Junny Lee is on a mission to revolutionise the way that co-working space is offered in Hong Kong – and elsewhere – based on changing work-style preferences and modern lifestyle trends.
Lee, the founder and managing director of The Work Project in Causeway Bay, believes that with co-working spaces in the city continuing to flourish as mainstream places to conduct business, there is a need to make the concept more flexible by serving different purposes for different users. For example, The Work Project caters to not only local residents and enterprises, but also those that visit Hong Kong for only a few days of business per month.
“We are adding a new dimension by making it possible for people to book an office, hot desk or meeting room according to their daily needs,” Lee points out. “Booking our office space is just like booking an Uber taxi.”
Opened last September, The Work Project comprises 74 private offices as well as 80 hot desks and meeting rooms spread across four floors. In total, the work space can accommodate more than 300 users – or “members” as Lee calls them. Key to Lee’s mission is a proprietary online booking platform modelled on similar technology used in the hotel industry, and service amenities that cater to 21st-century work-life balance aspirations.
“We call it office 2.0,” says Lee, using the term to denote a next-generation version of a product or service. “We offer a truly flexible environment.”
Lee says the urge to set up The Work Project was triggered after reading a report by consulting company Gallup suggesting that 70 per cent of people were disengaged from their work. “In Hong Kong, where people work notoriously long hours, studies indicate the level of workplace disengagement is even higher,” he explains.
Citing a separate survey on Asia-Pacific millennials by real estate firm CBRE, he adds that office design can influence recruitment, retention and employee satisfaction. With this in mind, everything at The Work Place – from ergonomic office furniture and a living green plant wall to music, scent and refreshments – has been carefully co-ordinated to improve the working experience. The co-working space also provides members with F&B, laundry, fitness and wellness services via negotiated discount and service agreements with various vendors.
Lee – who graduated from Tufts University in Boston with a bachelor’s degree in economics and from the London School of Economics with a master’s – has extensive knowledge of both the real estate sector and hotel IT systems.
During the early part of his career he worked in Dubai, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia for Magilink, a company owned by his father that provides technological and other services to hotels worldwide. He also worked for real estate investment firm Pacific Star Fund Management, where he gained invaluable insight into the real estate business from an experienced mentor.
Prior to launching The Work Project, Lee and his team spent 18 months talking to companies and visiting various co-working establishments in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Singapore and Hong Kong. “We paid close attention to research and conducted our own social-listening exercises,” he says.
Their research revealed, not surprisingly, that not all millennials want to share collaborative office space all of the time. “This is one of the reasons we offer touch-of-a-button, on-demand private office space and meeting rooms,” Lee says.
He adds that it is no coincidence the majority of senior management at the company have been recruited from the luxury hotel and hospitality industries. “We believe that the type of service found at a luxury hotel is expected by our members,” Lee explains. “From a talent perspective, Hong Kong is probably the best place there is for hiring people who can deliver the sort of quality that members look for.” Being able to recruit employees from Hong Kong’s pool of experienced hotel and hospitality talent, he explains, was one of the strategic reasons for opening The Work Project’s first co-working space here.
Another reason was the opportunity to offer value to businesses and entrepreneurs in a city where office leases are among the most expensive in the world – though this did not come without its downsides. “Our own biggest challenge by far was finding the right office space in the right location,” he says. “It’s not just about providing office space, but about providing professional and lifestyle services.”
A second Work Project is scheduled to open its doors in Singapore during the first quarter of 2017, with a third in the pipeline for Los Angeles.
This article appeared in the Classified Post print edition as Co-working wonders.
