Why Established Companies are Using Coworking Office Spaces in the 2020s
The COVID-19 pandemic turned the way you engage in your workday on its head. If you’re a freelance writer, for instance, who’s used to working alone at home in your bedroom while dressed in your pyjamas, basically, nothing much changed. But for the millions of men and women who were mandated to show up at an office every day, their lives changed dramatically when they were forced to work from home while communicating with co-workers via Zoom call.
But now that the pandemic has come and gone, established companies are faced with employees who no longer wish to return to the traditional way of doing business. Says the professionals at The Collection, a spacious coworking environment in downtown Los Angeles, the return to the office environment seemed like a godsend to many, so long as it could be done safely. And while the pandemic shined a bright light on the many benefits of remote work, it also exposed some of the weaknesses of telecommunicating without much of a choice.
While safety is the number one priority, many still rely on the interpersonal dynamics the office environment can develop between managers and team members. This is why today, spacious coworking environments that are both safe but filled with human interaction, are beginning to play a large if unexpected role in the way we conduct business in the 2020s.
The movement for spacious coworking is becoming so popular that established companies which once embraced the traditional office environment are now taking advantage of the new way of doing business. According to a recent report by Inc., in 2023, major corporations are taking a cue from the coworking space concept. In fact, office design has undergone a revolution of sorts over the past couple of decades.
Impersonal and cold office cubicles are becoming an outdated relic of the past while people-centric office spaces provide a boon to business culture, bottom line, and creative spirit. However, on its surface, you might not think of a co-working space as being so people or team-focused. You would be wrong in this assumption.
The fact is, major, established corporations are said to be taking their cues from existing coworking spaces to more or less reverse engineer them and to see what they are doing right as opposed to the traditional boring old office that’s getting it all wrong.
Businesses like Bank of America, Salesforce, and even Starbucks are said to be hooking up with entrepreneurs to take advantage of spacious coworking spaces. Why is this happening in the 2020s? The move is said to be affording employees a new sense of pride and identity that won’t interfere with their sense of belonging to their company or organization. And heck, what’s wrong with getting out of the home office and meeting new, interesting people?
What you can expect in this article:
The Cash Saving Component
It’s true that coworking spaces offer sole proprietors and businesses an office they might not otherwise be able to include in their annual budget. But it offers more than cash savings. Coworking spaces offer networking opportunities in an environment that’s more professional than a sandwich or coffee shop.
Credibility, Professionalism, and Legitimacy
A freelancer or a new business startup will typically find themselves building their initial client base by setting up shop in their bedroom or kitchen with a cell phone and a laptop. This is the easiest, most convenient, and cheapest way to go about your business when you’re first getting started. However, it might not be the most conducive when it comes to creativity or getting work done.
The actual act of changing into some work clothes and going to a specific destination will assist workers mentally and emotionally, giving them an air of professionalism, credibility, and legitimacy.
Office Space Amenities
One invaluable advantage of a coworking space is that they typically offer all the amenities of a typical office including office equipment, wireless networking, printers, faxes, phones, and conference spaces. These days, companies that employ remote, nomadic workers who depend on telecommunication are utilising coworking spaces to bring these individual employees into a new environment that’s designed specifically for them.
In turn, these once-isolated workers have reported that they feel more valued now that their company has invested in a space for them at a coworking facility. The workspace also provides small, remote teams with a place where they can come together, face to face, further legitimising their position inside the company ranks and strengthening the team.
Businesses are said to be saving on the cost of owning property or long-term rental agreements while providing their remote workers with a nice place to do their job in the presence of other workers from all walks of life. The networking possibilities are enormous.
Clearly, coworking office spaces are the wave of the present and the way of the future since they represent a win-win for both employees and the organisation to which they belong.
