From Traditional Office Space to Coworking Haven: Why Corporates Are Embracing the Idea of Coworking Spaces

In their admittedly short history, coworking spaces have generally been thought of as places where startups, individuals, and other small groups can share the costs and facilities associated with traditional office spaces. People don’t typically think about whole corporations occupying such spaces (with the possible exception of Google and a few other companies in its ranks) because they are thought to be above the need for shared spaces.

That’s not necessarily true anymore. The more popular coworking spaces become among smaller groups, and the more they evolve to incorporate hip new features, the more appealing these types of spaces are becoming to professionals of all kinds, including big corporations. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages that the corporations are seeing for themselves.

Alleviation of employee burnout

One obvious advantage to coworking spaces – particularly the nicer ones, but all of them to some extent – is that they look and feel like fun places to be. Most of us know the feeling of dreading that trek to the office, where we expect to sit through eight hours a day, watching the clock and waiting for it all to come to a merciful end.

Since coworking spaces came along, people have started to realize that the workday doesn’t have to be that monotonous. And employers themselves are part of this. When people feel better, they work better, and being in a fun, interactive space is an important part of having an effective, productive professional life.

Analytics and time worked

While the old-style timecard has for decades been considered a blue-collar tactic for tracking workers paid by the hour, corporations are starting to see the value in the larger idea. While this won’t involve clipping physical cards into a hole-punch, something similar can take place digitally. 

Corporations have learned the value of compensation for output from manual workers. Rather than giving each person a loose title and telling each employee to sit at his or her desk for a prescribed amount of time and salary, people are now seeing the benefits of setting goals by means of tasks to be completed, rather than time spent per se. And this is an essential component of coworking spaces as tasks and locations are meant to be fluid. 

Networking opportunities

It may seem like an odd concept for a company whose members are already part of the same team, but even people inside a common office space might not interact with each other in the most effective ways. Corporations are starting to see the value in people from different departments having more opportunities to interact, and also the value in team building and company morale overall.

Even in a warm and friendly part of the country like North Carolina, people can use greater interaction in their workdays. Therefore, it could pat to think about org your NC offices to make it more interactive. 

Smart designs

As the world becomes more “smart,” these new technologies are appearing more and more in the workplace. Corporations are also realizing the value in the IoT and other smart designs and the extent to which they simplify and economize life.

One interesting feature of smart offices is smart desks. These types of desks have sensors in them to track the physical movements of people and actually alert people when they’ve been in one position for too long. Big corporations know better than anyone that employees in big bureaucracies tend to get sleepy on the job. Therefore, adjustable sitting/standing desks have become a welcome new feature. 

Another smart feature that corporations are adopting is that of voice recognition systems. Companies are taking advantage of products like Alexa and other related voice recognition systems to plan meetings, organize schedules, and perform other necessary office tasks. 

Think about shifting your space today 

More and more big companies are choosing to make the shift to coworking spaces. If you think these ideas sound appealing, start reading up on the options and how you might start to make the move. If it all sounds too massive, start with individual features first and see how realistic they sound.

Increasing research is showing you’ll end up with a happier, more efficient, and more productive staff.

TIME BUSINESS NEWS