An innovative space where you can collaborate, share and generate new ideas

Training, discussion, ideas and actions in the same place. New projects have the ability to appear at any convenient time. It is no longer necessary to be in a corporate meeting room to generate conversations and perspectives that advance new business, now everything is more formal and more innovative than before.

Ideas, somehow, flow freely and without braces. They are ideas that are launched and based on the existence of a common and collective interest in order to be able to promote initiatives of a very diverse nature.

For this reason, there are now spaces where there are countless services and activities that we might not have thought of as spaces for creativity, training, listening, and entrepreneurship. Such is the case at the famous Work Café in Banco Santander, a place where you can grow professionally and personally in an informal way where, in addition, new opportunities can emerge because it is a point of common interest.

Today, this new type of coffee – where Anna Botín says the coffee is also very good – already has 58 places across Spain: 43 on campus and 15 in urban areas.

It’s not just coffee

True, at first glance it may seem like a cafeteria, but it is much more than that. It is a way to grow professionally, educationally and personally, as it hosts events, talks, conferences and courses where you can learn new tools. This is one of the goals with which the Banco Santander Business Café was born, an open space designed to create an informal relationship and more openness between customers and the financial institution. Especially in the case of young people.

It must be borne in mind that the relationship of young people with companies, as well as with banks, is completely different from what it could have for their parents. But, equally, they should relate to them, as they will be part of their finances at some point. For this reason, the branches owned by Banco Santander on university campuses throughout Spain have been completely changed and these work cafes have been promoted on university campuses, adapting them to the new needs of university students and employees.

In order to create this connection between business and youth, the 43 work cafés located on the campus are equipped with the latest digital technology; Personal attention Advice on employment, entrepreneurship and scholarships, as well as specific products and services; Advantages, discounts and a wide range of leisure and culture.

collaborative spaces

This new branch concept, where an opportunity is provided for communication between people, responds to a new habit of consumers and society. Its success is based on a new branch model that puts human relationships and client affinity at the center, in an environment of digitalization and innovation. The result is innovative, interactive, technological and modern spaces.

Work cafés are spaces for sharing and collaboration where any user can work, go online, hold meetings, or perform usual financial procedures. You also have the possibility to hold events, organize talks, conferences and courses. Similarly, Work Café customers can start live conversations with their manager through the app and enter into phone contracts to save time.

Entrepreneurs also have a channel that allows them to multiply the visibility of their business. An area where they can advertise their services, for example, through digital screens in the Work Café or on a bulletin board.

During 2020, pandemic restrictions prompted the creation of the online business café model. In this way, these spaces transcend the boundaries of their physical premises to open up to the world. Conferences, master classes and talks are offered with content of interest to individuals and companies who want to take advantage of the opportunity to expand their knowledge on this online communication channel.

This new branch concept was born in Chile in 2016 and is already present in nine countries where Grupo Santander is present: Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Portugal, United Kingdom, Poland, United States and Spain. The first office of this kind in Spain opened its doors in 2018 in Madrid, on the Plaza de Sagrados Corazóns. Currently, Grupo Santander already has 150 centers of this type distributed all over the world and continues its expansion plans.