Overhauling the office

Noelle Coak doesn't hesitate when asked about the place she calls home. "My home is in Japan, Tokyo. My family is in Japan, my husband, my son and two dogs," she replies.

The American serviced-office industry executive has lived in Asia since 2005, marrying a Japanese man from a similar business in 2006, and raising their 10-year-old son in the Japanese capital.

"Japan will be my home forever," she stresses, adding that the people are what she likes the most about the country. "I think that Thailand and Japan are very similar. The people are humble, family-oriented, respectful, and culturally they are very kind. I love the country. I like the culture and the food."

As the country head of UK-based IWG (International Workplace Group) for Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea, Ms Coak has plenty of ideas about the ideal work space. But ask her about her own office and you get a reply that might surprise you, until you consider how the world of work has been changing.

"I don't have an office," she says simply. "My office is whenever I walk into one of our locations and then I'm a customer, meaning I want the same level of services because I watch how the customers work."

Ms Coak has spent 21 years in the serviced office industry, starting with the Americas in 1998. She moved to Asia in 2005 and helped the IWG affiliate Regus Japan grow to 120 locations. While there, she realised that while Japan was far from cheap, it would be a great place to live and put down family roots as well.

"It's expensive in Tokyo. As a westerner, it was quite difficult when I first moved to Japan, you know, [looking at] all of the houses. The bigger you get, the bigger the price tag is," she recalls.

"I have a great husband. Now we live in a beautiful community called Denenchofu, which is a bit of western community and our house is a bit larger. It's 20 minutes outside the city. I have nice gardens, beautiful waterfalls, a park that I can have two-minute walks, and with nice neighbours who ride bicycles. It's child-friendly. It's a safe country so I can have my child come home by train by himself."

Since April 2017, a lot of Ms Coak's professional attention has been focused on Thailand, overseeing the operation and sales of Regus business centres in Bangkok, Phuket and Sri Racha, Chon Buri. In March 2018 she opened the first Space location in the heart of Bangkok, bringing IWG's new co-working brand to Thailand, while Regus continues its rapid expansion with more locations in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, growing from 18 locations nationwide to 23.

And when Asia Focus met her on Jan 31, Ms Coak was in Thailand for the launch of HQ, another IWG brand making its debut in Asia. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, IWG has about 3,500 locations in 195 countries.

"We have many different brands underneath IWG for different lifestyles and different communities," says Ms Coak. "That's what differentiates us, the different brands. We can ensure that we can bring similar quality and the same levels of service to our clients in all our networks, and we are able to do it at different price points.

"Not everyone can afford a classy office space but still everyone needs a private office with a meeting room setup. Our concept is similar throughout the brands. We typically go in and build up office space for the brands.

"We try to make sure that we are placed in every major country all around the world, and we also open in countries where you might never have thought of doing business, like Jamaica and Kazakhstan, because people do business differently today."

CO-WORKING'S NEW BUZZ

Having worked in the industry since 1998, when IWG introduced the concept to the Americas, Ms Coak says co-working space is nothing new. HQ, for example, is not a new brand though it was recently launched in Asia. It was born in the US, headquartered in Dallas, and has been around since 1962. But recently, co-working has become a widely talked about topic worldwide.

"It's a new buzzword in the media," she says. "Everyone is talking about co-working but co-working is nothing new; basically everyone is always working together. But what we've done is take down the walls, to encourage collaboration, to encourage more networking within or among companies.

"People are working differently today. They're not working from an old-fashioned computer any longer. You are working on your phone so technology is very important. We have to be on the cutting edge in terms of how people are going to be working and we have to provide that platform for them."

Journalists, for instance, can work anywhere that stories happen. "You have the ability to come in, be in a professional environment, use our professional meeting room with a staff to be able to support you in your local language as well as English all around the world," she notes.

"We understand that technology is a key part of what we are offering to our clients, with applications for our customers to be able to book a meeting room when they are getting on a plane, going to London. You can book and reserve your office online. When you arrive in London, everything is set up for your office."

Along with its peers in the industry, IWG strives to offer flexibility to customers but in a professional working environment. "We have co-working memberships available for people to drop in to use space by the hour or by the day but we still have a private office for people who still need a full-time residential type of an office."

Typically, she says, when a company makes a business plan, if it aims to grow to a 100 people then it leases space for 100 people. But what happens if the business does not grow as planned, or grows so fast that the space you leased is too small?

"Doing business with HQ gives you the flexibility to grow your company with your people as you grow," says Ms Coak. "We have an office built out just for one person. And when the company expands, you can expand your company inside HQ. So as you grow, you do not pay for real estate that you are not using."

At the HQ location on Phahon Yothin Road, 1,000 square metres of space accommodates about 60 private offices, ranging in size based upon what the clients need. "We have offices for entrepreneurs, startup companies, and representative offices. They range in size anywhere from one person to 10 or 20 people."

"Flexibility is the key. You can use that office just for the day. You can sign a short-term lease for one month up to two years. Conventional office space doesn't give you that flexibility," says Ms Coak.

"If I were to describe my company it is flexibility -- flexibility of locations, flexibility of terms, flexibility of price and the service we offer."

Co-working brings people together to work in the same environment to network, to collaborate, from different types of businesses, different industries, she explains, adding that it's exciting to see everyone wanting to get into the co-working business these days.

"Competition is quite healthy. You have to keep ahead of the game, be on the cutting edge to offer something different," she says. "IWG does this because we have different brands, and there are no competitors in the marketplace that have multiple brands. We can offer different solutions to the market, to the customers.

"Our company can customise office space. We build up space that is completely furnished so you can literally bring in your employees, your own laptops or PCs, and leave everything to us, as all the IT and telecoms, the infrastructure and facilities are in place.

"We have meeting rooms on demand for people to utilise. We have a cafe with nice cappuccino, latte. Please enjoy that right away," she says, laughing. "We are also offering multi- and bilingual staff to support your business administration, together with all the equipment and technology you need. All you have to do is just bring in your laptop and start working from today."

The growth of co-working spaces, according to Ms Coak, is being driven by the new ways in which people are approaching the idea of work.

"Working the traditional 9 to 5 is no longer the case," she says. "Some people come in at 11 o'clock in the morning, they go out and come in again at 7 at night. Flexibility is going to be the key and we produce that type of environment."

She also sees a growing entrepreneurial spirit, with more people taking chances on new ideas. "New generations, the millennials, are taking more risks. More women are in business and many people are starting companies. They're not going into traditional companies to have long-term careers.

"You no longer see people working in suits. That has evolved. The work space has evolved. It's changing. Some offices are so like this -- a cubicle, all white walls, very institutional. People are not motivated to work.

"What we have done at IWG and HQ especially is that we bring more excitement and style into the actual workplace. The design, the pictures and the type of furniture that we choose, the colour of the wall, and the outside view we have here," she says, looking out the window. "We take all that into consideration when thinking about how people are going to be working."

As well, the company hosts various types of events that can bring fun to the workplace. "We bring the fun of networking events, like yoga for clients, book clubs, wine tasting, those types of events."

WORK HARD, PLAY HARDER

Now that Ms Coak is in charge of three important markets for IWG in Asia, she has set a goal for the business to grow that way it has in her first market in the region.

"When I came over to Asia, Japan was an emerging market in 2005 and we grew that market to 130 locations. So I was asked to do the same things with other important markets such as Korea, Thailand and Taiwan," she says.

"Obviously these are very important markets … and Thailand has seen our largest growth over the past two years. We have doubled the size of our business in the last two years. This is very exciting. We continue to invest in Thailand where a lot of companies are doing business here."

As she spends most of her time travelling, Ms Coak says that when she is at home in Japan, everything is for the family. "I travel a lot out of Japan. I do. When I get back to Tokyo, it's my family," she says with a smile.

"I work really hard but I play hard too. I think that working is important but it's good to have balance and be a good role model for your children to show them a good work ethic.

"But we also have fun as a family. So every quarter, our family will be on a holiday. We love travel. We travel all over the world. We do the Americas twice a year. We do Europe once a year, and Asia once a year."

And her favourite destination is Thailand. "We love Thailand. My husband loves Thailand. He studied in Thailand and speaks Thai. He studied here when he was in university on an exchange programme. We were just here in the summertime and also in autumn. We are coming back in March."

The other members of the family are her two dachshunds, Momo (peach in Japanese) and Kiwi.

Besides travelling, she is fond of squash and skiing, and does yoga when she wants to relax. Reading is also a passion. "I love reading. The book I'm reading now is Amy Bloom's White Houses, about Franklin D Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt. I hope I finish that before I leave (Thailand)," she says at the time of the interview.

She also loves reading to educate her son. "I read the newspapers a lot. I think that's very important. I educate my child by reading the newspapers every single day. When my father raised me, he said, 'If you never read a book, pick up a newspaper and read the newspaper and then you will become educated.'

"I don't read e-books. I still like paper. It sounds old-fashioned but I don't read newspapers online. I like holding the paper. I like holding books. I know that there's a new generation and we are trying to become paperless but there's something about picking up the newspaper and seeing what's on the pages when it's in your hands. I'm still fond of old-fashioned newspapers."

When she's on the job, Ms Coak tries to learn as much as possible about how people are working and what they need. That's why she uses IWG facilities wherever she happens to be when she needs to get some of her own office work done.

"I get great enjoyment going to our locations, meeting our customers. I walk around and see how they set up their office," she says. "That gives me insights into how should we set up our own offices because watching how people work makes me understand what our customers' needs are."

And she always dresses professionally -- the day we met she was wearing a simple but elegant white blouse and black skirt. "Our environment by brand dictates this. We don't wear suits any longer. I want to be more relaxed. I don't dress because of the way other people dress, I dress for my own comfort," she says.

Ultimately, she says, it's the enjoyment of being around people that keeps her going, and a welcoming office environment can make any kind of work a lot more pleasant.

"I love what I do. I have a passion for what I do. I wouldn't be here for 20 years without the love of what I do. Customer service means creating the right environment for how people are going to be working or actually living."

The serviced office industry, she observes, is always thought of as a female profession because women typically are "the people that give the best service".

"I also see that it is changing toward more men coming into the industry. … Of course I'm also excited to see more women in business," says Ms Coak.

In Japan, it has always been culturally a man's world in business but now more women are coming back into the workforce, she says. At present, women make up about 40% of the workforce.

"I'm not a person who's going to say let's have all females because of equality. I've never been that way. It's about the best person for the job," she says. "Everyone should have an equal opportunity."

Looking further into the future, Ms Coak is asked which country besides Japan she would choose to live in after retirement. The answer is not unexpected. "If I'm going to live in another country, it would be Thailand. My husband said he wants to be retired in Thailand. But as long as I have the ability to still work, I'm not ready to check out."