Working Together Better: Boston-Area Coworking Network Fosters Productivity And Innovation

At Workbar, silence is golden, but only in The Study neighborhood.

And while The Study is curated for heads-down, focused work, members of the coworking space can head to The Cafe if they want to work with background chatter and music, The Switchboard if they need to make phone calls, or The Commons to collaborate with their team, Workbar CEO Sarah Travers said.

At each of the company’s 11 locations in and around Boston, members are encouraged to move throughout the day between “neighborhoods,” or parts of the open office space that are designated for specific work activities and sound levels. Phone booths and private meeting rooms are also available at each location.

“Where you choose to sit depends on where you feel most productive,” Travers said.

Each neighborhood has its own behavioral norms that members know and follow. 

“We’ve figured out how to enable people from different industries and different generations to work together productively in open space,” Travers said.

That culture is what sets the company apart.

Founded in 2009, Workbar has expanded from a single downtown Boston location to a network spanning suburbs and satellite hubs, including some near Massachusetts’ world-famous institutions of higher learning and research.

Boston’s startup ecosystem was booming during Workbar’s early days, and entrepreneurs made up many of its members. They still remain an important part of Workbar’s client base, but today’s members are just as likely to work for Fortune 500 companies, Travers said.

Some of those large companies even have Boston headquarters but also see the value in access to suburban locations closer to where their employees live, she said.

In recent years, flexible workspaces have grown in popularity with larger enterprises, many of which have reduced their office footprints and moved toward utilizing third-party marketplaces like LiquidSpace and Gable to give their workers access to spaces like Workbar, Travers said. This allows them to find the most convenient workspace on any given day. 

Spontaneous Interactions

Boston’s reputation for birthing innovations is “not accidental” and is due to a spirit of collaboration, Travers said.

“Members here see Workbar as more than a desk,” she said. “They’re working side by side, exchanging ideas, sparking new insights and making new connections that don't happen in silos behind closed doors.”

To serve as a steward of this tradition, the company feels a sense of responsibility to provide environments where people from different industries and backgrounds can work productively in one space.

“Those spontaneous interactions, rubbing elbows, can mean getting access to funding, getting inspired to go and build a new company or even meeting their next potential co-founder,” Travers said.

She said the company’s regional focus is also a key differentiator.

“Our members tell us they want a network of spaces to work in one region, not across the nation,” Travers said. “They find value in working one day in Boston, one day in Arlington and one day in Needham, wherever their life takes them. When they travel nationally, they are more inclined to work from their hotel, a coffee shop or their own clients’ offices.”

The company’s membership includes reciprocity across all Workbar locations. As the company has opened new locations, member feedback has been integral to its growth.

“They tell us where we need to be,” Travers said. “Our goal is to have locations within a 20-minute drive of where most people in Massachusetts live, work and play.”

Workbar’s network of locations across Greater Boston was a major draw when the leaders of Overture Partners, an IT staffing firm specializing in generative artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and digital transformation, were rethinking their office space utilization postpandemic, said Marty Goober, the firm's executive vice president and co-founder.

“Having multiple spaces for our team to choose from makes day-to-day work more convenient and adaptable,” Goober said. “It allows our employees to access the resources and community they need, wherever they are.”

Financially, the shift to coworking has been a smart business decision for Overture Partners, enabling the company to redirect capital to the team and company growth, he said.

Three new Workbar locations are set to be unveiled in the coming months, Travers said. At these and existing locations, Workbar prioritizes aesthetics and design, but productivity comes first.

“Each location has a uniqueness to it,” Travers said. “Our location in Arlington is in a historic 19th-century mill, but we want them each to be equally functional. No location should ever be missing any of the resources we’re known for. The coffee will be the same. The WiFi will be the same. And the experience will be the same.”

Problem Solved

Workbar’s origins were in a problem that needed to be solved and a community of entrepreneurs who wanted to continue working in the same office building near Boston’s South Station.

When the company the entrepreneurs subleased from went bust overnight, they got together and went directly to the building’s landlord to ask if they could lease the same space on a short-term basis. The answer was yes.

“One of our co-founders was a serial tech entrepreneur who liked the energy of working near other like-minded individuals,” Travers said. “He and a handful of founders wanted to stay but were not ready to sign a long-term lease.”

The owners of the building became part of Workbar’s founding team, and the company has been growing regionally ever since. It is in that space where the members organically created Workbar’s “neighborhoods” by moving throughout the day based on noise level and preferred interactions.

Today, Workbar’s biggest competitors are people’s homes.

“Our spaces have to be enticing enough to prompt someone to leave their home and come work here,” Travers said. “There’s a different energy here, which hopefully gets people inspired and productive.”

That has been the experience of Overture Partners, Goober said.

“Our employees feel more energized and connected at Workbar than they did in our previous office space,” he said. “Being surrounded by other professionals in a dynamic, collaborative setting lifts the team’s energy and motivation. It feels great to be part of a larger community where there’s always something happening.”

This article was produced in collaboration between Workbar and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.