The number of people working from home has soared. Earlier this year, a survey conducted by the national Trade Union Center (TUC) found that there now 1.5 million people working from home in the UK alone — a figure that’s increased by one fifth in the last ten years.
Working from home does come with its advantages, providing that it’s properly managed. Employees can get their work done in an environment they feel comfortable in, and there’s no stressful commute to deal with at the beginning and end of each day.
Despite the aforementioned figures, there’s also been a sharp increase in flexible and communal ‘co-working’ office spaces. Over the last 18 months, UK-based office company Regus has expanded its network of locations by 20%, with one third of it dedicated to communal office space. It’s not just the UK where co-working is taking off, either, with around 400,000 to 500,000 people renting co-working spaces in the US.
It’s no surprise that co-working has proved to be so popular. Working from home can be an incredibly isolating and lonely experience, but co-working spaces are the polar opposite: they’ve been designed specifically with creativity and collaboration in mind. State-of-the-art meeting room technology encourages participation and allows workers to easily share their screens, while the lively atmosphere lets them interact inspire and bounce ideas off each other. They’re also great for spurring innovation and massively improving productivity — one of the most common problems that comes with working from home.
Interestingly, a survey of more than 3,000 UK professionals conducted by Regus found that nine out of 10 people thought co-working helps to curb loneliness for home workers, as well as citing other factors, including more freedom of work location, a more reliable internet connection and a better social environment.
With workers seeking increased collaboration and the buzzing atmosphere of a lively office, it seems as though working from home is out and collaboration is in
