What are the advantages and disadvantages of Coworking Space?

The Co-working places have revolutionized the world of workspaces and have made it easier to afford a workstation along with all necessary amenities at a highly subsidized price. It is a boon for the freelancers and startups and they have become so popular that now even large companies are getting attracted to the idea of co-working spaces! But not everything is as rosy and easy as it seems to be. Read to know the various pros and cons of co-working spaces and how they can affect your efficiency! 

What are co-working spaces?

A co-workspace is like a shared workplace where individuals and teams can work closely with each other by paying some rent on a daily, monthly or annual basis. They provide calm yet positive, motivated and challenging environment which is brimming with fresh energy and talent to all the people who don’t want to invest a lot in separate real estate. The place offers workstations, conference rooms, private meeting rooms, cafeteria, breakout places and all other amenities which are required to operate your business smoothly. 

Pros of Co-working spaces

1. Networking: It is rightly said – Network is your net worth! In the competitive world, networking can help you considerably in increasing your business. In a co-working space, you get the opportunity to meet a lot of like-minded people which makes it easier for you to interact with them and find suitable business opportunities. It also gives you an opportunity to learn new things.
2. It is loaded with amenities: The co-working spaces are full of amenities like printer, fax machines, photocopy machine, recreation center, lounge areas, cafeteria, canteen and every other thing which a professional might require while working. Thus it offers the ease of working along with all the necessary amenities for a comfortable experience. 
3. It provides an excellent environment: The environment of the co-working spaces is full of creativity and positivity. Everybody works on out of box ideas and solutions which creates an environment of creativity and innovation. You also feel motivated when you see a lot of people working hard around you. The environment of the co-working spaces is electrified and always charged up which boosts the morale of the employees. 
4. Cost Saving: With co-working spaces, you can save up to 10-30% cost in the form of capital as well as operational expenditure. You need not invest huge sums of money on the real estate and neither do you need to purchase the basic amenities. It is a win-win situation for startups and freelancers who need affordable places. 
5. Scalability: The co-working places help to easily scale up or scale down the workforce depending on the business needs. If you need to add employees, you need not purchase a new place, you can just rent out more space and if in case you want to scale down, you can do that easily. 

Cons of Co-working spaces

1. Lack of Privacy: One of the major disadvantages of a co-working place is that they don’t provide any privacy in the sense that the workstations are open for all and the people can see your computers easily and listen to your conversations openly. This might prove to be a hurdle in implementing the business plans. It is difficult to hold business-related discussions in open areas which means you need to be careful while interacting with your team members and look out for private meeting rooms for every conversation. 
2. Poaching of employees: Major competitors can easily find your best employees and try to poach them to work in their organization. This is a major hurdle in the way of a business because all the firms function efficiently with their employees and if any employee leaves, it is a major loss for the firm. 
3. Security Issues: When you work in a shared office, you tend to use a shared wired and wireless network which might lead to data leakage due to security concerns. So the firms need to take all possible measures to ensure security. 
4. Distraction: With a lot of people working under the same roof and performing different activities at the same time, people can easily get distracted. There is a lot of noise and commotion all around the office area which makes it difficult to concentrate. With so many unknown people working around at the same time, it becomes difficult to concentrate on your own work. 

Conclusion

There are both pros and cons of working in the co-working places however majorly all the shortcomings can be avoided. You can look out for leased internet networks to ensure maximum security and conduct all your meetings in private places to maintain privacy. There are more benefits than the disadvantages which certainly make these places a great option for the freelancers, startups or the remote workers who can get the feeling of a community while working individually. The benefits outweigh the disadvantages and the opportunities you can get over here are numerous. The best way to determine whether to rent out a co-working place or not is to visit the place and see if it works for you or not. You can start by renting for a shorter period and judge the relative importance of the place for you.