Coworking Trends: What's In and Out for 2025

It’s officially 2025, and with hybrid work models solidifying across industries and professionals demanding more flexibility, the coworking world is evolving to stay ahead of the game. Here are the trends we welcome for the new year and the ones we happily leave behind in 2024.

Coworking Trends to Look Out For Over the Next 12 Months

What's In for Coworking In 2025

Blending Work & Life

The days of rigid office schedules are behind us, and hybrid work models are paving the way for more balance and flexibility. By blending remote and in-person work, dispersed teams can come together effortlessly, bringing life back into the workday. Need a meeting space in Boston? We’ve got you covered. Kid’s sports game in a neighboring town? Skip the traffic and work nearby for the day. Hosting a lunch-and-learn in Framingham? Head there to connect and grow. Work seamlessly, wherever life takes you. We want the collaboration of the team sitting next to you to inspire your own innovation. And we’re talking about everyone, not just entrepreneurs and remote workers. Even large companies know that the coworking trends are the trends to follow, and are opting for coworking over traditional office space! Coworking trends show that workspaces are supporting this shift by offering flexible options that cater to varying needs—from full-time memberships to pay-as-you-go day passes. Check out Workbar’s membership options here.

Dynamic Coworking with Collaboration Zones

Coworking trends show that workspaces are being designed to enhance productivity through versatility, i.e., giving the people what they want when it comes to ways to work throughout the day. If you haven’t heard already, it’s not good for your health, physical or mental, to sit in the same seat all day, looking at the same five feet in front of you, and coworking spaces are adapting their layouts to support getting up and moving around throughout the work day. Not to brag, but Workbar was at least a decade ahead of this one. We saw it coming and designed our spaces accordingly. It’s one of the reasons that professionals are starting to recognize that coworking spaces are becoming more inclusive by the day. It’s not a one-size-fits-all set up at Workbar. We’re thinking about the wide range of professionals that step into our spaces every day. Our coworking neighborhoods allow our members to transition between quiet solo work areas like The Study, and collaborative team spaces like The Commons and the Cafe. So they can stretch their legs, get the creativity flowing, and, ya know, work their day their way.

Podcast & Content Studios in Coworking Spaces

As content creation becomes a cornerstone of many businesses, coworking spaces are adding podcast studios and media rooms to their amenity lists. We have podcast studios at our Needham, Quincy, and Framingham locations! These spaces cater to entrepreneurs, influencers, and startups needing professional setups for their creative projects. Want to check out our podcast, Setting the Bar?

Community Connection

When any new employee starts at Workbar, they get a copy of Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality, because for us, hospitality is at the center of everything we do (Chef Rachel Miller does this with her team too, and we chat about it on our pod). Our Community Managers are more like Connection Managers, and that’s intentional. It’s no secret that loneliness is the most recent epidemic, and it’s not just about being isolated in our homes anymore. People are lonely at work. Harvard even published a study about it! Fostering connection in the workplace is critical, and that doesn’t come from pizza parties once a month. Instead, it comes from creating and managing spaces for connection. Think networking events, inclusive experiences, lunch and learns, wellness programs, and community-building initiatives.

Health-Centric Coworking Spaces

Wellness is no longer optional. The future of coworking spaces is all about health and well-being. Air purification systems, ergonomic furniture, and wellness-inspired interiors are becoming standard in coworking spaces, ensuring members feel their best while working. Workbar Back Bay was the first WELL-certified coworking space in the world, and we were thrilled to see the new initiative from IWBI to make certification a standard across the industry.

Flexible Coworking Memberships That Work For Everyone

From hybrid memberships to private office solutions, coworking space trends show companies are tailoring their offerings to suit businesses of all sizes and rhythms, as well as the five, yes FIVE, generations currently in the workforce. From the yet-to-retire Baby Boomers to the AI optimizing Gen Z, people aren’t one-size-fits all and their workspace shouldn’t be either. We already need to start preparing for Gen Alpha to roll up, as we welcome the first Gen Beta babies in 2025. If your head is spinning, join the club. It’s a lot of needs to consider. But don’t worry, we considered it for you. With membership options for everyone from the lone wolf solopreneur to teams of all sizes, we offer the optionality to mix and match to find the best solution for your needs. TeamShare, Workbar’s most flexible team membership, for example, offers flexible, shareable passes, empowering companies to enhance collaboration and connectedness among their employees across various locations. Now that’s the kind of flexibility we like to see.

What's Out for Coworking In 2025

Overcrowded Open Coworking Plans

While open plans once dominated office design, they’re now replaced by segmented spaces that better balance collaboration and concentration. Quiet zones and private areas are making a comeback to support focused work. Hey, Workbar Neighborhoods!

Form Over Function

Those chic, Pinterest-worthy chairs and couches might work at home, but they’re not at home at work. Get what I’m saying? If you can’t sit comfortably in a chair all day and get work done, it’s not really functional is it? Workbar’s furniture is ergonomically designed so you’re focused on crushing it at work, not your crushing back pain.

Staying In One Seat All Day While You Work

We’ve all been there. Sitting down at your desk first thing in the morning and locking in, only to look up and realize it’s lunch time and you haven’t even stood up once. It’s not good for the body (especially that back pain!) or the mind, people, and we’re canceling that in 2025! Bounce around based on your tasks and get that blood flowing! We’re particular to The Cafe around 10am for some trail mix and coffee, and a bump-and-connect.

Fish Bowl Vibes

No one wants the whole office to be staring at them through the maze of glass walls while they’re trying to brainstorm the next big idea. Private offices should be just that - private. And meeting rooms should have solid doors. Put up walls, in a good way, and offer space for intentional connection.

Return to Office Mandates

This one needs little explanation. 9-5 Monday through Friday just for the sake of butts-in-seats is so 2024. Instead, empower your employees with a purpose-driven network of spaces where they can be productive, feel connected, and find joy and inspiration in how and where they work.

Limited Access

Your membership should get you more than one place to go to work. We believe in open reciprocity, and it comes included with our memberships at no additional cost. You can work Downtown on Tuesday for a team meeting, in Needham on Wednesday to be closer to your kid’s karate competition, and from Framingham on Friday to be close to home. You can blend work and life without paying extra for it.

What Does The Future of Coworking at Workbar Hold?

The future of coworking at Workbar? It’s all about innovation, connection, and, of course, making work work for you. We’re constantly evolving our spaces to ensure Workbar works for everyone—whether it’s offering wellness-focused environments, flexible memberships, or providing spots for those much-needed spur-of-the-moment collaborations. One thing’s for sure: Workbar is committed to creating environments where you can work your day, your way, no matter what the future holds. So, what’s next for you? Whatever it is, we’ve got the space to make it happen.