Early coworking spaces may have resembled startups, with plenty of game tables, lounge seating, powerfully strong coffee and snack choices in workplaces populated by youthful Millennials working in tech.
But coworking spaces have grown up.
And not only have the spaces matured, so has the coworking population.
If you think you’ve noticed a greater number of gray-haired workers in your coworking space, you’re not alone.
Today, the 50+ population is the fastest-growing segment of coworking spaces, followed by 40-49-year-olds, according to DeskMag’s most recent annual survey.
Meanwhile the proportion of under 40-year-olds continues to decline, dropping from 73% in 2015 to 55% today.
In the same three-year period, members over 40 have grown from 27% to now comprising nearly 40% of the membership.
Why? And what does this mean for coworking spaces?
The shifting demographics can be attributed to numerous factors, several of them interrelated.