Shared workspaces, offering everything from sleek design to catered lunches, are redefining how we work … and how productive we are.
While traditional methods of work have evolved, workspaces have been more resistant to change. Enter the coworking space, a modern work-environment where freelancers and global companies work side-by-side in an array of configurations, including individual desks, open spaces and private offices — all featuring a wide range of amenities and benefits. Especially for smaller companies, this means they can keep their overhead costs to a minimum, while ensuring all their infrastructure needs are met professionally.
“The idea is to have really engaging, irresistible environments, with super-cool community managers, unique, homey-but-eclectic design, and do it in these walkable, revitalizing downtown markets,” says THRIVE | Coworking Co-founder and CEO Ramon Gonzalez. “Because most office space is delivered in really boring places, but when you have the choice to work anywhere, you’re going to work in a place where you love to be. It’s as simple as that.”
Here are the 13 major benefits to coworking spaces that will boost your business:
1. Networking: Particularly for freelancers and startups, networking is a crucial part of becoming successful. In traditional offices, you need to travel to every networking event, taking up time and energy that could be better used elsewhere. With coworking desks and coworking space, you will be surrounded by other professionals, entrepreneurs, business owners, their teams, and other consultants. They can provide critical feedback and opportunities for your product or service — opportunities that just aren’t possible with traditional office spaces.
2. Flexible Environment: One of the major benefits of the modern workplace is flexibility in schedule. With coworking spaces, employees can arrive at any time, complete their work with focus, and then leave when they want. Additionally, organizations can hire experts to work in their local towns and cities and be assured of excellent infrastructure. Startups also require flexibility in terms of the number of people working for the organization — in a traditional office, as teams expand and contract, there will either be less space or unused space that still costs money. Long-term lease rentals can also become an unnecessary burden on growth.
3. Higher Productivity: It’s difficult to stay productive and motivated when you are working by yourself at home. The main reason is that the ambience is not conducive to being productive. But in modern coworking spaces, you are in an environment that is crafted to increase your efficiency and improve your productivity.
4. Lower Overheads: When organizations are starting out, overhead costs are a major part of the equation. With renting out a traditional office, you have to consider the decor, technology, furniture, utilities, maintenance, cleaning, etc., and those costs can escalate very quickly. When margins are becoming thinner, it makes sense to save significantly on commercial office space and take advantage of high-quality shared office space. Especially with the fast-changing dynamics of the modern business world, no matter the size of your team, you can accommodate it efficiently at better costs. In fact, several studies have shown that shared office spaces show better returns than traditional rented offices.
5. Professional Address and Image: When approaching potential customers and business partners, having a professional address is imperative to being taken seriously. Coworking spaces are usually located centrally and conveniently to major office areas. With the right location and official address, you can increase your chances of success.
6. Events: The best coworking spaces offer a wide range of events and activities for their members, which provide multiple opportunities to refine your product or services, as well as learn business lessons from your peers. At THRIVE | Coworking, breakfasts, lunches and happy hours are offered monthly, and extracurricular adventures like hikes and wine tastings are also scheduled, allowing for plenty of member interaction.
7. Mental Well-being: Traditional offices can be boring. To get people actively engaged, office workspaces need to be more dynamic. Coworking desks and private office space ensure you are surrounded by like-minded people who can discuss ideas and share interests. This will have a tremendous impact on your mental health and provide a positive work experience.
8. Comfortable and Creative Spaces: One of the major problems with traditional offices is the amount of effort and money that goes into maintaining a suitable environment for employees, such as offering comfortable spaces and ergonomic furniture to increase focus and productivity. With private offices and dedicated desks in coworking spaces, you can have customized corners where you can boost your productivity or engage the right location for your client meetings. And creativity flourishes in dynamic environments where you are surrounded by different professionals with divergent perspectives, experience and insights.
9. Convenient Locations: As talented employees become harder to attract and retain, organizations must consider hiring them where they are and providing flexible office space. By offering a choice of locations, flexible workspaces deliver convenience in accessing professional spaces for business needs. The best coworking spaces also are located close to public transport, so you can take advantage of faster commutes.
10. Excellent Infrastructure: Maintaining a furnished office involves a lot of details. Cleaning, repairs, furniture, pantry stocking, and servicing equipment and appliances are all recurring costs that are absolutely essential to running an office. With flexible workspaces, you can take advantage of the excellent infrastructure without undertaking the liability for it. No matter how the size of your team changes, you will have all the essential infrastructure you require to manage it. These issues are generally overlooked at traditional offices since they are efficiently handled. But managing them yourself will require a huge amount of resources. That’s why it is better to work with flexible workspaces and save money and effort.
11. Structured Work: A major problem with work from home or remote working is that it is easy to lose focus and become distracted. But no major business goals can be achieved without a structured approach to work and managing the work schedule. Usually, with even small distractions, we can end up binge-watching shows or just procrastinating endlessly. But with coworking desks and dedicated desk spaces, surrounded by highly driven, ambitious individuals, a motivating atmosphere prevails. It’s important to have separate areas for work and life, and renting an office for a day can show you the difference: You will be able to get out of the house more, create a personal schedule you can stick to, and achieve your business goals.
12. Support: Being an entrepreneur is a difficult journey that can be very lonely at times — you are managing a lot of responsibilities by yourself. There may be doubters among friends and family who can make you question your choices, but when you are working out of shared office spaces you are surrounded by people who identify with your values. You are reminded of your goals and why they are worthy. And when you arrange meetings with clients or invite vendors for a pitch, you can count on the amenities and space to be professionally maintained.
13. Innovation: Innovation does not happen in a vacuum, it requires real-life experience and insights to become valuable. With collaborative office spaces, you are working with people from diverse industries, specializing in different fields. This can open up your own perspectives and offer insights into bettering your own product and services. You are also exposed to organizations of different scales, so you gain a wider understanding of your own organization’s potential and growth roadmap.
Coworking spaces have been an excellent solution for businesses of all sizes, providing unique benefits and advantages. Employees have long complained about boring offices and how difficult it is to foster good ideas in them. Coworking spaces offer exciting, dynamic environments that are easily manageable with low overheads and simplified management. Working with other talented individuals and growing organizations provides invaluable lessons, while empowering you with a wide range of events and experiences. This kind of support plays an important role in running a startup.
But businesses of all sizes can take advantage of flexible workspaces, offering an energizing setting for their employees, at the location of their choice, while providing better returns on their investment in infrastructure. Besides direct benefits such as wide-ranging amenities and flexibility, coworking spaces also offer a variety of indirect benefits, including a professional ambience, similar-minded company, and the huge potential for networking and collaborating. Flexible working spaces have simply modernized the office environment, setting the pace for changing trends in how we work today and into the future.
