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What is a Coworking Space?

Flexible workspaces

What is a Coworking Space?

Wondering what the entire buzz is about?

Well, we heard you! Through this post, we’ll take you through some of basic definitions of coworking along with an overview of the coworking industry. We’ll discuss a few key drivers and the various types of users of the coworking spaces.

Let’s begin the post with a throwback to the interesting story of the starting days of coworking and the launch of the first ever coworking space. Hope you enjoy reading!

Evolution of Coworking

The word “coworking” as it is known today originated with a concept put forth by Brad Neuberg in 2005. Neuberg laid foundation of the first ever coworking space, San Francisco Coworking Space, at a feminist collective called Spiral Muse in the Mission District of San Francisco.

The space offered five to eight desks two days a week, free wifi, along with shared lunches, meditation breaks, massages, bike tours, and a strict closing time of 5: 45 pm. Ever since, coworking has thrived in many shapes and forms; the definition and scope has, therefore, expanded over the course of time to include a wide range of offerings under the umbrella of coworking phenomenon.

Let’s look at today’s concept of coworking to understand the journey of its evolution.

Coworking at a glance:

Coworking can formally be defined as a business model whereby diverse group of professionals work independently or collaboratively using the shared office space. It is a form of collaborative, flexible and elective work style that is characterized by the core set of shared values that are as follows:

Community

Coworking spaces promote networking and encourage strengthening of bonds between the coworkers to instill a sense of community.

Opennes

Coworking culture focuses on creating an atmosphere of openness, acceptance and inclusivity that in turn fosters mutual trust among the coworkers.

Collaboration

Coworking spaces are collaborative platforms that offer opportunities to learn from one another and extend support when needed.

Accessibility

Shared workspaces are accessible to anyone who wants to work at any time without any discrimination.

Sustainability

Coworking is a sustainable concept that thrives on the sharing of knowledge, skill set and resources.

The concept of coworking has come into existence largely on account of the technological advances; however, it primarily capitalizes on the most innate and fundamental needs of the human nature which include: to share, help and socialize. Coworking space (aka shared or flexible space) is a shared workplace utilized by various sorts of professionals. Shared workplaces offer a perfect middle ground between the strict office setting and the full of distractions environment at home.

Such spaces offer a cost effective solution as compared to renting a place on account of the reduced upfront lease cost, shared overheads and amenities. Over and above the cost efficiency, the coworking spaces offer flexibility, endless opportunities to network and promote the business.

What is a coworking space?

Users of Coworking Spaces

Coworking spaces host a diverse group of professionals associated with different occupations. With the rise of the gig economy, freelancers are occupying coworking spaces to operate and network. Moreover, SMEs use the facility primarily due to the considerable cost savings and availability of shared resources.

The advancements in technology have enabled people to work from anywhere anytime, which has made it easy for the digital nomads to use the facility of coworking spaces for their intermittent workspace requirements.

Furthermore, in addition to the SME’s, large corporations are also using the spaces to take advantage of the employees increased productivity and happiness.

What is a coworking space?

The Growth of Coworking

The growing flexible workspace market is bringing about changes in the dynamics of office space: from a plain vanilla office space to a workspace loaded with modern amenities and services.

Today, the amenities have morphed and evolved to cover a wide range of business support and individual services such as locker rooms, bicycle parking to childcare and an onsite barista. The biggest driver of this evolution is the competition which necessitates the need to differentiate and attract a wider customer base.

However, while new models are emerging with varying levels of services, some providers are focusing on a targeted approach to carve out a specific niche by offering a perfectly tailored solution customized for a particular segment.

Key Drivers of the Coworking Industry

Technology

The ultimate driver of the thriving coworking industry is technology. Digitalization of the workflows has made it possible for anyone to work from anywhere using mobile technologies, collaborative tools and reliable cloud services. Modern day workforce can work on-the-go due to the technological advances, which has fueled a global boom in the popularity of coworking spaces.

Gig Economy

Coworking started to flourish around the time the gig economy started to develop. Gig economy is a type of work arrangement characterized by the independent workers engaged in short term projects. Advances in technology have enabled people to start their own businesses or rely on apps to connect with their customers. As a result many people are working outside the traditional office setup and coworking spaces offer the perfect solution to such freelancers.

Millennial Workforce

Another primary driver of this trend is the entrance of millennials in the workforce. Statics indicate that the millennial employees have an inclination to quit the conventional office setup and instead prefer to work for themselves. Coworking offers autonomy to the millennial workfoce and the leverage of work at their own terms.

Geographically Diverse Workers

Companies are looking to recruit from diverse geographical locations to tap the unutilized talent in order to add creativity, variety of perspectives and innovation. The employees from geographically remote locations operate virtually using the coworking facility.

Outsourcing

Corporations are outsourcing the tasks to people who specialize in a particular field instead of performing the function in-house. Outsourcing reaps cost efficiency, skilled expertise and improved focus on the core business activities. The outsourced staff is using the coworking spaces as a solution to conduct business.

What is a coworking space? Coworking:
A Global Phenomenon

Coworking serves as an innovative alternate to the conventional office setup and is trending across the globe. It is a fundamentally new way of how we work and has revolutionized the work style and workspace. With an annual growth rate of 24.2%, the number of coworking spaces is projected to grow to over 30,000 and the number of coworking members to 5.1 million by 2022.

The coworking industry continues to evolve around the world with an ever-increasing footprint in all the regions of the world. Asia Pacific region, in particular, has the fastest growing flex workspace market in the world, given Asia is home to over half of the world’s population with endless potential and highly skilled professionals. The increasing number of coworking spaces across the globe is accelerating the competition. As a result, new customer acquisition is cited as the biggest challenge face by the coworking spaces. In order to attract customers, the spaces are adapting themselves and offering tailor-made solutions customized to the needs of the customers.

What is a Coworking Space?

Evolution of Coworking

Coworking at a glance:

Key Drivers of the Coworking Industry

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