124. Jennifer Easton On Implementing WELL Standards Into Your Coworking Space
Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:
Jennifer Easton on LinkedIn
Everything Coworking Featured Resources:
Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space
Creative Coworking Partnerships: How to negotiate and structure management agreements from the landlord and operator perspective
Transcription
124. Jennifer Easton, VP of Marketing at the International WELL Building Institute
00:00:01 Welcome to the everything Coworking podcast, where you learn what you need to know about how the world wants to work. And now your host, co working space owner and trend expert Jamie Russo.
00:00:18 Welcome to the everything Coworking Podcast episode number 124. Before I dive in today, I thought I would stop for a minute and say hello. I've been very sort of task focused on my podcast intros lately, and part of that is because I'm attempting to simplify my podcast approach.
00:00:38 And I thought I would just share this in case there's something in your world that could use a little streamlining. I find that I am a bit of a just in time podcaster, and sometimes I record my episodes the week that they're gonna go live, and it's super important to me to connect with you every week. So I try to do that weekly, which ends up meeting. I'm sort of constantly thinking about my podcast, so when you do it every week, it's always sort of hanging over my head and I'm thinking about topic or getting someone scheduled the interview, and then I have to do.
00:01:14 There's a lot of stuff that goes along with podcasting, and some of you may have your own podcasts and you know this. But you know, I have to do an intro that separate from tthe e recording itself. I have to get the files to an editor.
00:01:26 I have to write all the promo text for the social media posts, and I have some help with some of this.
00:01:31 But I'm trying Thio batch my recordings so that my brain is not constantly, always sort of thinking about the podcast because my brain as time goes on, he needs extra space for focusing on other things like my community manager, university project that I'm working on and all of the other hats that I'm wearing and that's part of it. I'm sure many of you also wear lots of hats, you know, working space owner. Maybe you own another business. Family, friends, lots of commitments. Soccer teams. It is soccer season, so I think part of it is it's fall.
00:02:08 It's back to school, and I'm trying Thio sort of get organized and be a little bit more efficient. So I'm trying to pick one day a month to record my episodes, and then I have an adman who I'm training to kind of do all the rest of the process so that I can just focus on content and leveraging and getting out in front of you some of the content that's kind of sitting behind the scenes. I have lots of good content from the co working startup school and flight group discussions and what not.
00:02:38 Some of that, of course, stays in Vegas, and some of that will, you know, should be shared. I find myself sort of answering the same questions a number of times and needing to have more content nor more time to get to content and get that into a form. It's digestible for more people at once.
00:02:57 Someone asked me recently if I do one on one consulting and you know I'd love to get e mails and always ask because you never know. But generally I don't like to, because I want to create things that more people can access. A lot of what we dio is not super secret sauce. The secret sauce comes from you and how you design your business and what you personally put into your business. and who you're serving and how you line that all up. But teaching you how to handle virtual male does not need to be done one on one.
00:03:26 So I prefer to channel that into group opportunities. So I do the Coworking start up school, and I do my monthly flight groups and I love all those interactions, and I prefer to do things that are more scalable.
00:03:39 I totally get that. Sometimes you want somebody to look at your P and L, and you do not want that to be done in a group context. So sometimes I will do that. Because as you guys know, I'm super passionate about making sure you have a business model that is sustainable.
00:03:52 So that's it. I just wanted to share that I wanted to pop in because sometimes l throw in personal stories, and I think the power of stories is so important, and I would like to do a little bit more of that. And one more example. I will give the G W. A conference I keep talking about. That was a couple of weeks ago still pretty fresh in the brain, and our keynote speaker waas a man named Jeffrey from the Ritz Carlton Institute, and he got on stage and he started telling a story, and I could repeat that story to you right now if you wanted to hear it, because I probably wouldn't tell it as well as he did.
00:04:31 But it's still sitting in my brain because he painted such a clear picture and included the right details and the right emotion. He totally conveyed the point that he was making in this wonderful story that was very memorable.
00:04:45 So I recognized that when I batch these sometimes I can't get out of story mode in interviews don't lend themselves quite as much. The stories sometimes try to ask me interviewees to tell things and story mode, but that can be hard to d'oh kind on the fly. So I'm recording Ah, mix of interviews, got a bunch of interviews coming up just because I've been very inspired by a number of people in my networks and want to get them in front of you. But I also have some one to you episodes coming up as well, and we'll try to work in some more stories on that.
00:05:16 Anyway, let's get rolling this episode is with Jennifer Eastern. She while I won't repeat her intro, but I'm super happy to reconnect with her. And I think one of the fun things about our industry is that there are lots of overlapping, very cool impactful. Things that we can dio like integrate components of the well standard into our business is so I hope you hang out to hear a little bit more from her and really quickly before I let you go. Just a reminder.
00:05:46 I've talked about this a bunch of times, so I'm gonna skip the details on this episode. Since I've already had a long intro.
00:05:51 I am close to launching Community Manager University, and if you want the details, make sure you're on the list to get notified.
00:05:59 Go to www dot everything coworking dot com forward slash community managers. All right, here we go. I am thrilled with my guest today. I'm here chatting with Jennifer East and Jennifer. I met her in person last year at the J. W. A conference in Austin. We did a panel on wellness in co working, and Jennifer is the vice president of marketing at International Well Building Institute.
00:06:26 She lives in Philly, their home offices in New York, and I'll let her talk a little bit more about her role.
00:06:32 But I'm super excited, Jennifer, to have you join us today, we're gonna talk about what well is and how coworking operators and building owners can. Well, just to educate a little bit more and talk about how they can get involved in making their buildings more well focused. Thank you for joining me today. Yes, so great to be here. So tell us a little bit about you and your role. And why don't you dive in and just give us an overview about? Well, definitely. So I am the head of marketing at Ida B B.
00:07:05 I, the International Well Building Institute. And I think most people know I w b I. Because we are the standard bears for the well building standard. Often what I'm introducing my role I lead with well, because that really seems to resonate with people. I lied a number of initiatives of where a lot of hats off the marketing team, you know, overseeing everything from our event presence to our digital presence, and really could have worked to shape the story that we're telling the industry about why health in buildings, communities and organizations is so important to prioritize.
00:07:44 And what are the strategies for doing that? I hailed from the U. S. Green Building Council, where I worked in marketing for the need green building standard for about seven and 1/2 years. So building standards are part and parcel to my career, and I've loved working in that space because I think it's such a cool collision around this really high impact area like buildings can impact so much around us, from our environment to sustainability to our health. And I think sometimes it's a bit of an unsung area for those who are in the space.
00:08:16 So educating more people and also celebrating the leaders off those areas is such an exciting part of my career and something that I've loved so back to well, the well building standard is really a framework for advancing human health in buildings and its comprehensive that extends to 10 what we call concepts, which maybe was kind of the pillars of human health that extends thio, air, water, nourishment, light movement, thermal comfort, sound materials, mind and community. So those pillars within well include a comprehensive set of strategies that different members of AH, building community and different stakeholders can use to support health through building design operations and also just by supporting positive human behaviors.
00:09:08 And that comes through the lens of organizational policies and really building a solid community and culture. But I think what inspires us most about what well can achieve and what well in action means is that we spent about 90% of our time indoors and beyond that in that wild. It's crazy. Yeah, I mean, to your point, like it matters because 90% of a lot of time it is, and we don't really pause to think about that. You know, we're so busy in life, and we're also changing locations a lot.
00:09:40 You know where it homework worker at the doctor's office were shopping. You know where at the drugstore. So it might not seem like wherever indoors for any extended period of time, because we're so dynamic and we're moving. But yeah, 90% of our lives are spent indoors, and the CDC says they're states that the environment is the largest determinant of our health, so even more so than jeans, even more so than medical care and even our lifestyle and health behaviors. So when you think about that, if you're interested in wellness at all, your surroundings air just so right for improvement.
00:10:16 And you know, I always encouraged my friends and family members who are deeply invested in their own wellness to relieve examine your surroundings. And how could you be a change maker at work? And how can you bring, you know, a healthy environment into your home? There's just so much opportunity there, and I think some of us think of wellness is being physical wellness. But I love that 10 components of, well, art. So all encompassing and to some extent like really basic, you know, like, yeah, basically, you know, things that like entitlements to, you know, human rights like air, water, light and a lot of these things.
00:10:55 What I think is I'm just gonna tie this to co working for a minute is I think some of these things they're sort of basic things that some of us have operator as operators got into co working because we thought, well, people, sort of I have a right to these at work and maybe some of us have been more sensitive to the lack of these in buildings that we've worked in and said like what? We want to fix this. We think people you know should have a really great experience because they spend, you know, time inside all day.
00:11:26 And I don't think we may have covered this when we did our prep calls for the conference. But this is really big driver to why I got into Coworking. My tagline used to be work well, and I was working for this health care company that was going into a large companies and trying to get their employees to engage in health care programs really flick more physical health.
00:11:49 But the thing I was noticing is that all of these basic aspects, which I call them basic there certainly complex to deliver in some cases. But they were like missing like there's a building with no windows, you know, or everybody's in a cubicle and there's no movement at all whatsoever during the day or, you know, it's just like, well, all these basic things air not present, much less sort of. The more complex things like mind and community, which I think even more operators would relate to.
00:12:20 But for us, I think a lot of it's it's like, Look, this is table stakes. We don't want to get into creating workplace It doesn't include these things, But we're doing it more of a common sense approach where, well, is like a really tight standard around what this actually means and a framework for implementing, like very specific elements that can add up to what air and water and light mean.
00:12:43 Yes, absolutely. And oh my gosh, so many good nuggets in there. I could talk for hours with you.
00:12:49 People are a rain didn't hear. We gotta stay focused. But, you know, I think to your point, with kind of some of the leadership we're seeing from the co working space. That's really evident to me in terms of people wanting to create coworking influx office spaces that are such a departure in a far cry from things like sick building syndrome. You know, you think of that classic cubicle and office setting that I'm sure the majority of people listening have worked in at some point in their lives, and I think that co working spaces really rose up as leaders.
00:13:24 They were the antithesis to that historical office type, you know, and I think they've helped move other offices away from something that isn't quite as thoughtful about the human experience. And I think to something that's so great about the well building standard and building standards in general is that they kind of articulate what are the most important things for health or whatever. That building standard is about so well, some strategies and, well, you know, are pretty, as you said, common sense. You know, this makes a lot of sense that all building should be doing this.
00:13:58 And it isn't necessarily something that requires a huge investment in technology or reworking your entire process. Other strategies are a bit more intensive or might require more planning and focus and research. But I think what's so great about building standards is that they articulate what's important and help people have kind of a blueprint for how to bring that forward. And if you can check the boxes, you know the things, the strategies that you already have in place, and then you only need toe layer on some additional strategies on top of that That's amazing.
00:14:29 And that's why I think well is just such a helpful framework for all types of buildings and all types of organizations, no matter where they are in the process with engaging health.
00:14:39 You mentioned that you had a membership in a co working space in Philly since Philly. It's not headquarters for I W b. I can't talk about your perspective on co working. I mean, you just started to a little bit, but share a little bit more about your personal perspective. Given your experience.
00:14:54 Yes, I'm really passionate about working in general, as I'm sure you can tell from my enthusiasm. But I had a really great experience For about two years. I had a co working space in Philly, and it was a gateway to meet a lot of people who honestly helped build our business that I W b I. From those early days when we were growing as a team and starting to do really dynamic things and marketing, I met ah, graphic designer and creative director in our co working space, who ended up, you know, really doing a lot of the ground for brand building with me in those early days, and I think that's just one example of how co working spaces for people who are entrepreneurial can really bring together it community in a way that nothing else can.
00:15:39 So I was so grateful for my time there. And also, you know, starting a job is a remote employee is a little bit different than transition into being a remote employed for your company. So it was nice toe. Have time at that co working space where I was, you know, having that community connection that I really craved just didn't have out of the gates because my days in New York were pretty limited at the beginning. So I think in terms of community building connections, networking, Coworking spaces can just do so much good.
00:16:10 And, you know, I get so excited when I hear about companies who are investing in their remote employees and subsidizing, you know, Coworking memberships for them because I truly believe that benefits the business, not just the employees. I think it's a win win.
00:16:24 I do think, you know, I reached a point of die virgins where when my days ramped up in New York, you know, as I've taken increasing leadership roles and I b b I.
00:16:35 They made less sense tohave a court thing space for, you know, just a day when I was gonna be home in Philly. So, you know, I did kind of step back from that face in the recent year or so, but I also think that co working spaces, you know, not the one I had in particular. But many courting spaces are rising to that challenges well, fluctuating schedules and maybe not eating as many days. And accommodating that from a price perspective, I think is really smart, because in this remote culture, things condemn finitely change at the drop of a hat.
00:17:05 You know, you might be doing one day a week in the office, you know, doing a commune, and then that could scale really quickly overnight. So I think being able to respond to that dynamic nature, it's really important. And then I think to I always looked for a compelling reason to be in micro working space and not in my house. And I think Michael, working space and really, really served that need for me. You know, there were fitness facilities nearby, My favorite lunch spots were around it, but I do think that's an interest.
00:17:35 Something I'm curious about in the co working space is kind of how home office and co working spaces will continue. Thio compete and complement one another. So I'm just I'm fascinated by how all of that evolves. And that space in general. Yeah, I have a friend in a group that I'm in. That was an operator and he left managing. He was a co founder of a space, and he left that role and now does something different. So he's a customer of Ako working space, and he's he said, the exact same thing.
00:18:06 He said, It is unbelievable to me that people, like so many people, leave their houses and come t o because right, you're competing with, like pj bottoms. And you know, Theo inertia of being at home to your point, like you have to be pretty compelling to get people in the office, you know, and same thing with companies who are using, you know, flex Officer Corps Working Spaces as their H Q. For multiple staff, you know, how do you retain that company when the space is so competitive and amenities abound?
00:18:40 you know. So I think through both of those lenses, it's just a really exciting time for co working. And it's also, I think, one of the reasons why Coworking spaces tend to be the hubs of innovation for the building industry in general, they're at the forefront because they have to evolve, you know, right, quickest to retain the community. Yeah, right, Exactly. They're very customer driven, which you and I start talking about a little bit before I hit the record button. This idea of, you know, just just sort of counted in a question.
00:19:10 I was asking, Jennifer, you know what types of building owners think about applying for well certification? And I was telling her that, you know, in our world, building owners are really starting to think about their building as more of, ah, you know, a product or a service. And they have to attract users to that building versus it, just sort of being a commodity. And, oh, every 10 years, you know, people will lease the space, and that's just kind of, ah, a natural cycle that's never gonna end.
00:19:39 But today, people have so many different expectations for a building and T. Roy. It's sort of like a competitive you're competing with home. You're competing with thirds bases.
00:19:48 So how do you make that space compelling? And I would imagine that well is one of those reasons. So what motivates, you know, building owners to pursue? Well, yeah, well, I think it goes back to this idea that investing in people isn't just beneficial for the people, which is, you know, so important. It's also great for the business.
00:20:12 You know, if you want thio, improve your ability to attract tenants or even just your ability to attract occupants. You know, investing in health is, I think, something all building should really be thinking about these days. There's kind of the bottom up, consumer demand for it. The Global Wellness Institute says that the global wellness market is worth 4.2 trillion as a 2017 so I mean, that number is jaw dropping energy. It's not like we don't see it everywhere we turn, you know? Well, this has definitely arrived in all its various and sundry form, so I think there's an expectation from employees of companies and consumers in general bit, you know, the places they work in the spaces they visit will be taking wellness into consideration.
00:20:56 And for tenants, it's so important that they're able to say that there employees their customers, whoever that their space takes these things into consideration. But I also think that, you know, again, when we think about motivation for pursuing well, productivity is another piece and all the talking points that come with that. You know, when you have a space that's optimized for productivity, you know, lighting and day lighting that's optimized to help people focus and break rooms and, you know, good nutrition opportunities and active design.
00:21:27 All of those things help increase productivity and focus. So you have. You have better performing companies, so I think it's a building owner. If you're able to say that you've designed this space, that helps up to my eyes all of those things you do attract tenants who also may be willing to pay a premium for that.
00:21:43 But yeah, I think the great thing about well, too, is that it's inherently flexible. You know, some of our recent projects include a police station.
00:21:52 I was gonna write food because I guess I think sort of narrowly about our application of use of buildings, but yeah, who does? Well, okay, so preschool police stations. Who else? Yeah, hotels, affordable housing, conference faces and those air really more off the top of my head or more of the interesting ones that have come through the pipeline recently. And we've been so excited to welcome projects like that into our community because it paves the way for more like projects to follow suit. But, you know, I think we see a lot of office spaces come through the well certification process.
00:22:28 And that's something that I think people equate with well is, you know, as dynamic and flexible on growing as it is. I think people offhand really related to office space because there's, you know, those were the early adopters, and there's also just so much area for improvement in terms of what people deserve in an office space. And well has really put together the framework for how we can deliver those benefits in an office space. Is it typically like a corporate headquarters or what types of buildings or building ownership are pursuing?
00:22:59 Well, yeah, we see a lot of corporate headquarters. Definitely a lot of those you know companies who want Thio have that mark of leadership, have that well certification plaque and have those strategies in place and be able Thio educate their community on what they offer is a company. You know, I think that's another interesting point to note is that, you know, because well gets too wellness strategies beyond just building design and operation. Since it also extends to have policies and kind of organizational improvements that could be layered across the company, I would definitely call it an organizational wellness strategy and framework not just, you know, the building.
00:23:40 And also, yes, it was really, really resonated with companies you know, in that regard. Well, yeah, I think we see a lot of corporate office spaces, you know, and kind of spiraling out from that. You know, that diversity of projects, everything from, you know, hospitality and affordable housing and beyond.
00:24:02 So we talked about this a little bit. Look, at what size does it make sense for a building owner to apply for or to consider? Well, is it primarily for larger owners Or, you know, if I'm a building owner and I have, you know, a three floor, 30,000 square foot building, and I want to Do you know, work space is gonna be a commercial building? How do I make that decision? Is that like, sort of purely like, sort of responsibility, ethics driven?
00:24:31 Or is there? I guess it probably all Is there really a lot of things that go into it? But how does somebody sort of explore that and start making that decision?
00:24:39 Yeah. We tried to make well, incredibly flexible for spaces of all sizes. And we have some absolutely massive projects, you know, skyscrapers in China all the way to, you know, really small offices that are home to, you know, 10 or so people, you know, on the US side, South America, Central America. So it definitely runs the gamut. And I encourage anybody who's considering pursuing well to reach out to our team so that they can help you with a pricing estimate. Again, we've Our goal has really been to make well as inclusive as we can for projects of all types.
00:25:16 So that's reflected in the pricing model again, with that goal of just you know, if you wantto pursue well certification for your space, we'd like to find a pathway for you to engage. Yeah, I love that Can go back to your point about it being somewhat policy driven, not just sort of building driven.
00:25:32 So you're I was poking around your website. What? I was writing some of the questions and I started playing one of the office hours webinars like night and just like, nerd ing out. And like, what is this about the disturbing Q and A about the standards And how thio you know, some of the tactical things around implementing them, you know, they were answering questions like Wolf. We have treadmill desk. Does that count under, you know, movement? Or does that count under which I thought was super interesting and, you know, and nourishment like, Well, if we don't have a cafe on site But, you know, we have fresh fruit available, you know, So you have lots of resource is on your site.
00:26:07 But it just helped me to think about sort of how broad it is, too. It's not just the sort of how the Ajax designed and you know where the thermostats are. But just the idea of like, Okay, I'm gonna think through You know what food is available and right what type of desk people have. And then the community piece, I thought was really interesting, which I think might be an update to the standard. But a couple of the components that I noted underneath it were like new mother support, promoting health and wellness education, civic engagement, community space, which again I was ago.
00:26:42 These are things that a co working space will often do. But it's also interesting because some of these require some sort of like human oversight or programming.
00:26:52 And so I thought, Well, like we were talking about a little bit earlier, I think that as building owners start to really get into this mind set of, you know, I'm marketing my building, I have to create a unique experience and thinking about their building as an ecosystem.
00:27:11 I think that's when sort of, well, we'll start tying together, especially for co working spaces, because it may make sense.
00:27:17 So what we see happening is coworking spaces. Partnering with building owners just sort of help activate the building. So building owners having a fitness center that never gets used, you know, how do you use the sort of skill set of the co working space, which is used to programming and reactivating, You know, planning events and doing the unique things to get all the tenants to engage and help create more awareness or you have a rooftop deck that nobody uses.
00:27:47 You know, we talked about the conference about I think Industrias was mentioning a couple of things. They said, Well, one, they like to do something unique with the sit in a space, and I've mentioned this now this is probably the third time on the podcast. I need to get a new example.
00:28:01 They were saying like, Well, you know, we like to do something different cause a lot of people already have gym memberships and this said like they'll do paella, thons. Or do you like competitions of people in the building? You know, using the paella thons like just something away to be different and sort of unique and interesting. And then they mentioned doing cooking classes. You know, if there's a rooftop and there's a grill, for example, like activating it by doing cooking classes to bring people together, also provide an educational opportunity.
00:28:28 You, in this case, you could open it up to the public, so you're sort of checking that community box. But my point. Waas You know some of these air kind of more major undertakings for a building that's not used to sort of programming some of those things. So I think there's some opportunity to leverage, you know, a more serviced operator in the building that's doing working or some sort of flexible space to make these things happen in the building.
00:28:53 Yes, I think it's a huge value. Add something we talk a lot about in the wellness space and kind of the well community is that traditional wellness programs that companies tend to have in house could have really low participation. Riyadh. So it's like, Ah, company has really great intentions and they're putting out all this programming and they're checking that box to say we've given this to people. But then what's your participation rate? And then, you know, are those wellness benefits being received and something that I think the co working community does so well is really amping up participation in the events that they offer?
00:29:31 And frankly, I'm not quite sure what's in that secret sauce, but I find it, you know, I defer to you, Jamie, but in my experience co working in Philadelphia, you know those the events that my space would put on, We're always so well attended, I would say, by the majority of the people who were there, I think they were well timed.
00:29:50 And again, I think that they curated a community of people very actively wanted to participate in network and you reap these benefits that that your dollar is going toward in their membership fees. But I do think there's something really special about the way that Coworking leaders have been able to really increased participation in traditional wellness offerings and the couple wing that was sort of building infrastructure. And the more owner operator side, I think, is absolutely brilliant to make sure that you're bringing the best benefits to your user base, but also taking advantage of both kind of the building components and the programming elements.
00:30:27 That's another thing that we kind of tend to look at When we look at wellness offerings is this idea that there's there's programming and there's benefits and there's policies, but one of the things we really believe in delivering toe end users is all of those benefits that are kind of automatically delivered to them. So if you've invested in good air quality in great water quality, and you created a space that has beautiful day late and enables people to control their temperature zone and, you know, task lighting at their desk to create an optimal experience, you know those are things that they just benefit from every time they walk into the space, they don't have to sign up for a class they don't have to do the rave about.
00:31:06 I mean, they still should do work out. We'll have to passively experiencing well, exactly. So you know, I think all those things kind of come together for that complete wellness experience, whether you're in a co working space or in, you know, a more traditional office environment.
00:31:22 Let's talk about we talk. This is kind of what we covered at the conference last year, but co working spaces who are pursuing well, so I don't know if you can share the ones on the less that I'm not aware of, but I know so Work Bar had done a building in the Boston area. I don't know if Amy's still pursuing or not, with good work in Dallas, can you just kind of talk about sort of some of the things they're pursuing and their relationship with their owners? And what that looks like?
00:31:50 Yeah, you know, I have to say I haven't done into any of the scorecards or features. That and features are the strategies within the concepts of, well, I haven't dug into the specific, you know, pathways that these projects are taking. But, you know, as I mentioned when I was working to pull the latest list Coworking spaces that are pursuing well or have already certified so well, I was surprised. You know, it's either grown or I missed. Some was here when what I was feeling that lives together for awesome.
00:32:19 But we have one in China that certified at the silver level, we have one certified in Los Angeles at the gold level, when we also have a project that's applying the well community standard, which is a standard of this, you know, as you might guess, focuses on communities and neighborhood, the district scale wellness, and that includes a co working space within when they're working up within the community. So it's been great to see the footprint pattern of grow and more projects get involved globally.
00:32:49 But, yeah, I think it's really exciting to to see work far, you know, just be so well publicized in terms of how much they've embraced their well certification and really used it as a means of education to the folks in their space, but also kind of that broader community like what is well mean to them? What did they pursue? And then how do all these strategies connect back to enhancing wellness and helping people thrive in the space? So I couldn't be more enthusiastic about the co working community embracing not just well but wellness in general.
00:33:21 And again, I think it's a relatively small subset of, well, projects currently. But, you know, I'm hoping it grows, and I think those who are the early adopters will really paper away for that.
00:33:31 Yeah, and I think, as we've been talking about, I think I hope that this will shift as building owners are thinking differently and his co working spaces are partnering with building owners and can start Thio. That's why I love that we're doing this in generating some awareness because I think there's an opportunity for co working spaces that are partnering with building owners to advocate for the standard and to, you know, to ask and to say this is important. You know, we need to look at this and consider this so they can influence as well.
00:34:02 And we've talked about some of these, But are there any we missed like high impact areas of, well, our wellness for co working spaces to consider?
00:34:10 Oh, this is a fun question, you know? And I think it can probably be divided into high impact, like the strategies that really every project and an interest in furthering wellness should pursue to kind of have the most bang for your buck. But also the biggest impact on health care like that. The sign stuff like really investing in air quality, doing the testing, you know, being very mindful about the materials and cleaning agents you bring into the space, reducing the OSI's, you know, being diligent about water quality and day lighting and all of those things.
00:34:40 But there are a few areas that I think are just interesting to think about in conjunction with co working and one of those for me is acoustics and sound. I was actually chatting. Yeah, it was, You know, sound is a cat. It's a big ones.
00:34:55 Yeah, within the well building sand. And I was, you know, chatting with some of my colleagues about, you know, coworking and well in general And having been in a co working space, you know, I'm sure acoustics are top of mind for pretty much anybody are operating a co working space. But there's some really interesting considerations and well, that can help with that in terms of creating environments that are just optimal acoustically, and the strategies for doing that, you know, whether you're starting from scratch with construction or, you know, upgrading your building.
00:35:26 So I think that one's really interesting. And then, you know, from the programming perspective, we started to touch on this. But just the wealth of opportunities that are available in a co working community. You know, we've got a number of strategies within Well, one that I find really interesting that connects to the working spaces is the idea of creating connectivity to food and food distribution. So could you make your co working space of police for a C. S a pickup.
00:35:56 You know another policies in that vein. Is there a program to subsidize wearables for all of your members? Just lots of, I think, relatively low hanging fruit that co working spaces can get really creative around. And I'm sure you know plenty of co working spaces are doing similar things already.
00:36:14 Another area that I think is critical for courting spaces and again, since coworking spaces and flex bases tend to be but the forefront of fielding trends. And I'm sure this is well discussed. But adjustable workstations, you know, there's a huge difference between, you know, chaining yourself to a desk that can't be a justice on and then having something like a sit stand dusk and looking forward to going to that work station every day. You know, we go back to that conversation of what's bringing people into the co working space if they could work from home, and I think some of that office space technology is really important.
00:36:47 So sit Stan does, you know, cheers that can be adjusted for re ergonomics training around ergonomics, you know, how do you empower your community? Thio actually adjust their work stations so that they're comfortable and they're working on their posture all day as opposed to harming it. And then, you know, things like operable windows, that task lighting we talked about earlier and maybe even building technology so that people in this base can indicate their temperature comfort level. You know, are they to hotter? They too cold?
00:37:14 So I really think that co working spaces just have so many opportunities. Thio create a compelling community where people love their office and they love where they work with investments and those types of things.
00:37:27 Yeah. I mean, I love most of the things you mentioned are pretty approachable and doable, and that's why I love there. A lot of good resource is on your site, even if you're not ready to dive in to pursuing the standard.
00:37:40 If you're doing a build out and creating a space, you certainly can review the standards and understand what's involved and sort of start moving in that direction and thinking, I mean, because you make so many decisions when you're planning to build out and your layout into your point furniture and even what type of cleaning service and cleaning products totally before you sort of get too far down that path, being really intentional.
00:38:04 It can be fairly approachable if you're intentional about it and really think through the opportunities and the decisions that you're making.
00:38:12 Yes, and you know, I think it goes back to integrated design and starting early. You know, it's always best to incorporate thinking around wellness. Early phase in the project, as opposed to trying to tack it on, is in a bran idiot. The end, you know, being able to really capitalize on those things and then, you know, beyond the standard, which is, you know, something I would consider kind of like an open source products, you know, it's published, anybody can consume it.
00:38:40 And actually, currently we're in a public comment period, six month public comment, period. So anybody who has read the standard or is interested in it is currently welcome to leave comments. And, you know, we certainly accept comments on the standard in a more ad hoc fashion. At all times, this formal public comment period has been fascinating as we're starting to collect a high volume of feedback on, you know. Hey, this strategy was really tough for me, or I can't figure out how to apply this.
00:39:06 Or here's an area of human health that you haven't considered. It isn't published in that I feel really passionately about. So you know, I love that we have this dialogue with the community and can always grow that set of strategies but also get real time feedback on how easy are these to implement? And can we make it more accessible to you without compromising the integrity or rigor?
00:39:28 So I think that's just such a cool part of the standard that it's so evolutionary and so connected to community feedback the people on the ground who are actually applying the tactics and then beyond just the standard itself. You know, there are components of well certification that I think are really important for anybody who's implementing wellness features in their space to take into consideration, which is performance testing and documentation review. So, you know, on the performance testing friend, it's so critical to make sure that these things you put in place actually function is intended.
00:40:02 You know, great that you invested in air quality, but what's the actual ongoing air quality in your space and you need to top up after a year or rethink the strategy? Or is there something that's now interfering with your original strategy that way to control for? So I think that combination of really diligence, you know, documenting of what you've done testing it and then also having the framework of the standard to back you up all along and knowing that it evolves with you really just makes well such an interesting place toe work on right now.
00:40:36 And I it's fascinating. I know I kind of want your job. No, not your job, particularly in marketing. But I love everything that well stands for I think it just yet. Like I said at the beginning, it aligns with a lot of the values that a lot of us have for getting into Coworking to begin with. Okay, you've shared and lots of food for thought, and I feel like I could easily overstay my welcome in our conversation. But anything else that you wanna leave us with as a parting thought, Gosh, that's so hard.
00:41:04 And I know it totally is a bad question. It's a good question. It it's making me think, you know, I would to further that point on public comment. I would encourage anyone listening. Thio, take a pass through the well building standard on our website and weigh in. You know, now is the time we're preparing Thio, take the second version of the well building standard and move it out of the pilot phase. And that's a very ceremonial moment for us, but also a big moment of taking something that we launched as a pilot.
00:41:34 It really solidifying in the industry. So feedback really matters and not just feedback from people who are engaged in the technical components, but people from anyone who is part of a building community, whether you're an end user or an academic, you know. So I think that would be my My call to action is we'd love to hear from you especially, you know, knowing there are some very particular and nuanced challenges and opportunities for the co working space. We'd love to have that voice represented, so yeah, get in touch.
00:42:05 And, you know, I think closing thought again. Huge fan of co working spaces as hubs of innovation. And we will continue to learn from you all as well. You know, I think we find a lot of inspiration in the co working space, and it's nice to have a dialogue with someone who's such a leader in there. So thank you for having me. Oh gosh, thank you so much. Like I said, I could chat about this all day long so I will link to the standards and the website on the show notes and I'll think Thio Jennifer's profile on Linked in If you want to reach out and have any questions for her.
00:42:41 Jennifer, thank you so much for spending time with us today and for sharing so much of your perspective on how well relates to co working and how. And you know, simple steps that we can take. Thio kind of move that forward. I really appreciate it.
00:42:54 Thank you for having me. This was so much fun. Awesome. Thanks for joining us on this episode of everything co working.
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