What is coworking and what does it entail? This is a question we seem to come across often, because people don’t always know what it means. So, this blog, based on a podcast: The Biggest Problem with Coworking, unpacks coworking, what it entails, and factors that affect people’s decision to get into coworking. 

What is coworking all about?

Coworking is often mistaken for freelancing. It came about as a solution for creative people’s problems when they were working from home. 

They were in need of spaces that resembled an office, where they would be able to work free from distractions like chores and children.

There are other numerous ways to define coworking, one of which states that coworking is concerned with fostering inclusion, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace.

Which rings true in the world of coworking, a community that is set out to drive these values and foster them. 

How COVID magnified coworking

With the start of the pandemic many had to find a space to work that was not their home. This is because their homes were not geared towards being able to work from home. 

Coworking became the solution for many, it offered flexibility, a desk to sit at, and a community where they made coworkers feel like they belong. 

Coworking spaces have become an effective strategy for most businesses because people have come to realise over the last two years that they do not need to travel to work for a business to succeed. 

This strategy could be effective, especially for people who are recovering after COVID isolation. A lot of them could use an environmentally social space where they are surrounded by like-minded individuals.

Spreading the spirit of coworking in our cities 

One of the best things we can do in our cities is get people who run shared workspaces together from every economic level. Big, shiny spaces and small little amounts of space, to have a conversation about what works and what doesn’t work. Because people might outgrow the smaller space and want to move to the bigger space and instead of trying to be in competition with each other, it is actually working out how, together you can grow the local community, grow the local economic development, and how to approach your local authority. 

Preserving the coworking practice

Initiatives such as the Coworking Alliance Summit  are created to get people from the coworking profession together. There’s a group of people that have already been doing it for years. Those kinds of people have an idea of what shared workspace and coworking is and what it can do. It’s a group of very down to earth people with a diverse range of experiences and valuable insights.To listen to The Biggest Problem with Coworking podcast and to learn more about the #CoworkingAllianceSummit.