There is always a perpetual question between efficiency and innovation. Efficiency is measurable, while innovation is not. Being efficient requires effective planning of your working day. When choosing innovation, the flexibility to ideate and evolve comes above all systematic ways of working. This can often appear as a dilemma that employers and employees frequently deal with.
Given an option between a coworking space and an office work environment, which suits you better? Truthfully, there is no right answer only an individual choice.
If you are a driven, independent worker with excellent time management skills and mastery over digital communication, coworking is likely an appealing proposition. If you like structure and order and feel more confident when interacting with your peers face-to-face, traditional office will likely suit you. However, if you are somewhere in-between, this is your opportunity to transition fluidly between the two.
The great thing about this type of workspace is that\r\nthere is no longer a norm – only what works.
Let’s begin with understanding what we get with coworking space.
Advantages of a Coworking Space:
Lower Costs:
With a coworking space, you have the benefit of having access to the infrastructure and business amenities you need at a much lower price. You also avoid typically paying rent like an office or being roped into a lease.
Collaboration and Networking:
There is something powerful about being surrounded by smart, creative people. In a high-energy coworking space, you get the opportunity to network with other entrepreneurs and freelancers, reach out to them for advice, and learn from them.
Community:
When you put a bunch of smart people together, a community develops. Natural camaraderie builds a sense of identity within a community of intelligent, like-minded people.
Cons of Coworking Spaces:
Can Become Slightly Expensive:
While coworking spaces tend to be more affordable than traditional offices, they are still more costly than working at home or a coffee shop. But that cost can be offset by the value you get in return.
Crowded Areas:
There are always plenty of people around at all times. While this presents a host of networking opportunities, for some it could be distracting.
Shared Branding:
A reputed coworking space might bring the additional challenge of trying to keep your own individual branding efforts intact. While this is definitely not the case for larger companies, it might worry freelancers or smaller entrepreneurs.
Availability of Shared Spaces:
You share resources and meeting rooms with other coworking members, so you might have to schedule your usage of those areas in advance for whenever you need them. Let's compare the same with conventional office spaces and see how they fare.
Advantages of a Conventional Space:
A Professional Space:
Having a traditional office space ensures you always have a separate physical space to meet with clients, have meetings, and work with employees.
Collaboration:
An office location gives you the advantage of having a physical place for employees to meet and collaborate on ideas.
Complete Control Over The Office Environment:
When you have a physical space, you have full control over your office environment. All employees have access to the same tools and resources. You're also better able to mould your company culture and ensure your output is always high quality.
Disadvantages of A Conventional Space:
Burns A Huge Hole In Your Pocket:
Traditional offices often come with long-term leases and even more expensive pricing structures. There is no flexibility and impossible to maintain month on month for the emerging entrepreneurs.
Limited Networking Opportunities:
There are little to no opportunities to network with individuals outside your industry within your office space. For an upcoming entrepreneur, this may not be a disadvantage worth taking on so early into the business.
Separation:
Cubicles/individual offices create barriers between employees, essentially discouraging collaboration and communication. Startups and other high-energy brands consider creativity as their staircase to success. Removing that one pillar might have lasting consequences on their possible growth.
Office Management Tasks:
Running and managing an office takes away focus from projects. Not to mention how expensive it may become. For a company of any size majority of the time needs to be spent on driving workflow and not worrying about what can go wrong any minute in office infrastructure.
Between a traditional office space or coworking space, the most significant factor is choosing what fits your organization currently while also thinking ahead for the future.
Our state-of-the-art customized workspaces ensure that your creative juices get going giving you just that edge you need to succeed in business. Check out our office for rent in Chennai and across many other locations in Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad.