Burnley businesses prove they’re better together

After a roller coaster of a ride since 2020, Burnley businesses have shown incredible resilience and a real determination to keep focussed and carry on. So, whether that meant working from home in the kitchen, bedroom, under the stairs in the Harry Potter cupboard, the local café or back in the office, we’ve made it work.

As we look to the future with renewed optimism, we are mindful of the need to achieve some kind of ‘work-life balance’, but this has become a little more challenging as the lines between our home and workplaces have become blurred.

Issues like rising energy costs and feelings of isolation have also led many people to reconsider their working environment, leading to an increase in the popularity of co-working spaces.

SO, WHAT IS A CO-WORKING SPACE?

I have to confess that when I was asked to help set up a co-working space in Padiham Town Hall, I had to find out what co-working actually meant. It wasn’t as easy to find a neat definition of co-working as I thought, but that’s just because there are a wide variety of different spaces that do co-working their own way. Generally, a co-working space is a membership-based, shared working environment, which usually includes some fixed workstations or desks and other office facilities such as printing.

So why are these collaborative spaces increasing in popularity? I decided to find out why people at Padiham’s Room & Power and The Landmark, Burnley have decided that co-working is the answer.

Separating Work And Home Life

Deborah Isis, owner and director of Awakening Horizons, an intuition-led training and development company, is part of the co-working community at Room & Power in Padiham. Deborah, along with project manager, Brian Robert, felt that working continuously from home meant that there was no cut-off point between home and work.

Deborah said: “Since joining a co-working space it has opened up so many opportunities for networking with other organisations such as The University of Central Lancashire and those companies within Burnley Bondholders.”

Deborah and Brian are clearly enthusiastic about being part of and contributing to the local community and are excited to have discovered new places to eat and drink in the local area. The flexibility of being able to come and go as they please combined with the structure that draws the line between home and work is really important to them. Both agreed that the low cost is also a key factor, as well as the warm and relaxed environment but it’s obvious that co-working is much more than just a workspace for them.

This sentiment is shared with co-worker Alex Mayer of Alex Mayer Fundraising. As a freelance fundraising consultant, Alex helps charities to maximise the funds they raise, particularly in the cultural and education sectors. She has found that a co-working space provides a community after the isolation of the pandemic and really enjoys the picturesque commute to Padiham.

Alex describes the co-working space as “an absolute sanctuary” compared to the home office/bedroom which, as a busy mum, hardly provides a conducive environment for work.

She echos Deborah and Brian’s feelings that it provides a separation between home and work life and gives her the headspace she needs to focus.

Connecting With Others

James Lees, from Intention IT Ltd, provides business intelligence consultancy and development for clients across the UK. He has used the co-working space at The Landmark for the last 15 months.

“Since Covid, 80 per cent of my work is remote. I don’t have an ideal environment for home working. Besides the professional focus and motivation of having a dedicated workspace, co-working also really helps to provide some demarcation between home and work life.

“Having a full-size desk in a professional working environment also gives my clients a better impression, even just in online meetings, as they can see I am in an office rather than at home. I have recently started to train a junior assistant alongside me, which being in the co-working space has made possible.”

And as with the other co-workers, it’s not just the work aspect that James has found beneficial: “I have gained some knowledge and ideas from comparing notes with my co-workers, but it’s also nice just to have the normal ‘office’ vibe of someone to say “good morning” to over a cup of coffee,” he adds.

Increasing Productivity

Anthony Leathert of Konsileo Insurance is an experienced coworker, and moved into the co-working hub at Room & Power recently. Anthony explains that for him it’s as simple as putting a barrier between work and life.

He explains: “It’s having that happy medium of not being on your own in an office and also being in an open workspace with others”. Having tried and tested having his own office, Anthony found that there just wasn’t the same atmosphere as when you’re sharing a space with others. Like many of us, Anthony found that working from home during the pandemic was great at first, however after a while, he didn’t feel productive and the isolation from others was having an effect. Co-working has provided the social side to work that so many have been missing and a more energising environment than the home office.

Bringing People Together

They say that variety is the spice of life and I am struck by the diversity that co-working brings to the workplace. The co-working spaces at Room and Power and The Landmark house a wide range of businesses including mortgage services, insurance brokers, sign language specialists, professional trainers and web designers, to name a few. This has created a thriving community of professionals from all walks of life right here in our borough. And the knock-on effect on local cafes and coffee shops is encouraging, with many nipping out to take a break in newly discovered local eateries.

So it seems that, yes, if we need to work from home, then we can and we will. But deep down we all want to be part of a community. Slowly but surely, we have been drawn back into the offline world with colleagues we can chat to, collaborate with and do life with, in person, not just virtually.