BUSINESS
MAKING CO-WORKING WORK
In recent years, there has been increasing demand from corporations for flexible space and remote work. This, along with the growing popularity of flexible forms of employment and the rise in ambitious start-ups with limited financial resources looking for just the right business model, has resulted in the dynamic development of co-working spaces. As well as a desk, co-working spaces also offer a wide range of services, ranging from reception services, correspondence and cleaning services to training and virtual accounting, or they might even offer a virtual office. WHAT IS CO-WORKING AND PRINCIPLES OF CO-WORKING SPACES The meaning of co-working has evolved, and from being only the use of an office or other working environment and its equipment by people who are self-employed or working for different employers, it has also become a field for the exchange of ideas and knowledge. Today, it is cooperation and skill sharing that is the foundation of co-working, which may seem strange given that people in this system usually work on individual assignments and are not connected by professional relationships. German city sociologist, Janet Merkel, who specializes in the relationship and interdependence between creativity and urban space, described co-working much more broadly than an office, namely as a cultural model that promotes five values: community, collaboration, openness, diversity, and sustainability1. Therefore, the main 1
Janet Merkel, Coworking in the city, www.ephemerajournal.org volume 15(1): 121–139
10
features of co-working that make this WHO IS THE USE OF THE COform of work so unique are informal WORKING SPACE AND THE ART cooperation, exchange of ideas and OF WORKSPACE PLANNING experiences, as well as mutual support A co-working office should be a space for those who use a common workspace that is suitable for many different users and, consequently, a sense of community. or user groups. On the one hand, for those who will spend 8 hours a day in it, but also In Janet Merkel’s opinion, the physical for those who decide to visit it irreguspace of the shared office alone is not larly – several times a week and at different enough to establish social relations to times of the day. This is true for employees a sufficient extent to establish coope of the creative industry and advertising ration. She points out the special role agencies as well as for representatives of the landlord, whose task it is to initiate of banks and consulting companies, freeand maintain interaction between indi- lancers and guests of each of the aforevidual users, as well as to plan and design mentioned industry representatives. Thus, the workspace accordingly. It should not there is no single target group of users (or be forgotten that every member of this even two or three groups), which means shared community is bound by a kind that planning such a practical, multifuncof co-working savoir-vivre, which is tional and flexible workspace is not easy, revealed, for example, by silencing and it is likely that no universal projects phones, taking care of cleanliness, as or concepts exist. well as controlled and unobtrusive networking, without which productive The need to meet the different needs functioning in the common space would of many, often completely unrelated, not be possible. users at the same time requires the creation of a coherent space within which
Outsourcing&More | May–June 2020
