In previous studies we carried out for our clients wanting to set up a coworking space before Covid, we focused mainly on the home-based self-employed as the core target market. But there has been a major demographic change in who now uses these spaces. Since Covid many more employees now work remotely in coworking spaces. So we no longer need to focus mainly on people working for themselves.
However, this group remains an important part of the workhub market. The most recent post-pandemic snapshot statistical analysis of homeworking is the Labour Force Survey’s February 2023 Characteristics of homeworkers in Great Britain. This study, with detailed data from a sample of over 6,000, published the following key findings:
- 16% of the workforce were working only from home, with 28% working both at home and at a separate workplace
- Workers in highest income bands and with degrees were the most likely to work from home
- Self-employed workers were twice as likely to work only from home (32%) compared to employees (14%).
Characteristics of homeworkers, Great Britain: September 2022 to January 2023
The old Census “working mainly at/from home” question now looks somewhat dated. The ONS tell us they are in future likely to track ‘only homeworkers’ and ‘hybrid homeworkers’.
But what the LFS 2023 study does helpfully tell us is that 32% of the self-employed are now working only at home. The reason the self-employed figures are less skewed by Covid is that who people worked for did not change much in the pandemic, where they worked did.
The key to a successful workhub is its potential appeal to both groups: the people who for themselves and the people who work (usually remotely) for an employer.