Finding Opportunity in the Changing Workplace

At the Winter Institute advanced learning session “Managing the Changing Workplace,” Ryan Coonerty, co-founder of the shared-workspace community NextSpace and co-author of The Rise of the Naked Economy: How to Benefit From the Changing Workplace (Macmillan), discussed the opportunities and challenges facing bookstore owners and managers amidst a workplace environment in transition.

Coonerty, a former mayor of Santa Cruz, California, and a member of the family that has owned Bookshop Santa Cruz for many years, facilitated a discussion focusing on new trends in the workplace and the ways in which independent booksellers can take advantage of these changes.

“There’s a fundamental change in the where, how, and why we work,” said Coonerty. “It’s coming to every industry, and those individuals and communities who find out how to get in front of this will be at an advantage.”

With a growing number of companies externalizing their workforces and more individuals taking advantage of remote work opportunities, Coonerty partnered with Jeremy Neuner to co-found NextSpace, a shared office space that offers its members a place to work, but more importantly, a place to work with other people.

“What [NextSpace members] are paying for is community,” said Coonerty. “And that’s something bookstores do better than any other institution in the country… Don’t underestimate the value of community in a world where people are so hungry for it. It’s incredibly valuable and you have to figure out how to take advantage of that… Community is monetizable and a huge business opportunity.”

The changes in today’s workplace have come as a result of a couple different factors, said Coonerty. Technology plays an instrumental role in the way people work, since work can now be done globally. The old model relied on staff being in the same place at the same time in order to be successful, but that is no longer the case, said Coonerty, adding that millennials often view tech-based interaction and face-to-face interaction as interchangeable.

Because of technological advances, a company’s employees need not be limited to people who live within a 30-mile radius, he said, but can be drawn from all over the world. As an example, Coonerty pointed to a conversation he had with his sister, Casey Coonerty Protti, the owner of Bookshop Santa Cruz, when she was having difficulties finding a qualified events coordinator. “Does an events coordinator have to work in the store?” he asked and suggested that a highly qualified person who just might be in New York could fill the bill.

Technological changes have also affected the economics of work, said Coonerty, who noted that employees are starting to be paid for their tasks instead of their time.

This is an opportunity for bookstore owners and managers, who, he suggested, could pool their staff’s talents to streamline many of the processes that cost time and money.

In addition, Coonerty said that many job seekers are no longer only looking for full-time jobs with long-term stability. Many people are juggling several part-time jobs at once, or simply want a job that works with their lifestyle. But this can present a challenge for employers, who are then tasked with creating flexible work schedules. To that end, some session attendees recommended time-saving tools that they found effective in making schedules, including ShiftPlanning, and WhenToWork.

Coonerty also noted that some retailers, such as Jamba Juice, are using data analysis to create work schedules that are broken down to smaller increments of time, for example, 15-minute increments, to meet shifting demands throughout a day.

The trend is towards more people working part-time, said Coonerty, pointing to baby boomers who are continuing to work, but work differently; millennials who want the flexibility of working part-time; and women who are willing to sacrifice a higher salary for the flexibility of part-time work.

However, with more and more people working part-time and remotely, and the average millennial staying in a job only two years, the challenges of fostering a sense of community and providing adequate and efficient staff training are growing.

Though there is clearly a paradigm shift, it’s still new and therefore uncomfortable for some people, Coonerty said. Employers should be open to creating a strong workforce by offering a living wage, flexibility, and government-based healthcare when possible. Creating a positive work culture –– an environment that makes staff happy to come to work –– is equally important, he said, and can offset many benefits that were commonly found in older models. Since more people are looking for meaning in their work, they are willing to have tradeoffs in terms of pay and benefits.

A video of Ryan Coonerty’s full presentation and discussion with booksellers is available to ABA member booksellers with a BookWeb username and password.