The rise of co-working spaces?

Hades

Hades

Hades

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How do people feel about using co-working spaces? Personally I think I would prefer to just work from home. But I can see the advantages for people with a less than ideal setup, or if hey just want to get a bit of social contact. I was surprised when I looked on Google Maps just how many there were near me, especially as most people can work from home nowadays.

Do you use them? Would you use one?
 
I don't, but then I 'm fortunate enough to have space at home where I can work comfortably and undisturbed.

I know a number of people that do use them though, some for human contact, others for a more productive working environment.
 
Fortunately don't need to as I have a dedicated room as my office. Also couldn't use one due to Company security and confidentiality rules. This would apply to a lot of sectors.

Don't really see the appeal either. Unless you get some kind of soundproofed area to yourself, you just need that one noisy **** holding their conference call at max volume to stuff up your concentration.
 
Our company no longer has an office - everyone works from home. A few people tried out a coworking space last week.
Most did not like it, and won't be going back; too noisy, no ability to have multiple monitors, uncomfortable seating.
 
Lopéz said:
Our company no longer has an office - everyone works from home. A few people tried out a coworking space last week.
Most did not like it, and won't be going back; too noisy, no ability to have multiple monitors, uncomfortable seating.
Click to expand...
These were always the issues I had in the past trying to use Regus offices for temporary field team use.

Security was the main issue for us, as there were multiple room keys in circulation at any time.
 
I’ve used external meeting rooms over the years to bring teams together and Regus and WeWork type locations. I have a dedicated home office but sometimes I want face to face time with people, such as next Monday when I’ve booked a 1:1 in a WeWork in Birmingham with one of my team. Saves us both heading into London office.
 
My company hires an office in a co-working space since we ended the main London office lease in 2020. So you have a dedicated section with its own monitor setup to suit us, but in a wider space (meeting rooms, breakout areas, kitchens etc are shared).

Here's what I've gathered from colleagues, peers in the same field etc:

- It caters to one flavour of worker being "I benefit from being around other humans even if I'm not working with them". Other flavours that have become visible since covid include "I work much better in my own space", "I work better when I can flex work around home and family responsibilities" and "I just plain prefer to be face to face with colleagues".

- It's useful for those who need to be in town anyway e.g. people who have external meetings or lots of demos

- Several contractors I know use a co-work space once a week in order to not be fully isolated at home, given they usually don't join any team activities the way permanent staff do. Much narrower social interaction etc. It just gets them out and about.

Personally I've avoided the co-work space and prefer to visit our temporary office acquired during a merger in 2021. It feels more like home and I don't need a handful of online bookings and key cards. But I can see how lots of people use them as a stopgap for the social side to one degree or another.
 
Hades said:
I was surprised when I looked on Google Maps just how many there were near me, especially as most people can work from home nowadays.
Click to expand...

Two of my friends who have their own companies and have bought premises have ended up taking an interest, one of them has already started offering desks to rent in some space he has + use of meeting room/reception etc.. despite being in a rural location, he's had a mix of remote workers and some self-employed people like an IFA, an accountant etc. for some of the latter (who also need meeting space for clients etc..) they'd otherwise be renting an office by themselves and they like to have the coworking space/almost having "colleagues" etc.. Other friend hasn't started but is looking to get into that business too with premises he's got - it seems like quite a nice yield.

Housey said:
I’ve used external meeting rooms over the years to bring teams together and Regus and WeWork type locations. I have a dedicated home office but sometimes I want face to face time with people, such as next Monday when I’ve booked a 1:1 in a WeWork in Birmingham with one of my team. Saves us both heading into London office.
Click to expand...

Yup, quite common, even pre-covid at one firm I worked for we had some remote people at work who weren't near any of the companies offices and used to make use of them.
 
I see the main use cases for this as:
  • Bringing together multiple remote workers into a single place for collaboration
  • People that don't have a great setup at home (perhaps living in shared accommodation, no AC etc)
  • People that are looking for engagement with others to boost creativity, innovation
  • Social elements (Prosecco on tap etc)
  • Offsite strategy meetings (change of scenery with no everyday distractions)
  • Overspill for organisations that are scaling up and don't have sufficient office space (perhaps this scaling up is temporary due to big programmes running)
 
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