Coworking network Deskpass launched in New Jersey on April 20 with 11 coworking spaces and four more coming down the pike.

Deskpass is headquartered in Chicago and has a network of more than 1,000 coworking spaces nationwide, including desks, meeting rooms and private offices. New Jersey, its 23rd market, includes 10 desks for coworkers, 18 meeting rooms and 31 private offices.

As employers slowly bring their employees back to the office, they’re faced with a question: What’s the sweet spot for work-from-home/office hybrids, and how can they give employees the resources necessary to do their job but the freedom and flexibility they now crave?

“[The last year was] the greatest work from home experiment ever, and everyone was pushed into it. Now everyone’s trying to figure out what to do with their companies,” explained Nicole Vasquez, Deskpass co-founder and chief community officer.

Deskpass collaborates with coworking spaces to both funnel business in and serve a need. In the Garden State, spaces launched in Ridgewood, Jersey City, Parsippany, Hoboken, Marlton, Newark, Pine Brook and Verona.

We’re a bridge, we’re a work-from-anywhere solution.
– Nicole Vasquez, co-founder and chief community officer, Deskpass

As employers explore having a hybrid workforce, engaging some folks in-person and some from their home, they’re realizing a few things, according to Vasquez: For one thing, real estate and office rent are expensive, especially if your team isn’t in the office. Second, she noted, employees crave some kind of privacy and structure, especially if they have children that pop in uninvited to their Zoom calls.

“We’re a bridge, we’re a work-from-anywhere solution. [Our coworking spaces are] provided on demand by the hour, the day, the week, the month,” Vasquez said. “Employees, while they do say they want to work from home two to three days a week, they still want to go into the office at some point – they just want to have a say as to where.”

Without having to go into the same downtown office, employees are opting to work closer to home, cutting their commute in half but still getting the office environment they were missing.

“I’ve heard independent workspaces we work with say there’s a positive impact in the neighborhood economically – people are no longer always getting coffee downtown near the office, they’re getting it from a coffee shop nearby,” she said.

Companies join Deskpass for $0 and pay as they go each time an employee checks into an affiliated space. Prior to COVID, creative types were their more common customers. Now, their clientele has expanded, Vasquez said, from creatives to lawyers to bankers. Those in sensitive industries may rent a private office, while those not in that realm might rent a desk in a communal space.