Introduction:
Coworking spaces are one of the fastest-growing components in the real estate industry. Coworking spaces are characterized by shared facilities, tools, and services. Coworking spaces have become an affordable alternative to carrying out official work while fostering a sense of community among employees of small businesses and a peaceful haven for entrepreneurs. In this article, we will focus on the reasons behind the growing importance of coworking spaces.
What is a Coworking Space?
Coworking is a modern concept of collaboration hubs, community centers, and social spaces where employees, business owners, and freelancers share their expertise under one roof and explore new ideas.
The concept of coworking dates back to 1995, when Hackerspace was opened in Berlin. In this neutral setting, people can individually or collaboratively work on different projects while enjoying the amenities a typical office space might have. It is different from a traditional office in that most of the people working under the same roof do not work for the same company.
Freelancers and working individuals prefer this over working from home to eliminate distraction and enjoy isolation. Small businesses find co-working spaces financially flexible, as initially they do not need to invest a lump sum of capital.
Even larger companies and conglomerates opt for coworking spaces to cut down on unused office spaces, create a flexible working environment, and move away from their headquarters. This also helps with accessing talent pools in new areas and collaborating with colleagues without risking a long-term lease.
Each coworking space offers standard services like printers, meeting rooms, wifi, etc., as well as advanced technologies like 3D printers and the like. Some spaces offer tea, snacks, coffee, and other refreshments. Few spaces also provide resources like coaches, digital assets, and consultants to help you start your business.
Types of Coworking Spaces
Coworking spaces come in different shapes and sizes. Depending on the amenities, area, community, and working environment, coworking spaces can be divided into various subcategories.
- Luxury coworking spaces are designed to provide high-end amenities, designed interiors, and delicious snacks, mainly to established businesses.
- Conventional Coworking spaces are ideal for freelancers and small businesses, with flexible rents and necessary amenities.
- Ascetic coworking spaces come with bare bones at affordable prices.
- Niche-specific coworking spaces offer services to a particular community, such as female-only, tech, family, creatively oriented, entrepreneurial, or industry-specific.
- Nomadic coworking spaces offer desk space without any membership, as they charge on an hourly or daily basis.
- Corporate coworking spaces offer all the amenities, networking opportunities, and luxurious designs to impress clients.
- Lifestyle coworking spaces come with designer furniture, decor, lighting, fitness centres, meditation classes, and the like to appeal to a wide range of industries.
- Private workspaces come with a lockable door, a dedicated desk with a kitchenette, and a private floor to provide all coworking perks to professionals and businesses.
Why are Coworking Spaces Important?
Coworking spaces offer multiple facilities to individual working professionals, businesses, and enterprises. The benefits of coworking spaces are as follows:
- Flexible and budget-friendly
Leasing an office in a prominent city such as Delhi, Bangalore, Noida, etc. can be an expensive affair, especially for small businesses and startups. Since coworking spaces are shared by multiple businesses, their costs can be lower than conventional office spaces.
However, when it comes to coworking spaces in Bangalore, Delhi, Noida, and other prominent cities,
one can eliminate the need to bear heavy costs and adjust according to the capacity of a business while scaling down or gaining new employees.
This opportunity allows companies to conveniently add spaces according to the size of the team. Small businesses, at their initial stage, can scale down or expand amenities and subscribe to monthly or yearly memberships as necessary. This changes the course of start-ups immensely, as they account for changing profits and expenses and can help save money in the long run.
- Networking and Collaboration
Coworking spaces are preferred options for their enhanced sense of community and opportunity for collaboration. People can interact with and learn from other work cultures. It is a home for multiple teams in different industries at different stages of progression. This motivates and encourages teams to work hard, stay engaged, and achieve goals.
Most coworking spaces come with areas to network and collaborate—whiteboards, lounge areas, small meeting rooms, etc. This eliminates the monotony of sitting behind a cubicle. Some spaces also offer common areas to take breaks and gather.
Some events offered by these spaces, like mixers, happy hours, and more, can help individuals communicate with like-minded individuals. Additional event spaces are ideal for collaboration, sharing ideas, connection, and an elevated sense of community.
- Rise of Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs
Start-up owners greatly benefit from having their own space. Since traditional office areas are expensive and hard to find, coworking spaces fill up the void and facilitate entrepreneurs with their own offices without further hassle. Moreover, they can easily access the support and resources offered by coworking spaces to succeed in their venture.
These coworking spaces offer easy access to potential partners and customers since they are located in prime business districts.
Moreover, shared office spaces have on-site employees to assist and support daily operations. Additionally, many spaces host networking opportunities and events to help connect with investors, partners, and clients.
- Amenities
Coworking spaces provide access to multiple amenities that are not possible to acquire at the initial stage of a business. These amenities might include luxurious additions like gardens, rooftops, outdoor and indoor kitchens, or more general options like private offices, meeting rooms, modern furniture, Wi-Fi, printing services, reception, coffee, etc. These amenities create an enjoyable,
stress-free working environment and ensure more productivity among employees.
- Remote Work Facility
Businesses offer hybrid workplace options where they lease private office space as an alternative working option for reduced interaction between employees. This works especially well for remote team meetings since it ensures fewer distractions in work-from-home options and enhances the reliability of internet connections during Zoom sessions or Google Meets.
- Enhanced Work-Life Balance
Coworking space drastically reduces travel time as most spaces are halfway to the office or close to home. This also eliminates unnecessary stress from an exhaustingly long commute to work and severe traffic. Since coworking spaces offer essential services to support remote workstations, you do not need to be worried about important work and meetings being hampered by poor network connections at home.
Coworking Spaces: The Future of Work
Coworking spaces have started gaining popularity in the past couple of years. Statista’s recent study shows that while in 2021 there were only 24,000 coworking spaces around the world, the number will see a steep increase to 41,975 by 2024.
Entrepreneurs and businesses are slowly accepting the workforce fluidity and changes that must be incorporated to thrive in the modern business environment. Coworking spaces, apart from their freedom for workers, are a successful business model that has the potential to help with environmental sustainability. The shared resources and facilities reduce waste, save electricity, and save money. Thus, once most businesses understand the importance of these spaces, our future of work will be coworking spaces.
