Key Takeaways:
Organizations across the country have started implementing the coworking rating across their facilities profile, working to achieve the credential.
WeWork, a leading global real estate platform, recently committed more than 300 locations across five continents — about one-half of its global portfolio — to pursue the rating. The initiative is expected to affect more than 550,000 members who use WeWork spaces each year.
Instead of applying health and well-being strategies only to new or renovated buildings, WeWork is using the rating to establish a common framework across a geographically diverse network.
“The standards set out by the WELL Coworking Rating provide clear and repeatable benchmarks for workplace quality and well-being,” says Ebbie Wisecarver, chief design and product officer at WeWork. “Applying these consistently across a global network creates a common baseline, helping ensure members can expect a similar level of quality regardless of which workspace or city they visit.”
In addition to WeWork, companies in many other markets have committed to the rating on a global scale.
“We are excited to see coworking operators from New York, Boston, Vancouver and Dublin to Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Ankara and Nairobi delivering health focused, WELL coworking rated spaces for the growing global flexible workforce,” Cooper says. “WeWork’s commitment to pursue the rating is a significant signal that health and well-being are moving into the mainstream of the flexible workspace experience.”
A building does not necessarily have to become a coworking facility to benefit from the WELL Coworking Rating. Building owners and facilities executives can use its principles to create a more consistent approach to workplace health.
The first step is to understand the way the building is performing. Owners can look at the areas covered by the WELL concepts and identify the largest gaps.
From there, facilities teams can establish measurable baselines. That might mean reviewing ventilation and maintenance practices, assessing lighting conditions, evaluating thermal comfort complaints or examining the way employees use spaces. The goal is to understand the way the building operates and where changes could have the greatest effect.
Operational policies are another important part of the equation.
“Cleaning protocols, maintenance standards, community engagement and well-being education can all create a healthier environment behind the scenes,” Pickering says.
Owners and managers also can use occupant feedback to identify recurring issues that might not be visible through building systems alone.
The framework also can provide a way to create consistency across a facilities portfolio. Rather than allowing each facility to establish its own definition of wellness, owners can use common benchmarks to evaluate spaces and prioritize improvements.
The important point is to treat the rating as a framework for action instead of as another credential.
The final consideration is that workplace wellness is not a one-time project. Buildings change, occupants change and expectations change, so maintaining a healthy workplace requires ongoing attention.
Workplace wellness is particularly important as hybrid and flexible work continues to reshape the way people use offices.
“Over the next decade, we expect workplace wellbeing to become far more integrated into the core workplace experience rather than being treated as a separate initiative,” Pickering says. “The most successful operators won’t simply provide well-being amenities. They’ll design every aspect of the workplace to actively support physical and mental health, productivity and community.”
The rating gives owners and managers an opportunity to move the conversation toward a more fundamental question: Does the workplace consistently help people perform their best?
The answer might not be found in the spaces that are easiest to photograph but in the things occupants barely notice. When wellness becomes embedded in how a space operates, feeling good at work becomes less an amenity and more a given.
Elaina Myers is the assistant editor of the facilities market. She has covered various topics from pest management to resilience to sustainability and covers all holidays and special days in the facilities field. She also manages the FacilitiesNet social media accounts.
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How the WELL Coworking Rating Supports Workplace Wellness
