Co-working gaining traction in Saudi Arabia: CBRE

Co-working is emerging as a new trend in Saudi Arabia, as companies look for innovative ways to raise staff productivity levels, CBRE said in a recent report.

Employers are having to constantly evolve to retain talented employees in a dynamic and highly competitive market such as Saudi Arabia and central to this retention is the provision of an optimal place to work, it added.

“As the KSA continues to diversify into a highly competitive knowledge-based economy with talent at its core, we are seeing an increasing number of companies look to ever more innovative ways to raise productivity levels while ensuring employee happiness,” said Gabriella De La Torre, director, strategic advisor at CBRE MENAT.

“Co-working is a trend that we expect to continue to evolve in line with continued technological advances,” she added.

She also forecast it will ‘hugely’ impact the way that service providers, occupiers and landlords approach the leasing and operations of commercial space.

According to the report, co-working is being predominantly driven by millennials and advancements in technology that allow employees to work remotely and across borders.

“This trend was one that initially appealed mainly to entrepreneurs and freelancers. However, due to changes in the economy, even traditional office tenants have increasingly transformed their approach to real estate decision-making and are now shifting towards more flexible office spaces,” the report noted.