Mexico to illegal Amazon gold mining zones, exposes the wide use of the toxic metal in the rainforest, according to authorities. Peru’s customs agency, SUNAT, found 4 tonnes of illegal mercury in Lima’s port district of Callao, according to a report by the non-profit Environmental Investigations Agency (EIA). “This SUNAT intervention has prevented this chemical from having a serious impact on people’s health and the environment, as can be seen in several areas of the country devastated by the illegal use of mercury and illicit activities,”
RSS