Women's struggles are numerous — balancing personal life and children with their careers, starting a business, and raising funds. Why is it then that highly experienced professional women who have children tend to leave the workforce at some stage of their career?
The lack of enough women conducive working spaces around the world may be partly the reason. But a new booming industry is changing the way women think of realizing their potential and achieving their dreams. This blessing in disguise for women is otherwise known as – Coworking spaces!
There's a wonderful relationship that coworking spaces can foster for women, which extends beyond just productive workspaces. Here's how –
1. Community (And Friends)
Women-owned businesses are mostly sole proprietorships. This by itself can feel incredibly isolating throughout the first few years of business. Entrepreneurs have found this journey to be so lonely and challenging that, according to a study, almost 30 percent of founders experience depression. Women must prioritize themselves and their team's interpersonal needs, even if it's just them and their co-founder.
So, consider renting a fully furnished office space from a coworking space operator. From the second you walk in the door at one of these centres, the abundance of human interaction that greets you will remind you: You're part of something larger. Enjoy the sociability of these shared office spaces, minus the conventional cubicles.
Sounds promising already, right?
2. Mentorships And Partnerships
Picture this:
· A restaurant owner sitting down with a creative journalist.
· An e-commerce retailer grabbing coffee with a social media manager.
· Varied exposure across different industries that help you develop different perspectives to your work
Mentorship, casual or formal, forms the heartbeat of coworking spaces. So, is it any surprise that startups that receive mentoring initially enjoy twice the survival rate of non-mentored businesses? The open and collaborative atmosphere a coworking space sports can do that: It makes inviting someone to grab a coffee or do an elevator pitch far less intimidating.
In no other environment can an entrepreneur access the best legal advice or an extra creative eye simply by walking across the hallway.
3. Greenhouse For Growth
Most forward-thinking coworking spaces aim to enable you to scale consistently while they remain the pillar (pun intended!) in the background to your growth. An important thing to keep in mind while scouting for spaces is to evaluate coworking spaces by their most successful companies.
· Is there scope to graduate to larger spaces with the same coworking space operator?
· Will the transition be smooth, and can they provide for the same?
· Does the space seem conducive to growth?
· Does the space hold meaningful relationships with the differently team sized organizations in their ecosystem?
Excellent coworking spaces are designed to support growth. A shared office space does this by creating the right ambience infrastructurally and the right community needed for their entrepreneurial occupants to thrive.
A coworking space, for example, makes it easy for their members to - participate in industry-specific discussions, skill upgradation workshops, head to the gym for some stress relief at any given time during the day, get a caffeine boost at all hours, take essential calls in private telephone booths and even catch some Zzzzs in the wellness zone if needed.
As one of the fastest-growing and most promising segments of our economy today, women-led brands should choose to invest in these furnished office spaces that build their brands with this design, energy and track record.
4. A Physical Location That Gets Work Done
While working from home may seem the ultimate dream initially, meshing work and personal life will take your company only so far. With a coworking space, you still maintain all of the control and flexibility of owning your schedule.
Still, you also get the built-in structure of an office you don't have to handle minor but all too common operational office issues, some as simple as a vacuum and a copy machine that needs fixing.
So, to summarize, what we're getting at is-
It's safe to say that women stand to benefit significantly from the coworking spaces that help propagate their growth. If anything, for budding women entrepreneurs, this suggests only one thing – innovation and equality happening at the speed of light!
Workafella prides itself on being furnished office space providers that back women who are young, bold, and the entrepreneurial workforce's future! Book a tour at one of our many office space locations across Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore, today! With Workafella, be sure to Move in, Move up!