Toronto-based company LAUFT is working to revolutionize the work experience in the city, offering an opportunity for professionals to cut commute times, connect with others, and access a variety of office-like support.
LAUFT has been offering professionals and organizations co-working space rentals around the city since 2017.
Self-proclaimed as the “work-life freedom company,” the organization aims to revolutionize the work experience in the city by offering professionals the opportunity to work from a third space that is not their house or their office.
“We actually started pre-pandemic, which was unique, and it really was just about creating a space for people that was, you know, convenient. It would allow them to collaborate, and it would also give them a professional space that was in between the home office and the work office,” LAUFT Founder and CEO Graham Wong told Now Toronto.
According to him, when the company started eight years ago, a lot of workers were already fed up with the long commuting times in the city.
After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many workers in Canada started working from home to comply with social distancing regulations. But in the last few years, the trend is being reversed with more companies going back to hybrid or fully in-person work schedules, prompting many professionals to return to public transit, driving or biking to work.
Last year, the number of commuting citizens was up by 3.7 per cent across the country, according to StatsCan. Meanwhile, Toronto has the highest commuting time in Canada, with workers spending an average of 33 minutes on transit, while 15.7 per cent of commuters are reported to spend over an hour on route per day.
“If you only have your office to go to, and you have to factor in an hour-and-a-half-long commute, and then go to the office and you work, there are a lot of things that can be built up into that journey… Your life gets compromised by work,” Wong said.
Now, LAUFT works to offer Torontonians with a third option between their company’s office and home, providing everything a team or professional would need while cutting off commuting times significantly.
With multiple locations across the city, the company offers options for team or individual desks or office rooms rentals. Their spaces are equipped with whiteboards, printing services, meeting rooms, high-speed internet, and more.
“We locate our spaces close to where people live. So, you have this third option, which gives you everything that you need from the office, but it’s within five to 10 minutes of your home,” Wong said.
“You want to print? You can print. You want enterprise-grade Wi Fi? We got you. You need whiteboards? We got you. We have everything that you need for an office because it is an office experience. But in addition to that, it’s everything else that you want from going into the office, which is the convenience of, you know, food, restaurants, everything around,” he added.
Besides offering workers more freedom to enjoy their free time without having to worry about a long commute, LAUFT also points out that the change is also good for the environment, significantly reducing transit-related carbon emissions.
THE STARBUCKS OF WORKSPACE WITH AN UBER-LIKE EXPERIENCE
Wong also says that the company offers a variety of flexible services that make it extra easy and convenient for professionals.
“You open the app, you find the closest LAUFT, you choose your start time [and] your end time. You don’t need to sign a contract. You don’t need to organize a tour to take a look at the space. You can go on our site. It’s as seamless as possible,” he said.
“We’re building the Starbucks of workspaces with an Uber-like experience, because there is a heavy tech component to what we do. We take the work experience like we’re not just a landlord,” he added.
Besides having access to their complete space and support staff, renters also have the opportunity to connect with other co-workers using the space, which Wong says can lead to business collaborations and opportunities, or even just meaningful relationships.
“It provides this amazing opportunity for people to take advantage of use and leverage and meet other people who are also navigating the knowledge worker space,” he said. “You see some of our clients just getting together and working out of the same space and connecting and building relationships, and that’s an incredible thing to see.”
