A few months ago the world was discussing how working from home can never be a good option in the long run. Not just it would never add to your productivity but would also make you confined to the same place away from your social life. Articles were written and discussions happened on why a person shall not consider working from their bedroom or living room all the time. It was only after the pandemic hit the world when the concepts of working changed the way the world worked once again. Everyone across the globe was asked to work from home irrespective of their job profiles and industries. The arguments of why a person shall pick a coworking space against their own home came to a standstill. There was no discussion of getting back to the shared office space leaving the home after Covid19 happened to the world hitting the managed office space industry.
Coworking was on its peak until the pandemic. The world saw a boom in the new workspaces. Many new space providers started to enter the market with the hope to capture clients and make a living. The huge corporations were also ditching their traditional workspaces and were happy to shift their teams in shared offices. The governments across the countries announced lock down and social distancing forcing everyone to stay at home and do all the work. The companies, especially those who were paying the rent faced a huge loss. Not only were they paying the landlords the bills on time, they were not even using the space. This was the time when the economies were falling and companies started to withdraw their membership from their respective coworking space to save the rent.
People who were already working from home did love the idea a big-time because it has been saving them a great amount of commute. The mothers could look after their children while they can carry on with their work. In case of some health issues, a person would manage their work time as per their preference. Yes, it does make you leave incredibly lonely, you don’t get to talk to a lot of people and share thoughts & ideas, you don’t get to dress up on various official occasions and let’s all agree, there is no social life left. But there’s always a list of pros and cons to every option in work and life.
Why did people start to come out of their homes and joined the fully-furnished office spaces as their new workplace?
The distraction of home
Working from home always sounded like a very flexible, comfortable, and amazing idea. The office goers mostly imagined it like doing nothing but it’s more than you can think of. Contrary to the very belief that it’s a casual way of working, it keeps you a lot distracted. You have those basic, small, and yet many household chores to manage. There are noises from members and appliances. The people work very hard even at home but neither do they get their share of respect for their hard work from the society nor the peace required to put the focus on their work. When those people moved to the shared office spaces, they experienced the difference themselves. They had less to worry about and more time to get productive.
Networking opportunities
Working from home surely doesn’t help one in forming connections and making friends. Friends and connections are never a distraction but your source of happiness. When you people present around you to talk to you, suggest, give feedback, help, and joke you feel much better and happy at work. You don’t need to fake a smile at strangers, contrary to the common perception. You’ll find many kinds of people in a coworking space amongst whom you can always find the one your vibe matches with and those connections are very strong.
Flexible work timings
Those who have been always working from home are not used to fixed working hours. Their day starts and ends as per their convenience. The shared office spaces give their members an option to choose their time of starting the day. This doesn’t just give them the ease of working but the assurance that the members are backed by professionals who understand their requirements. You might also find yourself winding up earlier than always for you were much focused and productive.
Fits in the budget
The amazing thing is that “trying another option” doesn’t come like a burden on your finances. If you ever wish to try how a managed office space works and experience the world of working amongst diverse professionals across businesses, it would cost you a very fair amount. There are one-day passes and weekly plans for those who wish to have a taste of it. You can work without any distraction, get inspired by the people around, feel the difference, and might just want to consider the option for long.
The discussed points explained why the shared spaces were considered by the professionals who were already working from their place. After the pandemic, the working pattern of the world has changed. There is a large shift to working from home from the regular and coworking spaces. The experts try to understand and conclude if people would still get back their previous work schedules. Here, we have some arguments for why the managed office spaces will get back their glory as the Covid19 problem settles.
The social life
How the working population is missing their social life, the commuting, chat session with colleagues, breaks, fun, and other things that were a part of their routine, it’s possible that a huge part of the professionals would go out the moment things go back to normal. Yes, working from home is good but not fun. You miss so much by staying inside the same walls, lying at the same place doing the same thing every day. There are higher changes that we’d see people stepping out of their houses and getting “happily” ready for work because that’s where the most productive part of their days have been spent. Back to colleagues, back to the rush and back to the boss’s deadlines but gladly!
Monotony
We all would agree that life has become very monotonous from the day we all are carrying out our work from our homes. There is no excitement for a new day, a new event, a new meeting or, even office gossip. Jokes apart, being in your pajamas as no longer a comfort. You are just lazier and try to get the work done without the same level of zeal that you had while you were in the office. Let’s accept that we no longer generate as good ideas or bring as brilliant results to the table as we used to. This is not just hitting our productivity but making us rather less creative.
Low productivity
As we spoke of creativity and productivity in the last point, it’s a fact that we’re not the same as we used to be. There is a dearth of ideas, enthusiasm and willingness to come back with better results. Everyone is now working for the sake of submitting it on time so that nobody questions being at home. This is where we miss our regular office or coworking space where we were at the top of our performance and healthy discussions. Our work might be delivered well on time but we know that the quality is not what we were delivering in our usual office days and this is why we’ll go back to our professional world the moment things turn fine.
Mental health
Sitting alone doing the same day not just affects your efficiency but also your mental health. When you have people around you to talk, share burdens, give suggestions and help you in any way they could, you know you can work with less worry and more confidence. But when you are on your own towards the given work and the deadlines, it’s only a lot of pressure at work but no pleasure at work. Loneliness can take a toll on your mental health and can affect you in a way that you’re depressed and on your lowest. No matter how hectic a day is in office, it usually ends well with friends and support.
So, the discussed points provide clarity to why the cost of the coworking space would still be worth it if you’re now working from home. While everything has a list of advantages and disadvantages on their side, there are still greater points in favour of working from an actual office where you’re with colleagues than just from home when you have only distraction and loneliness around. Coworking office spaces with their regular events, beautiful interiors, inspiring atmosphere, positive vibe and diverse culture make you enter a very vibrant world that can’t be lived at home. Just like you can’t feel like home for long at work, you can’t be totally professional when at home. Hence, there is no way that bringing office to home can replace the highs of a shared space at all.