When the pandemic made adjustments to the work system we are used to, many businesses stopped renting offices and switched to coworking spaces. However, are they really that good? Are they suitable for everyone? Let’s try to determine the advantages of both offices and coworking spaces.
Offices
Comfortably located and widespread
Offices are usually located in the center of the city or somewhere where you can easily get yourself using public transport or a car. Every city has offices – you can rent office space in Los Angeles, Dubai, London, or any smaller city. While not every city can boast that it has coworking spaces.
Entirely yours
The main value of the office is that you do not share it with anyone. You do not need to book a meeting in advance, put up with constant background noise or hide your developments from prying eyes.
Your office may have different rooms: meeting rooms, conference rooms, and halls for celebrations. You can even arrange different events there: networking sessions, educational meetings, and parties. This is a great way to reinforce corporate culture and entertain employees without spending anything.
Equipped with all you need
You may have to pay extra for the arrangement of the office, but everything inside will be the way you want. The main thing is not to forget that the office should also be comfortable. It’s not just about equipping a good recreation area. Basically, your employees will interact with office computers and MFPs, so their good condition should be your priority. For example, you can equip the office with wireless printing and give access to the printer to all your colleagues without local networks.
Confidence
The office is better suited for projects that require privacy. If the main value of your company is unique intellectual property, then it is better not to take risks and rent your premises. It will be very difficult to keep secrets in a coworking space.
Discipline is higher
Being in the office, it is much easier to manage people and control their work. If you are one of those who are going to instill strict discipline in employees, the office will suit you better than coworking.
The office can add productivity: this can be facilitated by the correct design, the convenience of the premises, the availability of everything necessary for work at hand, and the opportunity to take a breath in the recreation areas or sit in the large bright kitchen. In addition, the atmosphere itself increases efficiency: when everyone around you is working with concentration, life is in full swing in the negotiations, and new projects are being discussed in the corridors, it’s hard to stay away.
Coworking
Rent
In terms of the rental rate, places in a coworking space are cheaper than an area in a business center (if we take premises of a similar class). The cost of an annual lease of a standard office of 56m² will cost more than 4 workspaces in a flexible office. In London and New York, the average savings were 50%, and in Moscow – 45%.
Office furnishing
In addition to rent, companies have to spend money on the arrangement of workplaces: to purchase furniture, appliances, and equipment. Rental of places in a flexible office allows you to reduce this expense item to a minimum: after all, everything you need for work is already there.
Flexibility for change
Flexibility is an important advantage of coworking spaces. You can rent workplaces for employees all the time, or you can rent them at certain hours. You can use hotdesking – a tariff when one workplace falls on 2-3 employees. Conference rooms are charged only for the hours they are used, and not as a permanent space.
If the number of employees has sharply decreased for one reason or another, the issue of giving up extra places can be resolved within a couple of hours. But in the case of offices, early termination of the lease agreement threatens fines, and the revision of the conditions can take from several days to a month. The expansion of the state will require either redevelopment or the lease of additional premises.
Office Manager
Any coworking space has its office manager who solves all household issues: from the purchase of equipment to minor repairs. A company that rents space in a coworking space can save on the maintenance of its office manager, and in its own office, it will have to deal with all this on its own. In addition, management can no longer waste their time on trifles like signing office supplies and paying utility bills. And as you know, time is money.