The desks where we have previously spent long hours and the offices that are surrounded by walls are out of date. They are leaving their places to shared office spaces, which are currently the main choice of companies, especially startup companies. They are called coworking spaces.
In the extraordinary conditions of the pandemic we are in, we have spent months working from home in pajamas without visiting our offices. Regardless of profession, while we thought we were satisfied with this mandatory ‘’work from home’’ situation, it did not actually take long for us to miss the old days and to realize the contribution of our workplaces to our lives and to our work efficiency.
Especially in recent years, newly established companies working with a small number of teammates have started to prefer coworking spaces instead of renting large and very costly offices.
So, what exactly does a Coworking Space mean?
The coworking space, where many different companies can work in the same area, offers enterprises very modern workspaces with less rental costs. The desks and meeting rooms available in these areas are not only owned by a single company but can be used by anyone with a work permit there.
Why did coworking spaces occur?
Coworking spaces, which have become the primary choice of most companies, big or small, are designed to meet the needs of a regular office. This gives companies the opportunity to avoid excess costs caused by private offices. It is necessary to buy work desks and chairs, as well as printers, coffee machines in private offices that we are used to. At the same time, it is the duty of the employer to find a team that can clean the office and to eliminate deficiencies. In addition to these types of responsibilities, quite high rents are also paid. Especially startups working with fewer teammates may not have this kind of capital, even if they prefer to use it more efficiently, the opportunity to work in coworking spaces is much more attractive. Although its use is widespread in many countries, common working areas are not the same everywhere.
Working areas that vary by country
This system, which has become widespread in many parts of the world, differs from country to country, as stated above. For example, in Asian countries where the population is very crowded, coworking spaces have become a mandatory choice rather than a personal choice.
The open office system has a widespread use in Asian countries, as it is getting more and more difficult for emerging and many companies and their employees to find traditional style offices. There is a rapidly increasing open office system in Hong Kong, which is one of the countries known to have the most startup tech companies. Leading the highly populated and quite a lot of startup companies has made open offices adopted and demanded by everyone. The main purpose of these modern offices is to increase the sociability in the office rather than merely being a desk in the open space. Thus, instead of working between walls and being overwhelmed, it means working in a more spacious and highly interactive area.
It is the region with most coworking spaces after Europe, Americas and Asia. Although it is still a developing transition, companies are getting rid of old traditions quite quickly and adapting to this new and modern transformation.
Berlin, on the other hand, which is considered as the capital city of startup companies in the continent of Europe, has the highest number of coworking spaces.
Although it may seem that capital cities or big cities are the only regions to have those kinds of office space, small cities are also among the cities where coworking spaces are widely used. University cities housing many creative and intelligent students, also have a rising coworking space culture.
We should add that coworking areas do not only exist in cities with specific characteristics. We observe that as we move out of cities, common working areas increase in rural areas. Coworking spaces are just beginning to form in these regions because the workplace habits are changing more slowly than in more crowded and big cities. In these regions, where creating a network can be a little more difficult than in crowded areas, common working areas are very important. The interaction helps to increase efficiency, productivity, and thus performance. It is an important point that common working areas, which have many contributions to business life, turn into a smarter environment. The collaborative work areas that offer an interactive working environment are equipped with innovative and smart technologies and are designed to help users move more organized by providing ease of work.
What do coworking spaces offer for companies?
Most of the coworking spaces include what you would need in an office space and maybe even more. Obviously, in a coworking space, you would have a secure, high speed Wi-Fi as well as print machines and a helpful secretarial team for all your needs. You can also request IT help when needed. In addition to all these regular office space needs, common working spaces offer you many other people to socialize with.
However, it is not always the same in every country. Like in every other work discipline, there are also cultural differences when it comes to open workspaces. For example, compared to Europe or Asia, coworking spaces do not actually represent its way of structure in Turkey. Many companies rent coworking spaces only for one company, not allowing some other company to use the workspace. Even though it is mainly rented to reduce the cost of expensive rates and office workers, in Turkey it can be the opposite. Some coworking spaces are actually much more expensive than renting a regular office, because it is used to create a bigger and not shared office space for a specific company. The main structure could be the same; no rooms, hot desking, and sharing a big space, though it is not a diverse environment consisting of different people with different backgrounds or different professions.
Making a coworking space much more intelligent
While the demands towards coworking spaces increase it is our job to make a space ‘’intelligent.’’ Therefore, IOTIQ (which also uses an open workspace as their office) developed solutions to bump up your coworking experience. If you would like to know more about the innovations and how IOTIQ can contribute to open workspaces by creating a smart environment, you can check our post on turning a coworking space into a smart environment right here!
