The potential for collaboration between cooperates and coworking spaces
At this point, the following results come from our next interesting question, which looks at the potential interaction between companies and coworking. It is now obvious that companies are starting to take an interest in coworking. Why? Well, there are multiple reasons that vary depending on the company. A small selection of reasons could be: the search for development partners, cost savings, staff acquisition, the need to be "up to date" in order to grow, enhancing the capacity for innovation and the development of tools and applications based on its own product range.
Apparently, some companies are beginning to recognize the fascination as well as the positive performance born out of coworking space, and as a result they will now try to profit from this movment. To make the above objectives easily understandable, we have examined some of the currently practiced rapprochement between coworking and businesses, using various case studies. We first look at eight basic elements that make up the points in which companies have a reason to cowork. The most important of these reasons - regarding the potential for coworking spaces - are:
"Get away from it all" - Here companies offer appropriate events that correlate with coworking spaces. Last but not least, this tactic is also used to discover this fascinating new world of work in person. For coworking spaces arise naturally from this sales potential.
"Renting" - Here companies rent desks or offices in coworking spaces and make them available to their employees or project partners.
"Sponsorship" - Occasionally coworking spaces are also supported by companies who would like to facilitate a stronger cooperation.
"Accelerator and Incubator Programs" - Freelancers and startups work at a coworking space for short concrete product development or even sign up for a long-term commitment for certain companies. Yet they work mostly in their own coworking spaces.
"Coworking takes home office"- There are also companies that provide some of their employees office space when it’s no longer available. Coworking spaces can provide affordable alternatives to get away from the isolation of the home office.
Of course, there are also several other forms of work today, we have been a little more cautious, and summarized this under "future developments". In a nutshell, here are two examples of what these alternatives are:
Coworking Spaces certainly have the potential to be used by companies as places of education. Employees of traditional companies come in contact with highly skilled collegues in coworking spaces who are completely different from their previous experiences. The exchange between these two "worlds" is likely to be more than interesting for both parties.
Also known as "sabbatical" , ie the combination of work and leisure can be seen as coworking, and the spaces can be found in popular holiday destinations. The combination of leisure and working could be an appropriate choice for project work, as it combines high standards as well as creativity and effectively improves motivation and retention.
The conclusion from the above considerations can boiled down to: The fascination with coworking offers a huge potential of possibilities, not only for freelancers and startups, but also for companies. From this potential coworking spaces can also benefit in many different ways, if you ask yourself about these options. Coworking spaces that have recognized this opportunity and develop appropriate models to meet the needs of businesses and their employees, will have a decisive advantage.
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Sources:
Bauer, Wilhelm (Hrsg.), Rief, Stefan, Stiefel, Klaus-Peter, Weiß, Agnes: Faszination Coworking – Potenziale für Unternehmen und ihre Mitarbeiter. The Fascination of Coworking – Potentials for Companies and their Employees. (German/English)Fraunhofer-Verlag, Stuttgart, 2014.
The book "The Fascination of Coworking" ist erhältlich im Shop des Fraunhofer Instituts für Arbeitwirtschaft und Organisation (IAO)
