While the need may not be as large as before, many workplaces are looking at alternative ways of keeping the commercial brick and mortar dream alive.
Applications like Zoom and Slack have been a lifesaver for keeping teams in contact, but Wifi issues and awkward home office set ups aside (hello laptop in bed!), it’s hard to beat the mental health and workflow benefits of working on a collaborative space.
But perhaps the way your business usually operates isn’t the best way forward for you now and it’s time to look at your options for the future.
Many New Zealand businesses are now looking at coworking, subletting, or downsizing to a smaller commercial office.
If the biggest priority for your business right now is having the freedom to change your office requirements as needed, or desire to minimise the amount of captial alloted to office space - coworking sounds like a great option for you.
Setting up in a coworking space allows you to have all the benefits of a brick and mortar office without paying the overheads yourself. By paying a monthly premium, you recieve access to communal spaces like meeting rooms and kitchen facilities, but you also reduce the basic operational costs like desks, chairs, and wifi.
If your business needs change, you can purchase more desk space or reduce the desks you pay for. Coworking can be the perfect stepping stone between starting your business from scratch (and likely working from your kitchen!) and between having the growth needed for your own private office.
Keeping this economic relief in mind - coworking also has it's downsides.
You will have to deal with less privacy, a higher level of noise, and a higher level of traffic in and out of the space. Additionally, you have zero control of what the space looks like, and you cannot add any business branding.
One of the biggest potential disadvantages of establishing your team in a co-working space is the lack of control you have in presenting your business and brand to your clients. For businesses that have a frequent need to meet with external people, or you just have a lot of internal meetings that require privacy - private office space is your best option.
By giving yourself the freedom to control your surroundings, you minimise stress around working alongside other teams that may affect your workflow and client/customer relationships.
Coworking spaces do have shared meeting rooms but you run the risk of the rooms being booked in the timeframe you need, and you also cannot present your business brand within the space.
It may be worth the cost for the extra peace of mind that you're in total control! Pinball machine in the corner interrupting your meeting? Not on your watch.
Here is where you need to think about your team and their personalities, and the way your business works.
If you're worried about a coworking environment harbouring your team from completing work due to distractions, but you're keen to establish more interpersonal connections, consider a collaborative office.
A collaborative office is technically a coworking environment but on a smaller scale. For example, we at Industrious have now moved into a collab space with two other small businesses - Voxell Architecture and Tonic Lab Marketing.
This works for us because there are 3 smaller teams in one space - we use this to share industry expertise, get advice and connections, and build a social community of people who don't come and go like typical coworking offices.
The benefits of your own private office space is the ability to tailor the space to the way you want to work. A coworking environment may be beneficial to those who need to network and bounce ideas off others, but the contant back and forth of others and louder than usual atmosphere can reduce your teams productivity levels significantly.
When managing your own space, it's best to create different designated areas for different types of work - here at Industrious, we have breakout rooms for phone calls or spur of the moment meetings, and couch and lounge pods to promote the movement of social interaction away from desks.
Many businesses yearn to cultivate their own brand of workplace culture, something that can set them apart. Whether that be through a specific way of working (Agile, collabortaive, independant etc) or through building a community within their industry - by building that culture in your own private space, the scope of what you can achieve is massive in comparison to if you are in a shared environment.
Industrious Property can help you explore any and all options for your business needs. Get in touch with us today and let's chat about your commercial property needs and whether coworking or private space is best for you!
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