Following a paradigm shift in the work habits and growing popularity of co-working spaces, the office landscape of the entire world has changed drastically. While people in New York have rocked this culture in recent years, people in India are still adjusting to accept it.
Many residential properties have noticed the shift and have now began to offer shared work spaces to the general public.
According to a Gallup survey, About 40% employees want to work in a remote location, most of the time. That and the ever demanding freelance economy combined shows why most of the working class expect on-site amenities that better reflects this huge shift in their consciousness.
The general purpose of having a virtual office is to help your business in performing numerous assignments all the while. Most of the virtual offices give administrative services such as mail forwarding/receiving, providing meeting space, call answering services, virtual receptionists and customer care, etc. These services help private companies as they can concentrate more on their business generating activities while the space owners manage deal with all their expert workers.
But how? What changed the trend and how co-working spaces turned into a mainstream business?
Amenities are readily available
When you rent a private space, you don’t generally have the advantage of simply showing up and start working. As a matter of fact, furniture has be purchased, the internet and telephone connections has to be bought, and everything requires an expert to handle the same.
Co-work spaces, on the contrary, have a well equipped set up; there is additionally a lot to keep the functioning smooth (i.e. cables, wires, TVs, coffee machines, Laptop connectors, and much more). Along with complete ownership of the area you rented, co-working spaces also don’t require any fixed capital investment; offer enhanced flexibility; give state-of-the-art infrastructure and a great network, ultimately becoming India’s sole working ecosystem.
Working spaces are economical
Shared office spaces are quite often less expensive than owing your own physical set up. Purchasing an extensive office could set you back a lot and renting a space will cost no less than a few thousand rupees per month (mostly in a urban areas). With enrolment charges being minimal, co-work spaces have a noteworthy advantage.
Encourages Start up Culture
The kind of start up culture that has emerged lately in India, co-working spaces are only facilitating the ideas. Every twenty-something entrepreneur is now ready to begin his/her business readily. You may ask why? It is because the ease of setting up a business and gaining access to basic amenities is now easy. Shared spaces are perfect for business visionaries with little working capital, sceptical future, and a requirement for systems administration.
Avoids the Usual Traditional set up
Co-work spaces are here to stay! The X generation, which is ready to skip the 9-5 life in a corporate set up are now looking for ways to get out of the cubicles. The common office set up is now obsolete and primitive. Thus, they’re separating corporate progressions, escaping 9 to 5 routine, and rethinking about their social life. Shared workplaces offer more open opportunities for such employees and a chance to escape the usual corporate culture.
At a glance, the amount of facilities provided by co-working spaces, coupled with a chance to increase your network with other companies and entrepreneurs; it is evident that the industry is the future of virtual offices. Yet, amidst these advantages of managing your operations in a co-working spaces, it is only fair to bring forward some of the potential argument against it:
Causes Diversion
Co-working spaces can be loud, and this is hard in case you’re effortlessly diverted. Some visitors are seen roaming and conversing around, while disturbing others. The same goes for you, on the off chance that your job requires you to make numerous calls, you should need to check if the area or other visitors permits that.
Privacy could be in danger
Does your work mean you habitually should be on telephone calls or phone calls? An open floor design or paper thin dividers in between “private” workplaces could mean your discussions will be heard by others in your space. If your work requires decision making and meetings about core business activities, this isn’t for you!
Bound to limited working hours
Some co-work spaces are just open from 9AM-5PM. In case you’re a start up and normally work for 10+ hour a day, this essentially won’t be a suitable option for you.
Also, the structure of your days may differ. You may spend most of your weekdays in attending exceptional gatherings, meetings, or events; while working in the later hours of the day. In any case, running a start up is a round-the-clock work; ensure your workspace obliges to that.
Cost inefficient
Co-working spaces require money; how much, precisely may differ! There is a vast majority of businesses which don’t have many core activities, are typically worried about expenses. Worrying whether this significant cost is justified despite all the benefits, is vital.
On the off chance that you look carefully, you may find that a large number of the weaknesses of co-working spaces are a blessing in disguise. Spending time in roaming here and there is only helping you to increase the network; time spent to travel to your co-working space is driving you out of your comfort zone; money spent on the rent influences you to make more money, and your chance of succeeding automatically increases.
