Being bombarded with phone calls from work on the way home would be a nightmare for many Japanese railway workers, but in the eyes of JR Higashimoto, commuting to work can be a business.
In November 2018, they quietly set up several "phone booths" at stations in Tokyo, naming them STATION BOOTH. The small, airtight room offers tables and chairs, a screen, A USB socket, a coat hanger and air conditioning, and can be used for temporary work for 275 yen for 15 minutes.
Mr. Nakajima was the original director of the project. His hair is unpressed and he doesn't look like an office worker, but he has been selling and managing office buildings at JR East Japan for 12 years. He used to work as a station attendant and often saw people taking notes while talking on the phone or even having to kneel on the ground to operate the computer. In 2017, Nakajima talked with colleagues about the idea of STATION office space, and a few of them came up with a draft project called STATIONWO R K. A year later, in January, nakajima convinced the company to put its first product, STATION BOOTH, into Tokyo stations for more than three months.
The team initially targeted four transport hubs -- Tokyo, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Tachikawa stations. Nakajima's colleague Yasutaka Kikuchi, who is now a project manager at STATION WORK, told Envision that passenger flow is an important indicator of demand for co-working, with Tokyo, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro stations all serving as transportation hubs. Tachikawa STATION has the highest passenger flow in the Tokyo suburb of Tama. Tachikawa is one of the pilot areas of a regional economic revitalization agreement signed by Japan Post and JR East Japan in June 2018.
Nakajima believes that STATION WORK has two major advantages: first, it is located in an excellent location, and the STATION it chooses is the main traffic route of the city; The second is privacy, which is the space isolated from the outside world. In addition to the "phone BOOTH" STATION BOOTH, they also unveiled the STATION DESK, which is based on the STATION waiting room and is filled with desks like study rooms.
Who is looking for the third space?
Before the pandemic, STATION BOOTH downtown was the most popular. As of November 2019, STATION BOOTH had attracted 16,000 individual members and 30 corporate members, Nakajima revealed in an interview with Japanese furniture and stationery maker Koyoshi. At that time, the average use time was less than an hour, according to Nakajima Yuki observation, probably were running sales people and customers in the phone. But since then, as companies have introduced telecommuting policies, they have seen utility rates and hours of use rise in the Tokyo suburbs.
The pandemic has catalyzed a new demand for telecommuting. In early 2021, STATION WORK received a number of inquiries from companies after Tokyo was again locked down by a state of emergency. In an interview with Kuko, Mr. Nakajima speculated that many people may have tried working from home during the first round of emergency declarations, found their homes unsuitable -- either uncomfortable tables and chairs or not quiet enough -- and fled to the station to "take refuge." These people usually live on the outskirts of the city and rent for at least 75 to 90 minutes each time they use STATION BOOTH. STATION WORK's user survey found that 80 percent of respondents were business people, many of whom came for web conferencing.
Another idea for the STATION WORK project is to attract users to JR East Japan's membership points system, JRE POINT. Anyone can pay directly with JR East Japan's Suica, but a registered member gets one JRE POINT for every 200 yen spent. Points can be spent on JRE POINT for station lunches, local specialties, or wallpapers for Suica's penguin mascot.
JR East is not alone in the station office business. Tokyo subway teamed up with FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp., a subsidiary of photographic equipment company FUJIFILM, In 31 stations in Tokyo, 56 "Cocodesks" -- a membership-based, enclosed office space similar to STATION BOOTH's concept -- are installed.
Nissan also has its eye on commuters with a "mobile conference room" rental service. Nissan has lined up several other companies to remodel its luxury suv, the Nissan Grand. The in-car navigation system provided by Nuo, a mapping and information firm, the driver-communication touch-screen system produced by Dainippon Printing, and SoftBank, which is in charge of network maintenance, are all trying to grab a piece of the digital in-car business. Integrated services company KUWAHARA is going straight to the consumer with this mobile conference room rental service.
Similar to JR East Japan, the flexible office project was launched before the COVID-19 pandemic. Yoshishige Kamimura, director of KUWAHARA's tourist business division, who was involved in the entire planning process, said KUWAHARA joined the program to tap into a new customer base -- in the past, business people or tourists were most commonly hired.
It started out as a service selling life balance. "Our vision is that business people can work on the road and reduce overtime." "He explained. In their first trial, during the pandemic, they found that most passengers held meetings on board, so they advertised the online meeting function.
In fact, "mobile conference rooms" are still some way from commercialization. Some passengers complained that there were too few places to go, that seating for two wasn't cost-effective, and that the driver communication system, set up for security and privacy, didn't work well. Now a second trial is aimed at increasing car use on weekends and holidays, so they are looking at their usual customers -- newlyweds who need a wedding car, real estate agents who show homes. The trial will run until September 2022. But Mr. Kamura admits there hasn't been that much interest, or any unsolicited wedding practitioners.
Both of these things are more like a service business layout for a big company. "Mobile conference rooms" appeal to companies looking to open up new markets, while JR East Japan has added "office space" to its business goals for 2027 -- STATION WORK allows more people to use stations as destinations, increases the use of Suica, and then, Through JRE POINT, a POINT system familiar to The Japanese business community, JR East Japan Group's e-commerce, transportation, finance, station business and other businesses are connected.
Nakajima and Kikuchi belong to the "New Business Creation Division" of JR East Japan Business Creation Headquarters. The name suggests that they develop new products and services. Kikuchi believes remote flexible working will continue in the future. They also have a stroller rental program similar to STATION WORK aimed at families traveling with children.
As space-owning transportation companies explore new targets and businesses, both office space operators are facing challenges. If a new generation of office space operators, notably WeWork, has kicked off the co-working trend in the past decade, most are now aware that people's lifestyles and work patterns have changed: In addition to traditional companies that need fixed work stations and innovative companies that need flexible work stations, there are also more companies that combine the needs of fixed work and home work.
The pandemic has catalyzed a new demand for telecommuting. Most office space operators have realized that people's lifestyles and work patterns have changed.
The two-year-long pandemic has led many companies to embrace the new work-from-home model. In May 2021, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a "Hybrid Workweek" of three days in the office and two days away, allowing employees to apply to work entirely remotely. The system will be officially launched in April 2022. In late 2021, WeWork China launched the WeWork China Pass, which covers 60 cities and is also aimed at companies that want to "mix" their work.
Hybrid work may be a result of people becoming more aware of when they have to go to the office and companies cutting costs. Weng Guohui, general manager of business management and business community development at Capitaland China, a real estate company, is the head of Capitaland's flexible office space and social platform, Yiqiao Bridge+. Currently living in Singapore, he feels that the purpose of people's office is becoming more and more clear. "Companies are very cautious in signing any orders. They care more about where the money is spent, and they don't like to invest a lot of money in decoration."
Cade notes that the trend toward flexible working may be after 2016. Technology has changed the way people live -- employees don't need to be in the office at all, as long as they carry a light laptop. At that time Weng Guohui will be sure to demand.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, Weng Guohui and his team also realized that enterprises have further demand for flexibility of office space and lease, such as carrying a package to move in, transitional short-term lease, multi-site linkage, resource sharing and coordination, etc., have become more common. This is consistent with the 2021 China Office Tenant Survey released in December 2021 by CBRE, a commercial real estate services and investment firm. The report, which surveyed 70 traditional office tenants in China, found that by the summer of 2021, 60% of respondents plan to expand; Over the next three years, 39 per cent of respondents plan to adopt shared workspaces partly, while 26 per cent say they will adopt shared workspaces entirely.
Health, cost and efficiency are topics of greater concern to tenants. Arup, a British design and engineering consultancy, sees a temporary return to single-person offices and "cubicles" in response to the pandemic. For industries such as technology and creativity, office Spaces could evolve into "a hybrid of a library and a cultural centre", where people socialise, exercise and eat. According to CBRE, 25% of companies surveyed are considering reducing their office space per person -- to reduce office density and cut costs; Seven out of 10 respondents would like to see more shared work Spaces in their offices, mostly from professional services, finance and life sciences.
Office space operators and tenants are adapting to the changes. As of March 2022, Yiqiao Bridge+ operates 15 Spaces in China that cater to different customer needs. In June 2020, shui's office business management brand - Ryan office, in view of the traditional rental tenants WORKXLab launched flexible office space business, which has a public discussion area, study room, telephone, multimedia conference rooms, leisure and entertainment, etc between different modules, enterprises can choose different module, reforming the existing office space. IWG, the Swiss group that runs serviced offices, has more than 20 flexible office brands that also offer flexible working Spaces to big companies such as NTT, the Japanese telecoms group, and Standard Chartered Bank.
Steelcase, the world's largest maker of office furniture, has come up with a plan for flexible office hardware that will make meeting rooms more online, with remote digital tools such as screens, lighting and microphones becoming standard, and the design team thinking about how cameras can capture everyone in the room. They also identified four types of hybrid workspace -- collaborative, social, personal, and learning -- that roughly sum up all flexible work Spaces on the market.
As well as full-rent office tenants, savvy flexible office users are discovering that cafes are a more economical place to go. Yang Ruikun, founder of FreeLab, a freelancers community, has also observed the coffee shop trend in Shanghai.
Located in the lobby of the Raffles Plaza office building in Shanghai, starbucks China's shared-office concept store has nearly 100 seats and is divided into four areas: a paid meeting room, a single office area, a sofa area for focused discussion, and a lounge area for short stays.
She calls the area from Shanghai's People's Square to Changshu Road a "freelance coffee shop circle" - with lots of cafes and lots of variety. "Cafes are flexible and have a low price. Just ordering a drink costs more than 600 yuan a month at most." By comparison, a shared office can cost 2,000 yuan. She also prefers the "open atmosphere" of cafes, with music and people coming and going, and believes she gets more inspired working in a cafe.
According to data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics, the number of "flexible employment" workers in China had reached 200 million by the end of 2021. According to the Flexible Employment Research Group at Renmin University of China, "flexible employment" is more flexible than the standard labor employment model and may not have mandatory legal regulations on working hours, income, compensation, insurance benefits and workplace. Couriers, delivery people, interns, freelancers... All fall under the category of flexible employment.
Yang prefers to call herself a "freelancer" rather than an "entrepreneur". She represents those who choose to live free instead of being confined to the office - commuting is a "cost" and she can't stand clocking in and crowding the subway. In 2019, Yang also worked at a consumer goods start-up in Beijing that rented space at WeWork, a shared office space. When the pandemic hit in March 2020, she saw the benefits of telecommuting. "Everything was better, more energetic, more productive." She has also floated the idea of "shared living" : a group of freelancers renting villas collectively in the suburbs, with a long table in the lobby on the ground floor and weekend renters meeting to eat and teach each other skills. "Freelancers are independent and working together is not a 'necessity'." She said.
There are 4 charging meeting rooms in the store -- 3 4-person negotiation rooms and 1 8-person conference room, which are jointly operated by Yiqiao Bridge+ and Starbucks.
The 1971 Living Room project is a digital collaboration between Starbucks and Meituan. 1971 refers to the birth year of Starbucks. In addition, the cooperation also involves Meituan's delivery service "Zhuan Xing Bao" and its innovative product "Super Store". Starbucks has meituan's exclusive delivery team and brand page, and will conduct differentiated operation of 5,000 stores online.
Among coffee shops, Starbucks is the fast one. November 2021, Bridge+ GO! Starbucks opened in the lobby of raffles Plaza office building in Shanghai, where members of the public can scan a code to pay for use. The Starbucks is also the first shared space concept store in mainland China. "It's a win-win partnership," Said Weng. "Starbucks in the lobby already has a demand for customers, so for us, it's a way to improve the usage and experience of unused space."
Clues to flexible working also point to "digital". Like JR East Japan, which is trying to get users to try out the points system through the space business payment scenario, Bridge+ is also improving the experience and appealing to potential users with mini-programs. "Before, there was only the Kaidexing App, but not everyone wanted to download it. The data is all connected and bound, and you can experience the whole digital page and see our products on a small program." Weng Guohui said.
As you may have noticed, Starbucks is a familiar face that has appeared several times. In the 1990s, Starbucks pioneered the concept of a "Third Place" in its stores, which has since become its trademark -- the coffee shop is a public space between home and work.
Starbucks is JR East Japan STATION WORK's earliest brand partner. In April 2020, Starbucks Japan opened a co-working theme store in Tokyo's newly opened Gateway takahashi station. With a series of "no contact" quarantine measures, customers can sit in half-open cubicles to drink coffee and use computers. The JR East Japan STATION WORK team also installed two STATION Booths at the starbucks, which are more secure and private than cubicles.
By 2023, Nakajima and his team plan to deploy 1,000 Booths across Japan, not just in stations but also in hotels, gyms, convenience stores, cafes and post offices. "The ultimate goal is to enrich the lives of our travelers and get them to use our service." Kikuchi added.
Starbucks China is also trying to expand its space-based business. In January 2022, Starbucks China and Meituan jointly launched the first phase of "1971 Living Room" project, including two scenes of "Coffee has a bureau" and "Living room holds a meeting". "Coffee has a Game" is a coffee-themed game for three or five players. "Living Room For A Meeting" is a closed conference room for rent that typically seats 10 to 20 people. At starbucks Reserve Shanghai Roastery's '1971 Living Room,' a two-hour meeting for 10 people will cost 398 yuan per person, including drinks and meals. Other reserve stores and regular stores are cheaper, at 179 yuan and 139 yuan per person for two hours respectively. But during severe outbreaks, Starbucks has temporarily canceled reservations.
By March 2022, the "1971 Living Room" project has covered more than 60 large stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu. Customers can already book business meetings and social networking services at some independent Starbucks stores located in commercial areas, but in the past, it was difficult to find a suitable place to book by phone, according to starbucks China. After the 1971 Living Room launch, users can directly check the free time and location of the "Starbucks 1971 Living Room" in local consumption apps such as Meituan and Dianping.
"Daily activities such as coffee classrooms, birthday parties, pet parties and sign language classes that are already in the store can also be published and managed through the 1971 living room in the future." Starbucks China said.
It is not just the operators and participants who see new opportunities. Itochu Metropolitan Development, a Japanese property developer, is also turning its residential business more "office" in an effort to extend office space into living space. In late 2020, the company opened its "+HANARE" project at CREVIA Yamanzuki Kagurazaka, a high-end apartment in Tokyo's Shinjuku district, to separate small rooms inside the building and outside the owner's residential space for home work or hobby collection. HANARE is a Japanese word that means a certain distance from the main building. A customer survey conducted by Itochu Metropolitan Development showed that the idea was more than just a vaccination policy -- 67% of 400 respondents found +HANARE attractive enough to adopt the idea.
The pandemic has affected our lives and led to change. Everyone has to find their own "third space". People will always want more choice: tenants want "flexible" leases and space, and individuals want free lifestyles. Developers and middlemen are launching more products, opening up new markets or using it as a springboard to digitization.
In 2014, Italian politician Antonella Agnoli wrote in her book The Square of Knowledge: Libraries and Freedom that "public space is rapidly being commercialized." In her book, she imagines a city dominated by public libraries. Now, different players are competing for new space. Can you imagine where we'll be working in ten years?
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