How changing the workplace can solve many modern companies’ pains (2012)

The 2012 slide deck examined whether changes to the workplace could help companies address workforce challenges. Prepared by Jean-Yves Huwart of Global Enterprise for the Agoria General Assembly in Brussels on 23 May 2012, it framed the workplace as a potential part of the response to employee disengagement and changing expectations. The slides identified motivating Generation Y, managing stress among executives and employees, retaining talent and raising engagement as major concerns for modern companies. The presentation then pointed to coworking as an emerging workplace model and connected the subject to the Coworking Europe Conference, which Global Enterprise organised. It listed Coworking Europe events held in Brussels in 2010 and Berlin in 2011, alongside a planned Paris conference in November 2012. Near its conclusion, the deck stated that there were close to 2,000 coworking spaces worldwide and claimed that the number had doubled every year over the preceding five years. The deck did not present the intermediate argument or detailed company examples referenced in the agenda.

Key findings

• The deck identified motivation, workplace stress, talent retention and employee engagement as challenges facing companies in 2012.
• The presentation stated that close to 2,000 coworking spaces existed worldwide in 2012.
• The deck claimed that the worldwide number of coworking spaces had doubled annually during the preceding five years.

Presented at Coworking Europe 2012