COWORKING – WHAT AND FOR WHOM?
In the latest article we shared some light on the term office hotel – if the term is still unclear, go check the article from here. Now its time to take coworking on the table, which is shared, community work space – where the concept got its name from, what does it include and what sort of benefits are gained.
Coworking is not a new phenomenon – people have since the beginning of time worked more or less together, and coworking spaces started to to form already in the early 1990’s – coworking spaces popularity has grown significantly in the last years. Despite the growing popularity, the flexibility and communal working model could work for even more people. In this article we elaborate on what coworking means, and we strive to ease the comparison and decision making process between coworking and other workspace solutions.
COWORKING: SHORT HISTORY
The mother of coworking, has been said to be spaces such as hackerspaces, non-profit community workshops, that came up in the mid 90’s. The like minded people gathered to work , spend time and discuss their common interests. The first ever hackerspace, C-base, was born in Berlin in the year 1995. The idea which started from hackerspace, actually became the first co-working space that was launched in 2002 in Vienna. The idea was to create space outside home, which fit architects, PR-consults, startups and other creative field freelancers to gather and collaborate with one another.
In the beginning of 2000’s coworking spaces were quite small of a thing, but since 2010 the popularity and amount had expanded drastically. Nowadays there are over 19000 coworking spaces are around the world, and these are in higher demand among freelancers, digi domain as well as larger corporations. As the coworking space popularity and remote work has increased, the amount of these spaces has been predicted to even double till the year 2024.
WHAT THEN IS THIS COWORKING?
In the simplest term, coworking is a space, which gathers different field workers and entrepreneurs to work in. Coworking is a bit like cafe that is meant for working – with a difference that the spaces are ergonomic, quieter and coffee can be drank as much as you wish (atleast here at VillageWork). The product of coworking is found fairly much these days, and the spaces differ from simplistic to very modern and futuristic spaces.
With coworking, the space, services, supplies which are for example desk, chair, internet, phone booths, everything is shared with the other users. As the spaces and services are shared, coworking is noticeably more budget friendly solution than renting your own office. In addition coworkers share a community and thus create new professional networks and relationships. Coworking space could be called social work space, where professionals from different companies and backgrounds come not only to work, but share their knowhow and to find new ideas.
Unlike cafe, coworking is not noisy working environment, because all the coworkers have come to the place to work. Ofcourse there might be occasional discussions and exchange of words, so there is not complete silence eather – except if you go to separately marked silent zone, which also is offered at VillageWorks Suomitalo. For brainstorming, workshops, calls and meetings have spaces of their own, so you can safely trust, that the spaces are quiet enough for work. The good aspects of coworking is that in addition to the work spaces, there are common areas that can be used, such as, kitchens, lounges, phone booths and workshop rooms. Included in the price there is work intra services such as wifi, electricity, cleaning etc.
As the work spaces are shared with multiple users, cowork spaces are primarily communal spaces. Discussions and new relationships are created easily during coffee and lunch breaks, but there are other means of constructing community. VillageWorks memberships include many events, which are meant to lower the threshold of networking. In addition the events and benefits gained from the membership are a great mental and physical health advancing bonuses. For example morning yoga, training session at the end of the workday- or lunch hour meditation exercises increase the ability to concentrate and to get the most out of the work day.
COWORKING BENEFITS AND WHO DO THEY SUIT FOR
Typical coworking- client is often thought to be freelancers or entrepreneurs, and it is no means wrong picture to get – big portion of coworking workers are set to the previously mentioned groups, and the solution is more than fitting to them. Coworking offers flexible, budget friendly and more ergonomic solution than the home office and expands the work community while doing so. Coworking can also be an excellent solution for larger companies with remote and hybrid workmodel enabler.
Coworking benefits are among other things:
Flexibility: Coworking is a flexible way of working. Many operators do not demand long commitment periods, but the contract can be terminated or frozen flexibly and with customers own need in mind. Flexibility enables fast reacting time during business operation changes without additional costs.
Work ergonomy: We can admit: working from home has it’s perks, but work ergonomy is not one of them. Coworking spaces ergonomy is well taken care of with the desks and comfortable work chairs.
Budget friendliness: Coworking is cheaper than having ones own office or office room. In addition you know the exact price and context of the membership and the budget and expense foresight is easy.
Community: Everyone who has worked from home, knows that working can at times feel lonely, and not many networks are born at home. You can find likeminded people from the coworking place. For more information about VillageWorks coworking products, click here.
