Table of Contents
What is Coworking
As the name implies coworking means working together; it is not just limited to sharing offices, stationary, and workspace cost. It is the place where you have a sustainable environment of collaboration, productivity, and a sense of community of the like-minded people.
It’s something which you usually see and feel in the environment of corporate offices. The design of the co-working spaces is to have the same environment, but with less restriction and more freedom & flexibility. The purpose is to make room for innovation and productivity.
Now the question is how workspaces start and work; it’s the process of either buying or renting a property or a building, then furnishing it up to make it an office, with a flexible official environment.
Growth of Coworking Spaces
Worldwide Growth
In 2008, there were very few people who were using co-workspaces and the numbers of total workspaces were only 160 across the world. Within a decade, the figure has risen at a phenomenal rate, and the total cowork places number has reached to 18700. Statistically speaking, there’s been a growth of 1000%. In the next few years, there’ll be more workspaces and the total figure would reach approximately 26300.
Growth in Terms of Businesses
New businesses are at the top of the list of using the co-workspaces, and they use approximately 65.3% of the total workspace. Then comes the companies who want to expand their business operations and they 26.2% of the workspace. The remaining 8.6% of the space, it is used by the brand chain companies.
Who Uses Coworking Spaces
Demographics
According to a recent study on the employees of big companies like General Electric, Merck, and KPMG; however, it showed that one out of every seven employees is using the workspace on the weekends or during any time of the week.
The statistic we have mentioned above, it’s very general. Now, it’s time to discuss the users of workspaces in terms of demographics. Some of the most common demographics are as follows;
Startups
Startups are the group of individuals who come to workspace individually or collectively or they just happen to meet there. They decide to work together as a team to solve a particular problem because they have a common goal.
Startup teams fall in the category of new businesses and they use 27.12% out of total, which makes them the second-highest users of the shared workspaces in the overall demographic.
Some of the famous startup companies are the product of the shared workspaces like Uber, Instagram, Indiegogo, and Wonderfly. The founders of all these companies met at workspaces somehow or the other, they started working together at those workspaces and the rest is history.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
SMEs are top users of the workspace and their usage comprised of 37.93% of the total. As the name implies, it’s the small businesses that don’t have much resources to have a long term office, equipment, and resources like kitchen, restroom, meeting and conference rooms.
On the other hand, the shared workplaces what some of the workspace companies provide is well furnished and at a perfect location. This is what any small businesses want; all they have to do is to pay a small rent for such a perfect workspace. They don’t have to worry about overhead cost repairing, internet, mail handling, and other costs.
Freelancers
Shared workspace is the perfect place for independent freelancers who want a professional working environment. Working at home and hotels would be lonely and noisily respectively. But at the shared workspace, they’ll have the opportunity to meet like minded interesting and ambitious people and work in a flexible environment. Freelancers comprise 16.61% of the total demographic, which puts in the third top users of the workspace after SMEs and Startups.
Coworking for Corporate
Large Corporations are also realizing the importance of shared workspaces, and gradually they’re coming to use it. It is because it solves the work-related stress of big companies, where people have the opportunity to establish a network with people from other fields. Working in a diverse environment helps them to counter stress, which increases the productivity of the whole company as a result.
Largest Coworking Companies
Coworking spaces make it easy for those who want to find a working and office space. Here is the list of top coworking companies.
- WeWork
- Regus
- Industrious
- Techspace
- Serendipity Labs
- Impct Hub
- Knotel
- GreenDesk
- Alley
- SomeCentral
- Spaces
- Make Offices
- District Cowork
Benefits of Coworking
Some of the advantages of shared co-work spaces are as follows;
Productivity
One thing that has proven over the years that we feel good in a flexible and less formal environment; when one is mentally satisfied, then one would be able to perform better. When one performs better, and then one’s productivity would increase consequently.
It all starts when you surround yourself with professional friendly people, and then there’d be no better place than a shared workspace that provides you such an environment.
Networking
One of the biggest challenges that freelancers and small businesses face is to build and establish a network with other professionals like themselves. It results in the form of lack of motivation, stress, and depression. Co-workspaces are the best places to meet new people and establish a network with them, and those people in your network will help you in many ways.
Cost-Effective
If you’re to start a place like this, then it would be very expensive to build it, running overhead expenses would make you bankrupt. But the shared workspaces are a collective effort; you just pay you part and enjoy everything else in it.
Diversity
In the shared workspace environment, you’ll have the opportunity to meet all kinds of people from different professions and backgrounds. In such a diverse environment, which brings all like minded people at one place with a common goal, there you’d have an environment of collaboration with no competition.
Flexibility
Leasing or renting a building or an office for a fixed long term is very costly for a small business owner and a freelancer. On the other hand, memberships and packages of workspaces are very flexible, and they usually depend on the affordability of their tenants. However, they prefer whether it’s on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Inspiration and Mentorship
When you work in the environment of different professionals, then you’ll come across different stories of these people and that would inspire you every day. When you’re stuck at your work, then these professionals would provide you mentoring when you reach out to them.
Conclusion
If you and your business are small and a young startup, then it’s better to work in the shared coworkspace. Instead of wasting your time and resources in building a private, such resources can be used in a much better way.
